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NOTES 
 
 OF 
 
 NINE YEARS’ MISSION WORK 
 
 IN THE 
 
 THE PROVINCE OF V0NIZ0NG0, NORTH WEST, 
 
 MADAGAS C A R, 
 
 WITH HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, 
 
 By Rev. THOMAS T. MATTHEWS, 
 
 Missionary, L. M. S. 
 
 WITH SEVENTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY REV. R. WARD LAW THOMPSON, 
 
 Foreign Secretary, London Missionary Society. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 ABERDEEN : JAMES MURRAY, 
 
 28, St. Nicholas Steeet. 
 
 1881. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 ft!#' « 
 
 1HE writer of this little book has been a devoted and 
 successful missionary in connection with the London 
 Missionary Society for eleven years. Although he 
 is not a practical writer, the very simplicity and 
 fullness of detail in this narrative of nine years of faithful 
 labour are calculated to have a powerful effect upon the 
 sympathies of Christian readers. 
 
 As the heart fills with gratitude to God when hearing the 
 wonderful story of the progress of the Gospel in Madagascar, 
 it is well also that we should know something of the actual 
 processes by which the work of Christianization has been 
 accomplished. The unpretending narrative of a missionary’s 
 labours in a fever stricken district, such as that in which Mr. 
 Matthews has worked, ought to be useful to many Christians 
 at home. Our sympathy with those who are representing us 
 in the mission field, is apt to stagnate for want of true under- 
 standing of the difficulties they have to encounter. And 
 our estimate of the nature of the work to be done, and of the 
 extent of the demands it must make upon the Christian 
 Churches in this country may become more intelligent and 
 more just by looking into the details of life on a single station, 
 than by a general survey of a vast field. 
 
 Madagascar has presented to this age a truly marvellous 
 evidence of the power of the word of God and of the real 
 presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in this sinful world. 
 Opened to Christian effort in 1820, and closed again by the hand 
 of violence within 14 years, this dark and heathen land received 
 among its people during that brief period the word of God. 
 
IV. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 Foi- 30 years all the power of the enemy was exerted to 
 destroy the spiritual power which had found entrance. And 
 at the end of that time, Christians were found by hundreds 
 prepared to suffer for the Faith. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the rapid growth of the Church, 
 since the accession to power of the present Queen, is not in 
 every respect healthy, and in all probability the next ten 
 years will prove a time of more real anxiety for those who are 
 engaged in the mission than the ten years now past. It will 
 be exceedingly difficult to build up a strong, stable, pure 
 Church, and to guard against the development of painful 
 errors in doctrine and practice, among a people who have 
 proved to be so impressible and who are withal so extremely 
 ignorant, and naturally so gross. Yet the progress of the 
 people of the central province, in intelligence and in social 
 and political life, has already been very remarkable, and the 
 same Lord who has breathed forth His quickening Spirit 
 on the dead hearts of these heathen multitudes is ever with 
 His servants, and is always directing His own great work. 
 We need to exercise more faith, and to give ourselves more 
 earnestly to prayer and effort. W e may then confidently leave 
 the results to God. 
 
 If the perusal of the following pages results in deepening 
 the sense of gratitude to God for the blessings of the Gospel, 
 and awakens a spirit of prayerful sympathy with those who 
 are commissioned to carry this best blessing to the heathen, I 
 am sure the author will feel that his venture into print has 
 not been in vain. And although this Introductory Note is 
 not to be regarded as in any sense the official imprimatur of 
 the book, or of any of the statements contained in it, it is to 
 be taken as the expression of hearty sympathy from one who 
 knows something of the author’s labours, and honours him as 
 a faithful missionary of Christ. 
 
 R. WARDLAW THOMPSON. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 NE of the regulations of the London Missionary 
 Society is “that at intervals of ten years the annual 
 reports, whither of committees or of individual mission- 
 aries, should contain a General Rcvieiv of the progress made 
 in the Society’s missions during the ten years preceding.” 
 Such a period terminated this year, and I have thrown the 
 the main facts of my ten years’ report into the form of the 
 following pamphlet, believing that there are facts in it that 
 will be interesting to all who have at heart the spread of the 
 Gospel, and the progress of the kingdom of God. 
 
 The historical outline which I have prefixed, as a sort of 
 introduction, will, I hope, help not a few to a correct know- 
 ledge of the introduction of the Gospel to Madagascar, and 
 the progress of Christianity there since. For the facts of the 
 outline, I am, of course, mainly indebted to the labours of 
 earlier missionaries, for mine would have been almost impos- 
 sible, had it not been for other workers in the same field. 
 
 The fact that my pamphlet has been mainly compiled from 
 my annual reports, in the intervals of rest from deputation 
 and other duties, gives it less of a connected and continuous 
 character, perhaps, than it ought to have ; but on the other 
 hand, the progress made year by year is more readily seen, 
 than it would have been had the pamphlet been one con- 
 tinuous whole without a break. Its virtues and its defects 
 are on the surface, and it makes no pretensions to literary 
 merits ; for 1 find I can do my work better, and, from some 
 points of view, easier, than I can write about it. But believ- 
 ing that “A plain tale speeds best being plainly told,” I haye 
 
VI. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 done my best, under the circumstances, to give the facts in 
 the plainest and most pointed way I possibly could, while I 
 hope I have given them graphically enough to make them 
 interesting. I have published in the form of a pamphlet 
 simply because that was the cheapest form ; and the space at 
 my command has made it necessary for me to use the utmost 
 brevity, and hence paragraphs have been reduced to sentences, 
 and chapters to paragraphs. I may add, that any profits 
 accruing from the sale of my booklet, will be devoted to the 
 work of elementary education and native agency in my own 
 district. 
 
 I am indebted to the Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson, Foreign 
 Secretary of the Society, for so kindly giving me an Intro- 
 ductory Note, as also to his colleagues at the Mission House, 
 for their kindness and courtesy in providing me with the 
 electrotypes of so many scenes in Madagascar with which to 
 enrich the pages of my pamphlet. I am also indebted to a 
 friend for help in carrying it through the press, and I am 
 only sorry that its appearance has been so very much longer 
 delayed than at first I expected. 
 
