APPENDIX. 
459 
capital, and the diffusion of numerous branches of art from en¬ 
lightened countries, are events which give a marked character to 
that period, and to the history of the sovereign under whose 
auspices they occurred, while they seem also inseparably to con¬ 
nect England with Madagascar. Had the king been better 
instructed in the principles of good government; had he sought 
the stability of his throne in the prosperity of his subjects ; 
had he perseveringly endeavoured to develope the rich re¬ 
sources of the fine country of which he was the ruler; had he 
sought to increase and protect the property of the people by 
securing to them the rewards of their own industry, abolishing 
the system of oppressive exaction which renders every kind of 
service to the government a species of unrequited labour, instead 
of impoverishing the people to support his multiplied armies ; 
the foundation of his greatness would have rested on a basis far 
more solid than the tinsel glitter of military fame, and the civi¬ 
lisation and power of the nation would have been proportionally 
advanced. 
II. BRIEF REMARKS ON THE MALAGASY LANGUAGE. 
It will be apparent, from several statements in the preceding 
pages, that my knowledge of the native language was but limited. 
I had, however, with the assistance of the Missionaries, previously 
made myself acquainted with its structure and general principles, 
for the purpose of tracing its affinities with the languages of Poly¬ 
nesia; and I had given some attention to the Grammars of 
Messrs. Baker and Griffiths, as well as to the Dictionaries of 
Messrs. Freeman and Johns, and to the Scriptures and other 
books translated into Malagasy. I was also, during my sojourn 
in the country, constantly amongst the people, occasionally with 
one or more of the natives who understood English, but generally 
with those who knew no language besides their own. Under 
these circumstances my residence in Madagascar was a continued 
