CIIAP. VI. 
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE. 
153 
him again that if he found any of the plants I was anxious to 
obtain, I would reward him for his trouble. 
Most of the parties who came with articles for sale re¬ 
mained only a short time; others, however, made much longer 
visits, and as my object was to learn as much as possible of 
their opinions and circumstances in reference to subjects 
which were to me most interesting, they were encouraged 
to come as often and to stay as long as they chose. My 
knowledge of the language was still extremely limited, and 
when we advanced beyond the mere common-place terms of 
civility on meeting and parting, I generally proposed to them 
to write down what they had to say. In this manner they 
often proposed deeply interesting and important inquiries. I 
then wrote down my replies, or such questions as I wished 
them to answer; and though this process was somewhat te¬ 
dious, it had, as I was circumstanced, some great advantages, 
for by this means I was able to preserve much valuable in¬ 
formation v r hich might otherwise have been forgotten; and 
although in the expression of my own sentiments or wishes I 
might not have been quite correct, yet, by the help of the 
Malagasy dictionary and the Scriptures translated into that 
language, I could always be sure of the right words for the 
things I wished to state, though I might still be at fault with 
the prefixes or affixes of different words, which, like the hooks 
and chains which link the carriages of a railway train together, 
unite in their proper order the chief words of a sentence. 
On several subjects of interest I had written to intelligent 
natives in other parts of the island, and received from them 
very ample communications, which often furnished matter 
for much pleasing, and to me instructive conversation. The 
books I had with me, some of them illustrated, also suggested 
topics of earnest and repeated inquiry on the part of my 
visitors, whose interest never tired, while the feeling seemed 
deep and powerful in reference to the subjects which thus 
