336 
MADAGASCAR. 
understanding. The best way to get a good pro¬ 
nunciation is to read a few passages a-day regu¬ 
larly of the ‘Government Gazetty/ published 
at the capital, and to get a well-educated native 
to listen and correct the accent. One of the 
easiest and best books in the language to com¬ 
mence with is the ‘Mpivahiny/ a translation 
of Bunyan’s famous treatise, made in 1866 
by the Rev. D. Johns, the opening sentence of 
which, with retranslation into English, is as 
follows :— 
“ Raha mainga tety ambony tany alio —As I wandered 
over the earth; dia nijajona tany ny fitoerana iray 
nisy lava-bato —I came to a place where there was a 
cave; ary nandry tao alio ka natory —and I laid down 
there and slept; ary raha natory aho — and when I 
slept; dia nanofy —then I dreamed.” 
The secret of speaking the Malagasy language 
well really consists in giving prominence to the 
vowels. Facility will come with exercise, but 
the first things to be aimed at are distinct artic¬ 
ulation, and careful enunciation of each word— 
e.g ., raha — mainga — tety — ambony — tamy—aho 
— dia — nijajona — tany—ny , &c. &c. 