 I hope the facts given will help to deepen interest in the 
 great cause of missions at large, and in our own work in 
 Madagascar in particular. If so, then the purpose for which 
 I ventured to publish at all will be abundantly accomplished. 
 
 THOMAS T. MATTHEWS. 
 
 7, Braemar Place, 
 
 Aberdeen, November, 1881. 
 
NOTES OF NINE YEARS’ MISSION WORK 
 
 IN 
 
 V 0 N I Z 0 N G 0. 
 
 >HE Island of Madagascar, which has 
 sometimes been called, not inappropri- 
 ately, “the Great Britain of Africa,” is 
 an immense Island in the Indian Ocean, 
 separated from the east coast of Africa 
 by the Mozambique Channel, which 
 is 260 miles across. It lies between 
 latitude 12° to 26° south of the line, 
 and longitude 44° to 50° east of Green- 
 wich, about 550 miles to the north-west of the 
 Island of Mauritius, the far-famed “Key of 
 the Indian Ocean,” and about 1200 miles 
 to the north-east of Port Natal. 
 
 Madagascar is the third largest Island in 
 the world, being 1030 miles long, by 360 
 miles at its widest part. It has an area of 
 230,000 square miles, so that it is almost four 
 times the size of England and AY ales, or two 
 and a half times the size of Scotland, England 
 and Ireland ! 
 
 “Although only seen by Europeans within the last 380 
 years, the Island of Madagascar has been known to the Arabs 
 for many centuries, probably for at least a thousand years 
 past ; and also, although, perhaps, not for so long a time, to 
 the Indian traders of Cutch and Bombay.” 
 
 And not only so, but Madagascar seems to have been 
 known to several of the great -writers of antiquity ; for 
 it is mentioned by several of the classical writers of early 
 
2 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 times. “Tims Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer, in 
 his Tabulae appears to refer to the Island of Madagascar 
 under the name of Menuthias ; and Pliny (the elder) speaks 
 about an Island, which in the opinion of many authors, could 
 hardly be any other than Madagascar, under the name Cerne, 
 although there is still some doubt on this point among author- 
 ities.” * 
 
 “In the book De Mundo, which is ascribed to Aristotle, the 
 great Grecian philosopher, (who lived 322 n.c.), Madagascar 
 has been supposed to be obscurely indicated, or referred to, 
 to, under the name ‘Plianbalon.’ ” * 
 
 There seems some ground for supposing that it may not be 
 improbable that the Jews may have known of Madagascar, 
 anti that Solomon’s sailors, in those voyages which they made 
 in the “ships of Tarshish” may have visited Madagascar. For 
 “ages before the Arabian intercourse with Madagascar, it 
 seems highly probable, that the bold Phoenician traders, in 
 some of those (to them) long voyages made by the ‘ships of 
 Tarshish’ touched at Madagascar, or at least obtained infor- 
 mation about it.” * 
 
 In 1 Kings, ix. 24. we read, that “King Solomon made a 
 navy of ships at Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the 
 lip of the lied Sea, in the land of Edom.” That is, at the head 
 of the Gulf of Akaba, the inlet which forms the north-east 
 extremity of the lied Sea, and the east boundary of the 
 peninsula of Sinai. And again, in 1 Kings x. 22., and in 
 2 Cliron. xx. 36. we read : “For the King had at sea a navy 
 of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram ; once in three years came 
 the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, apes and pea- 
 cocks,” ostriches as some think, or only their feathers, as 
 others think. 
 
 The fact that the Ophir of Scripture, from which came the 
 famous “Gold of Ophir,” is now believed by many, not to say 
 most, high authorities, to have been on the east cost of Africa, 
 near the bay of Sofala, makes it still more probable, that the 
 ships of Tarshish, with Solomon’s sailors may have visited 
 Madagascar, or obtained information about it, if they had not 
 communication with it. If they did, then it is not at all difficult 
 to understand how the Malagasy may have come by their 
 knowledge of those Jewish practices and customs, which were 
 found amongst them, such, for example, as their knowledge of 
 the scape-goat, of the sprinkling of blood, of circumcision ; and 
 their practice of killing a bullock at their annual festival, 
 
 * Sibree. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VON1ZONGO. 
 
 3 
 
 which seems hut a slightly corrupted killing of the “red heifer” 
 on the day of atonement, and others, which seem to point to a 
 Jewish origin. 
 
 “Madagascar was first made known to modern European 
 nations, by the celebrated Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, in 
 the thirteenth century. He, however, had never seen or visited 
 the Island himself ; but had heard various accounts of it dur- 
 ing his travels in Asia, under the name of Magaster or Mad- 
 agascar.” * 
 
 Madagascar had a narrow escape of becoming a British 
 Colony ; for as early as the days of Charles I. there was a 
 project to found an English plantation in Madagascar, and 
 Prince Rupert was named at the Privy Council Board as 
 Viceroy for King Charles I., from whom he was to have had 
 12 men-of-war, and 30 merchantmen to form the colony ; but 
 the civil war breaking out, put a stop to the projected English 
 colony in Madagascar. 
 
 In the year 1810, the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon 
 were captured by the British under Sir Ralph Abercrombie. 
 When the peace of 1814 was arranged, the Island of Bourbon 
 was ceded to the French ; but the Island of Mauritius remained 
 in the possession of the English. Shortly after this period, a 
 proclamation was issued by Sir Robert Farquhar, the then 
 Governor of Mauritius, taking possession of Madagascar, as 
 one of the dependencies of Mauritius, in the name of H.B.M. ; 
 but this was a mistake, the island never was that. In 1815, a 
 party of English were sent over from Mauritius to Madagascar 
 to form an establishment at Port Toquez ; but they got them- 
 selves into trouble with the natives, and were all massacred 
 except one man who escaped in a boat. On the news reaching 
 Mauritius, Sir R. Farquliar sent Captain Le Sage to make 
 inquiries concerning it, and he afterwards visited Radama I., 
 at his capital of Antananarivo, and was the first British agent 
 Avho visited the interior of Madagascar. The slave trade was 
 at that time in full operation. The slaves from Madagascar 
 supplied the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, while others 
 were conveyed to North and South America, and some even 
 to the West Indies. The ship in which R. Drury obtained 
 his release from Madagascar, in 1717, discharged her cargo of 
 Malagasy slaves at Jamaica. The slaves could be bought at 
 from £6 to £12, and sold at from £30 to £80, and hence was 
 a very tempting trade to many. 
 
