CONCLUSION. 
345 
effectually destroy their usefulness. The sugar 
industry on the east coast, the coal and iron 
ore all over the north-east, and the gold and iron 
deposits of the south central provinces, already 
described, are awaiting the attention from capi¬ 
talists which they must sooner or later receive. 
Doubtless the recent disturbances in the 
island, and the action of the French, have for 
the moment checked the flow of co]onists and 
outsiders into the country. But the check is 
only temporary. It is impossible that such a 
land can much longer be left empty and un¬ 
profitable. The five millions of people who in¬ 
habit its beautiful valleys and vast plains scarce¬ 
ly know to-day the possibilities of their own 
country, and the bountiful provision which 
nature has lavished upon them for the support 
and enjoyment of life. A railway from the 
central province would be at once the dawn 
of a new era. It would be not simply, even 
from the native point of view, a weakness, but it 
would also be a source of strength, for if on 
the one hand it offered increased facilities for 
carrying a hostile force into the neighbourhood 
of the capital, it would also enable the native 
army to be massed at the shortest notice at 
Tamatave, where the trial of strength could be 
made; and there is this fact to be remem¬ 
bered in connection with this subject, that the 
