249 
which succeeded, or rather accompanied its dismem¬ 
berment, the leaders had no opportunity to direct 
their views to a distant and unappropriated island. 
St. Domingo also engaged a large portion of their 
attention as well as their resources; and its subse¬ 
quent violent separation from French dependency, 
was a sufficient indication of the power which such 
colonies possess, when they have acquired a just esti¬ 
mate of their own resources. 
However, in the year 1792, we find the French 
National Assembly deputing Monsieur Lescallier to 
visit Madagascar, in order to see whether it would 
be practicable once more to establish a colony on the 
island. 
On his arrival at Foule Point, where the French 
still maintained a post, he found Hyavi dead, and his 
son, Zacavola, reigning in his place. Lescallier was 
well received by the young Prince and his prime 
minister, Rama Efa, who possessed considerable in¬ 
fluence over the mind of his master. 
The principal object of Lescallier’s mission, appears 
to have been that of sounding the native chiefs, to 
ascertain whether they were well disposed to the 
French. His report, as given in a memoir on the 
subject, in the National Institutes, is highly favoura¬ 
ble to the natives # , and quite as disgraceful to his 
* One circumstance related by this traveller, and which we 
have not found mentioned by any other writer, sets the charac¬ 
ter of the Madegasses, for hospitality, in a very pleasing light:— 