 It reflects lasting honour upon the British nation, that 
 
 * Sibreo. 
 
4 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 no sooner did Madagascar come within tlie influence of 
 Great Britain to some extent, by her taking possession of the 
 Island of Mauritius, than a series of efforts were commenced 
 with a view to the annihilation of the vile traffic in slaves. 
 But to the noble exertions of Sir E. Farquhar in particular it 
 was due that the slave trade with Madagascar was abolished. 
 
 At the close of the year 1816, Sir K. Farquhar sent Captain 
 Le Sage on a second mission to Madagascar, to induce Radama 
 1., the King of Madagascar, or rather the King of the Hovas, 
 to send two of his younger brothers to Mauritius to receive an 
 English education. They were sent and placed under the 
 charge of a Mr. Hastie, who afterwards took them hack to 
 Madagascar, and ultimately became himself the first British 
 Consid to Madagascar, and one of its best and noblest 
 friends, who is still remembered with gratitude by the 
 Malagasy. A very favourable impression was made on the 
 mind of Radama, by the way in which he and his brothers 
 had been treated by Sir R. Farqidiar and the English; and 
 Mr. Hastie had instructions to negotiate a treaty with 
 Radama I. for the abolition of the slave trade, which he 
 ultimately accomplished by promising on behalf of the British 
 Government to pay some £2000 annually, which was to be 
 paid in flint locks, powder, and soldiers old clothes for the 
 king’s army ! No act of Eadama’s life ever shed such lustre 
 on it, or will be ever remembered with so much satisfaction 
 and pleasure, as his abolition of the slave trade. But Sir R. 
 Farquhar did not merely contemplate the civilisation of 
 Madagascar, but also its evangelisation by the introduction 
 of Christianity, and hence he encouraged the Directors of the 
 London Missionary Society to commence a mission in Mada- 
 gascar.* 
 
 At one of the earliest meetings of the London Missionary 
 Society, in 1796, the subject of a mission to Madagascar was 
 before the Directors; and when the afterwards famous Dr. 
 Vanderkemp left England in 1798, he had instructions to do 
 all he could to help the commencing of a mission in Mada- 
 gascar, and it was suggested to him the propriety of visiting 
 the Island to obtain information for the guidance of the 
 Directors; still it was not until February, 1818, that two 
 missionaries, Messrs. Jones and Bevan, with their wives, left 
 England for Madagascar to begin a mission there. That was 
 the beginning of the mission work in Madagascar, from which 
 there have been such glorious results in these days. They 
 
 * Ellis. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 5 
 
 began, it is said, with a school of four pupils, that was “the 
 day of small things”; but “the little oue has become a 
 thousand,” and the one school has grown into 882, and the 
 four pupils into 48,000 ! The one small congregation bas grown 
 into 1142 churches, with 70,000 members, and 253,000 
 adherents ! 
 
 Radama I. heard of the coming of the white teachers to 
 the coast, and sent for them to go to the capital, so when Mr. 
 Hastie returned to the capital as British Consul, in 1820, Mr. 
 Jones went with him, and mission work was begun there. 
 
 “As might be expected, Madagascar is not peopled by one 
 tribe, but by a number, there being as many as eight different 
 large tribes in the Island. The Hovas, who are the dominant 
 party, inhabit the central provinces of the Island. They are 
 not the original inhabitants of those central provinces, they 
 were a people called the Vazimba, who have long been 
 extinct, and at whose tombs the Hovas used to worship and 
 offer sacrifices to propitiate their spirits, believing that the 
 spirits of those Vazimba had power to do them harm or good. 
 The Hovas are a sort of the “Anglo-Saxons” of Madagascar, 
 a race of foreigners who entered the Island perhaps 1000, 
 or 2000 years ago, and who, strange to say, belong to the 
 Malay portion of the human family, and are thus allied 
 to the South Sea Islanders. But how the Hovas ever got to 
 Madagascar is a very great mystery, as the nearest point 
 from which they could have come is about 3000 miles from 
 Madagascar, and how they could have crossed the intervening 
 ocean in their frail canoes is more than we can tell. Hova 
 tradition points very clearly to their ancestors having come 
 to the central provinces from the east coast. In a native 
 History published at the capital in 1873, a list of Hova chiefs 
 and kings is given and the present Queen makes the 36th on 
 the list, exactly the same, strange to say, as our own Queen 
 from William the Conqueror ! The present monarch is Queen 
 of the Hovas, and also of the Betsileo, Betsimisaraka, Antsi- 
 hanaka, and Bezanozano tribes, which the Hovas have 
 conquered.”* A few of the other smaller tribes nominally own 
 the Queen as their Sovereign ; but, she is not really Queen 
 of all Madagascar although called so, she is only Queen 
 of about the half of the Island, and although it is certainly the 
 most important half, still it is but the half ; yet I think she is 
 likely to be Queen of the whole Island before long, and next 
 to the spread of the Gospel, I can hardly conceive of a 
 
 * Sibree. 
 
Antananarivo. — The Martyr Memorial Church on the Rocks at Ampamarinana. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 7 
 
 greater blessing for Madagascar, than that the present 
 Christian Queen, and her enlightened Prime Minister, should 
 have the entire Island under their sway ; for it means the 
 opening up of the whole Island to the Gospel, to education, and 
 to Christian civilization. 
 
