258 
MADAGASCAR. 
from every part of the central provinces. The chief 
feature was the delivery of a long and powerful address 
from EavoninahitriniarivOj chief of the late embassy to 
Europe and America, on some of the things he had 
heard and seen in the course of his travels. He was 
cheered again and again as he told of the vast strides 
in political, social, and religious progress the great 
nations of the west had made, and wound up each refer¬ 
ence with a heartily expressed wish— c Oh that we were 
like them ! ’ But what made most impression was his 
bold though cautious stroke at slavery and forced labour, 
when laying repeated emphasis on the assertion that 
every one across the water is paid the full value of his 
work. We who heard it could not but hope that the 
days of the neighbouring slave-market, still as brisk and 
lively as ever, were numbered. Slavery has fast hold 
of poor Madagascar. But when one of its rulers ven¬ 
tures to have a quiet cut at it, the friends of humanity 
may surely begin to think that it will one day be a 
thing of the past.” 
It was in the midst of such a condition of 
affairs that the youthful and inexperienced prin¬ 
cess, Eazafindrahety, was called to take the helm 
of the State, and to guide her country through 
the cloud and storm which have of late en¬ 
veloped it. The check which the industries of 
the people and the commerce of the country 
have sustained by the unwarrantable landing of 
a strong and alien force upon their shores has 
only so far resulted in fresh outbursts of patriot¬ 
ism and loyalty, and expressions of devotion to 
