HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
355 
of the island. The suggestion approved itself to the mind 
of Radama. He gladly seized the opportunity of securing 
the services of Mr Brady, one of the party, by whom his 
own soldiers might be instructed; he afterwards constituted 
him one of his principal officers, and felt himself greatly 
indebted to Mr. Brady for the faithful and unremitting ser¬ 
vices which he rendered. 
One regiment only was formed at first, and that con¬ 
sisting entirely of the class of the voromahery. Within a 
few years afterwards, circumstances led to the formation 
of an army on a far more extensive scale. The immensely 
superior power of the disciplined few over the undisciplined 
multitude, convinced Radama that with an augmented 
number of regularly instructed troops he should be invin¬ 
cible. They were too few at first to effect his object; but 
they were enough to produce the conviction that the old 
mode of war must be exchanged for the new—order taking 
place of confusion, spears yielding to muskets, sticks to 
swords, and stones to powder and ball. 
The years 1820 and 1821 had proved alarmingly de¬ 
structive to the Hovas. Incredible numbers had perished 
in a war against the Sakalavas of Menabe. The waste of 
human life, for want of better discipline and more specific 
arrangements, together with the obvious and urgent neces¬ 
sity of keeping more people at home to cultivate the soil, 
may be regarded as the two principal circumstances which 
gave rise to the actual formation of the army of Radama. 
And as it was found that the Sakalavas were tolerably well 
skilled in the use of the musket, it was seen to be the more 
necessary to train a body of troops, who might be better able 
to compete with them, than rude warriors venturing with 
only spears and shields into the field of terror, devastation, 
and carnage. 
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