 Between 1822 and 1828, the London Missionary Society 
 sent out fourteen missionaries to Madagascar — six ordained 
 missionaries, and eight missionary artisans. There was a 
 printer, a tanner, a blacksmith, a carpenter, and a cotton 
 spinner, and so on, and almost all that the Malgasy know to- 
 day, not only as regards things in general, and of the 
 Bible and the way of salvation in particular, but also of 
 the various arts and trades, they owe to the missionaries of the 
 London Missionary Society ; and the people themselves are 
 the first to acknowledge the fact, and are very grateful to the 
 Society for all it has done through its agents for their temporal 
 and eternal welfare. 
 
 When the missionaries arrived in Madagascar they found 
 that the people had no written language. They found the 
 King had four Arabic secretaries, and, but for the timely 
 arrival of the missionaries, in all probability the Arabic 
 character would have become the character used in the 
 language of Madagascar, which would have been more 
 difficult to foreigners ; but when the King saw the Roman 
 characters, he said, “Yes, I like these better, they are simpler, 
 we’ll have these,” thus the character of the language was 
 settled ; for being, as he was, and as the present Queen still 
 is, despotic, his word was law. The missionaries reduced 
 the language to uniting, made a dictionary, a grammar, and 
 translated the Bible into Malagasy. They also translated 
 some small catechisms, and a large one, “Russell’s Catechism,” 
 made by the late Dr. Russell, of Dundee, wrote and printed 
 a number of sermons and tracts, they also translated the 
 first part of the Pilgrim’s Progress, and although they 
 were not able to print it before they left the Island, some 
 twelve copies of it were transcribed by their converts. This 
 was afterwards printed by the Religious Tract Society in 
 London, and a large number of copies found their way into 
 the Island. 
 
 In 1827, the King, Radama I., died, a victim to Iris own 
 vicious life, and his wife, or rather one of them, Rabodo, 
 managed to get herself proclaimed Queen, who quickly 
 made her position secure by murdering all the lawful heirs to 
 the throne. She sent word to the missionaries to say, that 
 
8 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 she did not mean to interfere with them, or their work, for 
 she was anxious, as her late husband had been, that her 
 people should be wise. The missionaries therefore went on 
 with their work, and great progress was made. They had 
 about a hundred schools established in the provinces of Imerina 
 and Yonizongo, and about four thousand children gathered 
 into them. These schools were not mere places where a 
 large amount of secular, and a very small amount of religious 
 education was given ; but were also preaching stations, 
 which the missionaries visited periodically, at which they 
 preached the Gospel, and expounded and explained the Bible, 
 thus the truth began to find its way to many poor benighted 
 hearts, and laid hold of the people in a way that nothing 
 had ever done before, proving that it was still, “the power of 
 God unto salvation unto every one that believeth.” Many 
 were growing weary of their old heathenism, and were in a 
 sense, feeling after God, if haply they might find Him, 
 although He was not far from any of them. Some few, pro- 
 bably, were quite tired of being mere : “Pagans suckled on a 
 creed outworn,” and were longing for something purer and 
 better than they had ever known. And it was little wonder, 
 for their old state of heathenism was horrible, a state 
 of things that in many of its aspects dare not be described. 
 It is true they spoke of Andriananahary, “God the Creator,” 
 and told in their proverbs that His book was high and 
 lie coidd see that which was hidden from other eyes ; and 
 that people were not to think of the quiet valley as a place 
 in which to commit sin ; for God was there over the head, 
 and that the fool was not to be cheated, for God was to 
 be feared, and that although He saw every thing He some- 
 times intentionally held down His head ! They told of a life 
 beyond the grave where those who had done good in this life 
 would be rewarded, and those who had done evil would be 
 punished. And they said, in their proverbs, that death once 
 could be endured ; but that second death was unbearable. 
 Blit all these seemed to be little more than mere ragged 
 remnants of former beliefs, which had lost most of their 
 meaning to the people, and nearly all their power over them. 
 The people were little guided by the fear of God in their 
 daily life and conduct. He was a name and nothing more to 
 the great majority of the people, who were under the baneful 
 sway of the most degrading and heartless superstitions. 
 Hence polygamy, infanticide, trial by the poison ordeal, and 
 all the attendant horrors of the most degrading heathenism 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 9 
 
 reigned rampant, and the people were really ruled and guided, 
 or rather goaded on to the committing of the crudest and most 
 heartless crimes on their nearest and dearest, by the Mpan - 
 andro, “the astrologers,” the Mpisikidy , “the workers of the 
 oracle,” and the Mpimasy, “ the diviners,” or were harmed 
 and made ill, as they thought, by the Mpamosavy , “the 
 witches ; ” for they thought that all disease was caused by 
 bewitchment. Hence medicine is “ Fanofody ,” ?. <?., that which 
 removes, or takes off the “ ody ,” the charm or bewitchment, and 
 I found that the far-famed “odi-mahery,” for which Vonizongo, 
 the district where my own station is, was once so famous, 
 was mainly composed of the same ingredients as the witches’ 
 broth in “Macbeth”! Namely, of the leg of a frog, the tongue 
 of a dog, the leg of a lizard, the head of a toad, and such like 
 disgusting things ! The great poet says that “one touch of 
 nature makes the whole world kin,” and it seems as if one 
 touch of superstition did very much the same thing. 
 
 The people seem to have been for ages little better than 
 mere playthings in the hands of the “ astrologers ,” “ workers of 
 the oracle ,” and the “ diviners ,” and without their assistance, 
 completely at the mercy of the “Mpamosavy ,” “the witches.” 
 Everything that was to succeed had to be done on a lucky day, 
 and these deceivers had to be feed to find out the hicky days. 
 Marriages had to be made, journeys undertaken, and all 
 serious business done upon lucky days, and if a child was born 
 on an unlucky day, or during the unlucky month, “Alakaosy,” 
 it had to be put to death, otherwise it was believed it would 
 grow up only to be a curse to the country and to its parents ! 
 
