378 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
tenced to imprisonment, and placed in heavy irons. Under 
this sentence he remained three years in confinement. 
In 1822, a trader from Mauritius was convicted of 
murder. He had deliberately tied up a Creole to a stake, 
and shot him on suspicion of his having robbed him. The 
case was referred to the civil authorities of Mauritius, and 
Radama was informed in reply, that they had decided that 
the British government could not take cognizance of crimes 
committed out of the jurisdiction of Great Britain. The 
murderer was banished to about a hundred miles west of the 
capital, and in the course of a year afterwards was put to 
death. 
In the spring of 1828, another person from Mauritius 
was convicted of selling spirituous liquors to the natives, 
contrary to the law of the land. She was put in irons, and 
detained in custody some time, but afterwards, on paying a 
fine, was permitted to remove to the coast. 
Foreigners cannot become landholders in Madagascar, 
as, by a proclamation of Radama in 1825, the natives are 
strictly forbidden to sell them any land; and but few excep¬ 
tions to this rule have occurred. This policy appears to 
have arisen out of some representations made to the king 
respecting the British power in the East, resulting from 
the acquisition of land, which, in the first instance, w r as 
transferred in very inconsiderable portions. 
The greatest national council in Madagascar is an assem¬ 
bly of the people of the capital, and the heads of the pro¬ 
vinces, districts, towns, villages, &c. These are held in 
Andohalo: Radama usually presided in person, taking his 
place on a platform on an elevated spot situated near the 
centre. Here he always appeared on his return from war; 
and in the pretended consultations held with his people 
upon increasing the army, or other public measures, 
