NSS I arn Re Co ee eee Ba el 
>To 
Se 
= 
= 
ea 
ee, 
Se ee ee 
: 
y 
548 Defeription of the land of Madagafear. 
advantage of drawing foreign fettlers, 
thefe furveyors add a gratuicous labour, 
which is that of giving a defeription of the 
fcrtility of the foil, in order to facilitate 
its transfer in the market, and which, as I 
have already obferved, deferves juf as 
much attention as the flowery defcription 
of 2 Lordon auftioneer. But all this will 
not fatisfy the American land-jobber ; he 
has the furvey cepied by a draughtfman, 
who facies freams, and delineates them 
and their branches as pafling through the 
whole piece of land nearly in the fame 
manner as the arteries of the human 
body; fothat, on an infpection of the 
map, one would be inclined to Iv agine, 
that a principal part of thelabour of the 
fettler, namely, that of irrigation and 
draining, were totally ufelefs ; but, in 
fac, thefe copicus ftieams are only- the 
overflowings of the draughtfitan’s invén- 
tion. 
The feller’s title is alfo another very 
important confideration, although very 
Fittle attended to, as Mr. Volney has 
fhown in his Account of the French fet- 
tlement at Gallipolis. It is, at PE have 
faid, a cuftemary routine of bufinefs in 
America, to fel! lands upon a contract to 
make atitle when the purchafer fall have 
paid the free purchafe-money, witl-a pe- . 
nalty of forfeiture on non payment 5 the 
purchafer begins to fell and fettle the 
tands, and the original feller has no right 
to interrupt his progrefs, which 4s, in the 
end, to enable him to fulfil his contra&t ; 
but, if he doesnot perform it, the original 
feller has recourfe tothe law to put him im 
repoffeffion of his land, and a}l titles made 
by the intermediate feller to thofe who 
urchafe from him, are totally loft. It is, 
therefore, indifpenfably neceffary to a 
purchafer to fee that the perfon of whom 
he purehafes has fomething more than a 
conditional euntraé& for fale ; he evght to 
be fatished that he has the title-deeds in 
his own poffeffion. Experience has now 
afcertained, that the Americans are no 
honefter than other people ; and Eurepe- 
ans fhould take, at leaft, equal precatition 
in fetthag a bargain with them, as amoneit 
themiclves. : : 
I am far from afferting, that American 
agriculture is productive of no adyan- 
tages; but, to reap them, a man muft 
pofefs all the qualities before enumerated, 
befides an enthufaftic admiration for thofe 
improvements, without which, I have 
Heard many true colonifts fay, fucce/s is 
not to be obtained. To a man who 
poflefles thofe qualities and that enthu- 
fiafm, the inconveniencies already men-. 
/ 
[July ] 5 
tioned, fuch as long winters, in which 
the greateft part of the production of fum- 
mer is expended ; the tafk of inclofing 
fields ; the exceflive price of manual la- 
bour ; the numerous infe&ts with which 
America, more than any other country; 
abounds ; the want of roads ; the diftance 
of towns, where his friends refide, or to 
which he muft refort to exchange his fu- 
perfluities for neceflaries ; all thefe may, 
perhaps, vanifh before the pleafure he 
may feel in feeing his land daily clearing ; 
the fumps of trees either rooted up or rot- 
ting ; the progrefs ef roads and bridges, 
and of population, advancing with flow 
but fure fteps towards him. My objeét is 
not-to difcourage, but to forewarn’; and 
if any European were fo afk, not the land- 
jobbing crew, but any honeft farmer in 
the United States, I am affured he will 
tell him to the very fame purport as I have 
done, and will advife him, if he is diffi- 
dent of his poffeffing the efentials (as I 
term them) of fuccefs, to proceed no fur- 
ther in his unprofitable and lofing fpecu- 
lation. If he proves entbufiaftic in his. 
defign, and confident of his poffeffing the 
effentials, he may reap thofe advantages» 
which fall, and will be difcuffed, under 
the next head. “ ; 
(To be continued.). 
For the Menthly Magazine. 
A DESCRIPTION of the ISLAND of MADA- 
GASCAR. By CITIZEN LESCALLIER,, 
MEMBER of thé’ NaTIONAL INSTI- 
TUTE, Gc. Gce.. (Continued from page. 
m2 Sy; Na. 327%) 
FTER having traverfed the rice- 
plains, and pafled a rivulet which 
fupplies water for their irrigation, I’ ar- 
rived at a fmall village, named Save, and 
fituated on a fmall eminence which over- — 
looks thefe plains. The population of 
this village is very fcanty ; the houfes: 
which compofe it are only mean wooden — 
huts, covered with the leaves of the palm- 
tree. In the centre of the village ftood a 
fmail houfe, which, wpon inquiry, we’ 
found to be defigned for the reception of 
ftrangers. This  hofpitable cuftom, 
which prevails among all uncivilized peo- 
ple, exifts likewife throughout ‘Guiana 
and South America. Inthis but, or fpe- — 
cies cf inn, a repaft was prepared for us. 
after the manner of the country, confifting 
of rice boiled in water, with chickens cut 
into pieces, and boiled or ftewed fepa- 
rately, which they feafoned with pimento, 
and the leaves of the ravenfara, a kind of 
fpice not very generally knowa. The, 
rice 
‘ 
Lal 