 A child might be born on one of those so-called unlucky 
 days, or during the unlucky month, then the diviner would 
 at once say, “ That child must die, or it will be a curse to the 
 country, fa manana vintan dratsy izy, for it has a bad fate or 
 destiny hanging over it,” as we would say ; and so the poor 
 innocent had to be taken and placed there on the pathway at 
 the entrance to the village in the the evening, in order to be 
 trampled to death by the cattle as they were driven into the 
 village ! And there would be the poor mother kneeling on 
 the one side of the path, and the father on the other, pleading, 
 “with strong crying and tears,” with the gods to spare their 
 little one ; for the Malagasy people are immensely fond of 
 children ; and it was only their strong religious faculty 
 perverted, that led them to do such cruel and heartless things. 
 But sometimes the poor child’s life would be spared, by the 
 cattle stepping over it, as was the case, with the present 
 
10 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 Prime Minister of Madagascar, who is said to have been 
 exposed in that way when a child, and his life saved by the 
 cattle stepping over him instead of trampling him to death. 
 It was not often they exposed male children in that way ; 
 but very often the female, thousands upon thousands of 
 whom perished beneath the hoofs of the cattle, and thousands 
 are perishing in that, and other ways, in those parts of the 
 Island to which the Gospel has not yet been carried, and 
 thousands will perish in that way until they get the Gospel ; 
 for there is nothing for heathenism and its horrors but the 
 Gospel of the Grace of God. 
 
 But very often, even when the cattle had all passed over 
 the little child without harming it, it was not saved ; for the 
 diviner would say a mistake had been made, and that it must 
 die in another way called “ aholioka ,” that was, a large wooden 
 plate, which is called a “Sahafa,” was filled with Avater, 
 and the child turned over on its breast, and its mouth 
 held amongst the water until it was suffocated ! And some- 
 times even that method Avas not enough for cruelty, a 
 round hole Avas dug in the ground, and the child Avas put into 
 it, and held in while the earth Avas pounded into the pit up 
 to the child’s waist, and then pots of boiling Avater Avere 
 poured over the child and the pit filled up ! I had some 
 members in our congregation at Fihaonana, who had seen 
 the aboA’e things done, if they had not themselves taken part 
 in them ! 
 
 Missionaries are sometimes charged with telling only the 
 bright side of things, but it is a very unfair charge ; for if 
 they do not say much about the dark side, it is not because 
 they coidd not, or rather it is because they cannot ; for 
 there are sides to their work, and phases of it that will not 
 bear being mentioned, and dare not be described. And 
 then the missionaries are not the authors of the dark side, 
 they are there to try, by God’s help and blessing, to make 
 the dark side the bright side, and through God’s help and 
 blessing they have been doing it in Madagascar. All that 
 missionaries find, or the half they meet with in their Avork 
 cannot be told, and would do no good, if not a deal of 
 harm if it coidd, and hence it is better left in the dark. One 
 fact I may mention, as to the degraded state in which the 
 Gospel found the people of Madagascar, and as it of itself 
 speaks volumes, it may be left to tell its oavu tale, Avithout any 
 comment or explanation. The fact is this, that Avhile the 
 Malagasy liaA e a name for every beast, and bird, and blade of 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 11 
 
 grass, for every kind of tree, insect, and creeping tiling in 
 the Island, everything that has, or ever had an existence 
 in it, there is not a single word in the Malagasy language for 
 moral purity, simply because such a thing never existed ! If 
 a man drank, or stole, or cheated, or fought with his neigh- 
 bours, he was a bad man, that was, he was a bad member of 
 of society ; but a man might be the most immoral creature in 
 creation, but that did not make him a bad man, in fact, his 
 morals had nothing whatever to do with his character, they 
 were considered as his own private affairs, with which society 
 had nothing to do. I have said a man, because really the 
 women could hardly be regarded as having a place worth the 
 name. They were regarded as a sort of necessary trifles for 
 the proper furnishing of a man’s house ! They were called 
 “ ambinjavatra ,” that is, the surplus of a thing, that which may 
 be with it, but is not the thing itself. Such was the 
 position the poor women occupied, it was only the Gospel 
 that gave them their proper place. With such views about 
 women, the marriage relationship was not thought much of, 
 and up until 1879, a man had only to say to his wife in the 
 presence of a witness, “ misaotra mandelhana ,” “ thanks , yo,” 
 and she was divorced ! Marriage was said to be not a fast 
 knot, but simply a bow out of which a man might slip at any 
 time. Having no higher views of the highest and holiest 
 relationship of life, with divorce so easy, with polygamy, the 
 “ saodranto ,” that is, the “divorce of commerce,” and the very 
 low views that they had of women in general, it can easily be 
 understood by any one, that the state of society would be such 
 as might be imagined but dare not be described. 
 
 With such a life, and such a state of things, it was little 
 wonder if some were weary, and others disgusted if they dared 
 to have said so, and thus when the Gospel came “bringing life 
 and immortality to light,” and “having the promise of the life 
 that now is, and of that which is to come,” many were found 
 ready, in a sense, to give it welcome. 
 
 As the work of the mission made very rapid progress, while 
 the truth was winning its way, and numbers were being 
 baptized and received into church fellowship, the old heathen 
 party got thoroughly alarmed, and were up in arms against 
 the new religion. Or, as Samuel Rutherford would have said, 
 “good being done the devil began to roar,” then he used his 
 own instruments, and roared through the heathen party, and 
 especially through the keepers of the royal idols. “Vested 
 interests” had been attacked, and others were threatened, 
 
12 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 and the charge brought against the early converts to Christ- 
 ianity was brought, in substance, against the converts in 
 Madagascar, namely, that they refused to worship the gods of 
 their forefathers, and would persist in praying to the white 
 man’s God and the white man’s prophet, Jesus Christ ! It 
 was simply history repeating itself. The idol keepers were 
 able to frighten the Queen, Rabodo, by telling her that the gods 
 were getting angry, and that if once the gods were angry, they 
 would have a fearful state of things, for the gods would send 
 fever, and famine, and pestilence and all sorts of things. Al- 
 though a strong-minded woman, the Queen was very super- 
 stitious, and they were able to work upon her superstitious 
 mind. 
 
