2G2 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. X, 
by working the bandies of the instrument signified, according 
to their number and direction, the letters of the alphabet, and 
thus spelt the words of the message that was sent, and also 
caused the needles at the other extremity of the wire to make 
the same deflections, signifying the same letters, whereby the 
observer there could read the message as plainly and nearly as 
quickly as a written communication. 
They seemed to comprehend and rejoice in the perception 
of the simple mode of representing letters by motions of the 
needles; but what the power was which travelled so instanta¬ 
neously and imperceptibly along the wire, moving the needles 
so accurately at the distant end, they could neither compre¬ 
hend nor imagine. I could only tell them that it was a force 
or power very widely diffused, and performing an important 
part in the operations of nature, which was called electricity ; 
but what that electricity really was the wisest men amongst us 
did not know, though they were able by means of its power to 
perform things truly wonderful. It was not the blank unques¬ 
tioning wonder of stolid ignorance, satisfied that the facts 
were something beyond immediate comprehension, and there¬ 
fore probably supernatural, which they manifested, but the 
surprise and intense interest of thinking men who seemed to 
feel that they had acquired a new mental treasure, though 
they yet only half understood the wonders before them. 
The mystery of the telegraph seemed greatly increased 
when they were informed that the fluid would ignite gun¬ 
powder, and that a cannon could be fired off by a person many 
miles distant by means of a wire extending from the galvanic 
battery to the powder in the touch-hole of the gun. 
On my arrival subsequently at the capital, I heard that a 
Frenchman residing there had, a short time before, received a 
set of telegraphic apparatus, and, after exhibiting it on a small 
scale, had offered to establish telegraphic communication 
between Tamatave and the capital, and then present the 
