310 
MADAGASCAR. 
of the numerous coffee and sugar as well as the 
rice plantations, is also an imperative necessity, 
and we are glad to hear that the subject is 
receiving careful consideration at Antananarivo. 
The time is evidently near when the rulers of 
this people will see the wisdom of moving on 
with increased energy in the path of civilisation 
and progress, and thus hasten the coming of the 
time when commerce shall throng its marts and 
crowd its ports with shipping from every land ; 
when the noise and stir of busy factories and 
industrial activities shall resound through its 
now silent valleys ; when its broad pastures, now 
deserted, shall be crowded with docks, and its 
fields be covered thick with corn; when justice 
shall be the foundation of its laws, and the voice 
of a free and enlightened people be heard in its 
council chamber “ to shape the whisper of the 
throne ”; and when the reign of the great mother 
of her people, Kanavalona II., and the life of her 
faithful prime minister, will be looked back upon 
by a grateful country as an era ever to be 
remembered in the history of the nation with 
reverence and abiding gratitude. 
