PREFACE. 
The materials for a large portion of tlie following 
work, were collected by tlie Missionaries in tlie island 
to which it relates, and forwarded to this country 
in the year 1830. It was then intended to pre¬ 
sent chiefly a history of the Protestant Mission in 
Madagascar, from its commencement in 1818, to 
the decease of Radama in 1828. This, it was pro¬ 
posed, to accompany by a description of the most 
remarkable customs of the Malagasy, biographical 
notices of the late king, and other distinguished per¬ 
sonages ; and an account of the abolition of the slave- 
trade in the island. When the documents were exa¬ 
mined by the Directors of the London Missionary 
Society, to whom they w r ere sent, it appeared desir¬ 
able to extend the plan of the work, by including 
the history of the island from its discovery, to a later 
date than 1828; and early in 1833, I was requested 
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