HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
291 
the Islands of the South Seas,. The division of labour, 
the classification of pursuits, and their distribution among 
different individuals, belong to a state of society that is 
more or less organized, while the extent to which these 
arrangements are carried, and the proficiency attained in 
science or art, mark with distinctness and fidelity the 
progress of improvement and civilization; and rude and 
simple as native society was in Madagascar till within the 
last twenty-five or thirty years, the process of social organi¬ 
zation had commenced, the advantages of a division of 
labour, and a distribution of talent and effort, were to some 
extent understood and practised; and though, in general, 
agricultural and pastoral occupations were followed by all 
classes, numbers devoted their attention, industry, and 
skill to one particular employment, in which they excelled, 
and from which they derived the means of subsistence 
for themselves and their families. In these early stages 
of a nation’s progress towards civilization, the Malagasy 
had made considerable attainments, when Europeans, little 
more than twenty years ago, first visited the interior of 
their country; and since that period, they have, in conse¬ 
quence of the introduction of many of the useful arts of 
Europe, the employment of letters, the encouragement of 
education, and the extension of commerce, advanced with 
accelerated speed. 
At the time now referred to, or even prior to the visit 
of any European to their capital, to their engagement in 
any treaty with our government, or to the formation of their 
army upon the European system, this great principle of 
successful organization of society was in operation among 
them, and they had not only mechanics and artificers, 
but those who were devoted to what might be regarded 
as the higher or professional occupations. These are in 
u 2 