 “She determined to introduce very important alterations 
 in the government of the kingdom, and began with a high 
 hand by giving notice to the British Agent, and all Europeans, 
 of her withdrawal from the treaty Radama I. made with the 
 British Government for the abolition of the foreign slave 
 trade. She then got up a quarrel with the British Agent, 
 and had him driven from the capital, and ultimately from 
 the Island, because he had ridden on horseback up to the 
 village where a celebrated idol was kept.” * It seemed as 
 things had come to a crisis, and as if the missionaries would 
 soon have to follow the British Agent ; but this was pre- 
 vented for some considerable time after by a very singular 
 incident. The Queen had come into possession of some 
 English soap, and she thought if she could only get the white 
 men to make her some of that from materials found in the 
 Island, and teach some of her people how to make it, she 
 might get the idols kept quiet for a while until her people had 
 learned how to make that most useful article. She had before 
 this proposed that the missionaries should confine themselves 
 to secular education ; but they had declined to do so. She 
 sent messengers to meet with the missionaries at the house of 
 one of their number, to thank them for what they had taught 
 her people, and to ask if they could not teach them to make 
 soap out of materials to be found in the country. One of the 
 missionaries, Mr. Griffiths, asked Mr. James Cameron, one of 
 the missionary artisans, whether he could give an answer to 
 that question, and he replied, “Come back in a week, and we 
 may give an answer to herlMajesty’s inquiry.” “At the end 
 of the week the messengers returned, and were presented with 
 two small bars of soap, made entirely from materials found in 
 
 * Cameron. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 13 
 
 the Island. This incident seemed to arrest the downward 
 course of things. The Queen was so pleased, that on condition 
 that Mr. Cameron would undertake a contract to make soap, 
 and teach the Malagasy to make it, things were just to be 
 allowed to go on as they had been going, and the missionaries 
 were not to be interfered with in their work. Mr. Cameron 
 and Mr. Chick undertook contracts for soap making, and other 
 useful articles, which took nearly five years to carry out. One 
 important result of this was, that a fresh impetus was given 
 to the work of education throughout the country, new schools 
 were established, and though they would have preferred to 
 patronise secular education only, had the missionaries agreed 
 to separate it from Christianity, yet for the secidar, they 
 sanctioned and aided in the general education given by the 
 agents of the London Missionary Society.” * 
 
 In the mean time the other missionaries were hard at work 
 on their translation of the Bible ; for they knew very well 
 that what had taken place was but a lull in a storm, which was 
 sure to break out again before very long, with the result, as 
 they quite expected, of their being expelled from the Island, 
 and they were most anxious to be able to leave the word of 
 God Avith the people. Mr. Cameron used to go for a feAv 
 hours in the early part of the day to his soap making, then 
 he went up to the printing office, and his brethren Avere there 
 Avith their translation, one put up the type, and another 
 put on the ink, and another brought the paper, and another 
 wrought the press, and so those good men wrought, often into 
 the small hours of the morning, printing off the Bible. While 
 it was being printed, numbers of the books of the Bible were 
 bound up and set in circulation, and great numbers of leaves 
 of the Bible found their way all over the Island, some of which 
 I myself met with as late as 1871, reminding one of the “tree 
 of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.” 
 
 The truth made such progress among the people, that at 
 last the heathen party became most thoroughly roused, and as 
 all the contracts had been completed, the result Avas that all 
 the missionaries Avere expelled from the Island in 1835. An 
 immense gathering of the people Avas called, and they were 
 ordered to give up all their Bibles and books, and to return 
 to the worship of the gods of their forefathers, and to praying 
 to the spirits of the twelve departed kings. A large number 
 of Bibles and books were given up, which were burned. 
 But it Avas soon found that this did not put a stop to the pro- 
 
 * Camerou, 
 
14 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 gress of the truth ; for although the Queen had expelled the 
 missionaries from the Island, she had not been able to expel 
 the Spirit of God, and He was working there in the hearts of 
 the people ; and the good seed of the kingdom that had been 
 sown on the soil of sold, began to take root and spring up and 
 yield fruit under the influence of the dews of the Spirit. Mid- 
 night prayer meetings were started even in the capital itself, 
 and within gunshot of the palace. The Queen became more 
 angry than ever, at her will being thus thwarted, and severer 
 measurers were resorted to, and death was made the penalty of 
 disobedience ; but even that did not put a stop to the people 
 praying, or to the progress of the kingdom of God. For the 
 Queen soon found, as other persecutors had found before her, 
 that the more she persecuted the people of God, the more they 
 increased and grew. Had the Queen taken Christianity under 
 her patronage, after the missionaries left the Island, she might 
 have soon have stilled it to death, or made it a mere name and 
 nothing more ; but the moment she began to persecute it, she 
 did the best thing she could to it ; for, by that means, she 
 rooted and grounded Christianity in the hearts of the people, 
 in a way that nothing else could ever have done. And not 
 only so, but her cruel persecutions did service to the cause of 
 Christ even in this country ; for it was by the light of those 
 martyr fires, which she in her cruelty kindled, that thousands 
 in this and other lands saw Madagascar ; and it was hearing 
 of the sufferings of those poor, persecuted people that thrilled 
 the hearts of God’s people all over Christendom, and led 
 them to take an interest in Madagascar and its people, such 
 as they never would have taken but for those fearful persecu- 
 tions, and thus God made the wrath of the Queen to praise 
 him. 
 
