VISITS TO MADAGASCAR 
Sfc. 
CHAPTER I. 
Brief historical Introduction. —Treaty between the English and Malagasy for 
the Abolition of the Slave Trade-Introduction of useful Arts, Letters, and 
the Knowledge of the Christian Religion. — Death of Radama. — Prohibi¬ 
tion of Religious Teaching. — Departure of the Missionaries. — French and 
English Attack on Tamatave. •— Severe Persecution of the Christians. — 
Conversion of the Princes. — Departure of the Author from England for 
Madagascar. — Voyage to St. Vincent’s. — Ascension. — The Cape of Good 
Hope. —Public Rejoicings at Cape Town.— The School Children’s Feast.— 
Last Sunday board the “Indiana.” — Arrival at Port Louis. — Reports of 
the continued Sufferings of the Christians in Madagascar. 
The Island of Madagascar, extending over an area larger than 
that of Great Britain and Ireland combined, and inhabited 
by more than three millions of people, has at different periods 
attracted the notice of the chief maritime nations of Europe; 
but, with the exception of a short period in the early part 
of the seventeenth century, it is only since our possession 
of Mauritius, and the subsequent treaty of friendship and 
alliance entered into between the late king Radama and the 
G-overnor of Mauritius in 1817, that our own countr} r men 
have given much attention to the island or its inhabitants. 
In their treaty with Radama, whom the English chose to 
regard as the supreme ruler of the country, they sought 
chiefly the abolition of the slave trade, and in order to com¬ 
pensate the king and his chiefs for the loss which this mea¬ 
sure would entail upon them, and to secure their co-operation 
B 