 As the repressive measures did not seem to put a stop 
 to the spread of Christianity, more severe measures were 
 called in, and martyrdom became the order of the day. The 
 Christians were speared at Ambohipotsy — the white village — 
 and then their bodies were thrown to the dogs. They were 
 hurled over the rocks at Ampamarinana, or rather they were 
 hung over the rock by a rope roiuid their waist, and then were 
 asked while hanging in mid air, if they would give up praying 
 to the white man’s God and Jesus Christ, and pray to the 
 gods of their forefathers, and to the spirits of the twelve de- 
 parted kings. If they said yes, they were drawn up and 
 set free ; but if they said no, then the officer on duty simply 
 said tapaho — “let it be cut,” and the soldier kneeling by the 
 
16 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 side of tlie rope cut it, the victim fell hundreds of feet, 
 and was dashed to pieces on the rocks below, then their bodies 
 were gathered together and burned. They were also burned 
 at Faravoliitra, the common execution ground, under circum- 
 stances of cruelty such as cannot be described. They were 
 stoned to death at Fiadanana. They were sold into slavery, 
 were loaded with irons, and chained together by dozens, they 
 were sent away to the fever districts of the Island, where 
 large numbers died. Many of the persecuted fled for their 
 lives, and lived in the woods and among the mountains, and in 
 the caves and dens of the earth. The province of V onizongo, 
 being, about 40 miles to the north-west of the capital, having 
 no governor, and very few government officials, became a hid- 
 ing place for many of the poor persecuted Christians — became, 
 
 The Martyrdoms at the Bocks at Ampamarinana. 
 
3IISSION WORK IN VON1ZONGO. 
 
 17 
 
 in fact, a sort of the Ayrshire of Madagascar ! Midnight 
 prayer meetings were held, first in the house of Ramitraho, 
 who afterwards perished in the flames at Faravohitra, for his 
 faith in the Lord Jesus; and afterwards in the house of Ra- 
 zaka, the present pastor of the Mother Church at Fihaonana, 
 and to those prayer meetings the people came from distances 
 of twenty, and even forty miles. “The word of God was 
 precious in those days,” and they spent the night in reading 
 it and praying over it, and on rainy nights they risked the 
 singing of a hymn to refresh their weary hearts, as the noise 
 of the falling rain kept the sound of the singing from being 
 heard outside the house. Many of the persecuted were hid, 
 during the day in the nee pits under the floors of the houses, 
 or among the rocks and ravines, or in the cave on the hillside 
 on the north-east of the village of Fihaonana, which was used 
 by the people of the village as a small-pox hospital, after a 
 sort, and where the only Bible they had was kept hidden for 
 about five-and-twenty years ! When the very strict search 
 was made by the Queen’s orders, for all the Bibles and other 
 Christian books, the Christians in Yonizongo were afraid they 
 would lose their Bible, and they said if we lose our Bible, 
 what will we do, and so there was a consultation as to how and 
 where the Bible was to be hidden, and it was agreed to hide 
 it in the cave which was used as a small-pox hospital, as it 
 
 The Martyrs’ Cave, Fihaonana, Vonizongo, Madagascar. N, w. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 was thought the government officials would be afraid to go in 
 there to seek for it. The officers came, and the strictest 
 search was made in the houses of the suspected parties, and 
 among the rice pits and ravines, and then they went over to 
 the hill to the north-east of the village, to search among the 
 immense boulders and the caves there ; but just as the officers 
 were about to enter the cave, in the corner of which, under a 
 stone, the detested Book lay, some one said “ trano Jitsaboan ny 
 marary nendra mainty izany ,” — “that is the small-pox hospital. ’ 
 They said, is it ? and starting back in horror, would not enter, 
 such was their horror of small-pox, and so the Bible was saved, 
 and that Bible is now in the Museum of the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society in London ! 
 
 This dire and dreadful persecution lasted until August, 
 1861, when the Queen died, and her son became King as 
 Radama II.; then the cruel laws against Christianity were 
 repealed. As there was the greatest anxiety shown on the 
 part of all for the reopening of the mission, the Rev. W. Ellis 
 was sent out by the Directors in December, 1861, and the next 
 year he was followed by six missionaries, and the mission was 
 reopened, and mission work recommenced at the capital. Prob- 
 ably there were not three hundred Christians in the Island, 
 when the missionaries were expelled from it in 1835. Some 
 sixteen hundred are believed to have perished during the 
 persecution; and yet when the missionaries returned in 1862, 
 there is said to have been some seven hundred to welcome 
 them, and to thank God for sending back their teachers and 
 their Bibles to Madagascar. 
 
 Mr. Ellis and the other missionaries were well received and 
 treated very kindly by the King, and the mission work made 
 considerable progress. The King made over to Mr. Ellis the 
 spots on which the martyrs had suffered, for the purpose of 
 building memorial Churches on them, which has since been 
 done at a cost of some £12,000. 
 
 “With the accession of Radama II. a new era in the history of 
 Madagascar commenced. F or although not himself a Christian, 
 he had long been the recognized friend and protector of the 
 persecuted Christians, and one of his first acts, as King of 
 Madagascar, was to proclaim religious liberty, a blessing so 
 earnestly desired by hundreds of his subjects, but so persist- 
 ently denied by his mother. On the 23rd of September, 1862, 
 in the presence of an immense gathering of natives, and a fair 
 number of Europeans, including the English and French Em- 
 bassies, Radama II. was crowned, At that time he appeared 
 
Analakely and Faravohitra, with the Children’s Martyr Memorial Church, Antananarivo. 
 
20 
 
 MISSION WOIUC IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 to be almost the idol of liis people, and little did those present 
 at the ceremony of September anticipate that within eight 
 months the reign that had been commenced under such favour- 
 able auspices would come to a tragic and melancholy end. 
 Had the weakness and instability of Radama’s character been 
 better known and more fully considered, and had his dissolute- 
 ness and licentiousness been better known, the sad termination 
 of his short reign would have produced far less surprise. His 
 steady friendship for the persecuted Christians, his hatred of 
 blood-sheding, and his desire to stand well in the estimation 
 of Europeans are well known. But the darker side of his 
 character seems never to have been understood by those most 
 interested in his career. A halo of romance was consequently 
 thrown around the youthful King, in the imagination of many, 
 and hence the violent shock and bitter disappointment caused 
 by his death. A juster estimate of his character has probably 
 long since been formed by those most interested in Madagas- 
 car, and the history of the revolution, and his assassination in his 
 own palace, on May 12th, 1863 , are well known. Probably, 
 however, there still lurks in the minds of some the idea that 
 Iladama’s character underwent a more rapid deterioration 
 than was actually the case, and that during the early part of 
 his short reign he was one of whom it might be said, that lie 
 was not far from the kingdom of God. Such a favourable view 
 of his character is, however, utterly opposed to facts but too 
 well known in Madagascar.” 
 
 While the above statements, from the pen of my respected 
 friend, the Rev. W. E. Cousins, are no doubt perfectly true, 
 it is also a fact, that the ruin of poor Radama was accelerated, 
 and his untimely end very much hastened by the conduct of 
 some French officers and others who got to the capital, and 
 who aided and encouraged him in his sins, and in those orgies 
 that were practised in his palace. They probably taught him 
 many sins he had never dreamt of before. They had cham- 
 pagne suppers night after night, for weeks and months, 
 followed by scenes that dare not be described, and for many 
 months the poor King could seldom be said to be in his senses. 
 Things were brought to a crisis, however, by the King 
 insanely throwing all Malagasy law and tradition to the winds, 
 and wishing to introduce the law of French duelling. It is 
 said that his officers besought him on their knees with tears 
 not to proclaim such a law ; but he would not relent, when the 
 Prime Minister deliberately said : “Do you mean to say that 
 if two persons quarrel and fight, and if one kills the other, the 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 21 
 
 murderer shall not be punished ? ” To which the King replied : 
 “I agree to that.” The Prime Minister then said, “Aoka ary,” 
 “enough then,” and then left the place, and the obnoxious 
 order cost the King his life. 
 
 “In estimating the effect of Radama’s policy upon the 
 Church of Christ in Madagascar, it must be acknowledged 
 that his thorough hatred of restraint of every kind, and the 
 absolute freedom granted by him to all classes of his subjects, 
 allowed the long repressed power of Christianity to assert 
 itself, and by rapid progress to take so firm a hold upon the 
 people as to convince the government of the folly of again 
 attempting a policy of repression.” 
 
 “Radama II. was succeeded by his widow Rabodo, who was 
 proclaimed Queen on the afternoon of the day upon which her 
 husband was assassinated, under the title of Rasoherina I. 
 Before she was proclaimed, a paper was presented to her, by 
 her ministers, advisers, and officers, containing seven articles, 
 one of which stated in the strongest possible terms that 
 Chistianity should never more be forbidden or hindered by the 
 Government of Madayascar ! That I believe was mainly the 
 work of the present Prime Minister. The new Queen was 
 personally unfavourable to the Christian religion ; but she 
 never, during the five years of her reign, openly deviated from 
 that agreement, the acceptance of which was made a condition 
 of her assuming the crown. In many respects, the reign of 
 Rasoherina was a period of retrogression, and the Christians 
 were often troubled by the fear of another outbreak of perse- 
 cution.” 
 
 “At several of the great Kabary, or public assemblies, held 
 at various times during the reign of Rasoherina, messages 
 hostile to Christianity were sent to her by representatives of 
 some of the more important distant places. But her uniform 
 answer to such messages was, that she was determined not to 
 depart from the policy of toleration with which her reign was 
 commenced. Towards the end of the reign of Rasoherina a 
 more steady confidence gained ground among- the people, 
 and Christianity continued to make slow but real progress. 
 Treaties of friendship were successively entered into with 
 England, (signed June 27th, 1865), and America, (signed 
 February 14th, 1867), (A French treaty was under consider- 
 tion in Rasoherina’s reign ; but was not finally agreed to till 
 August 8th, 1868, some months after the accession of Rana- 
 valona II.) and thus the fears of any breach between Euro- 
 peans and the Hova Government, and of any consequent 
 
22 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 hostility to Christianity were dispelled. To the honour of 
 England, and of England’s noble Queen it ought to be told, 
 that the British Consul, who negotiated the treaty of friend- 
 ship, was charged with a special personal message from Queen 
 Victoria, asking that, as an expression of personal friendship 
 to herself, the Queen of Madagascar would not allow the 
 native Christians to be persecuted on account of their religion. 
 This message had its desired effect, by securing the insertion 
 of the toleration clause in the treaty, (‘Her Majesty the Queen 
 of Madagascar, from her friendship for Her Britannic Majesty, 
 promises to grant full religious liberty to all her subjects.’ 
 Treaty between England and Madagascar, June 27th, 1865.) 
 and will form, in the estimation of many, one of the brightest 
 jewels in the crown of Queen Victoria ; whilst it will remind 
 some of the memorable message sent from Windsor Castle, by 
 Queen Adelaide, to the persecuting Ranavalona I. (March 
 1837): ‘Tell the Queen of Madagascar from me, that she can 
 do nothing so beneficial to her country as receive the Christian 
 religion.’”* Thus, from 1865, to 1868, the Malagasy people 
 owed it to Queen Victoria that they had the fullest religious 
 toleration! 
 
 “An event ought to be mentioned here, which tended to 
 produce, not an antagonism to Europeans generally perhaps, 
 but a deep seated anti-French feeling among the natives of 
 Madagascar,” and little wonder, for it was nothing less than 
 the Imperial Government of France compelling that poor 
 Malagasy Government to pay 240,000 dollars, (£48,000) in 
 September, 1865, as indemnity for non-fulfilment of the 
 outrageous treaty made by Radama II., in one of his fits of 
 drink or delirium with a worthless French adventurer named 
 Lambert, by which he made over large parts of Madagascar 
 to him and a French company of which Lambert was to be 
 the head, contrary to all Malagasy law and tradition. For 
 the getting of this treaty from Radama II., and the laying it 
 at the feet of Napoleon III., Lambert was to be made Duke 
 of Madagascar, when the death of Radama II., put a stop 
 to all their plans. Although the Malagasy Government 
 repudiated the treaty that Radama II. had made with Lam- 
 bert, as soon as they knew of it, still the French compelled 
 them either to fulfil it or pay the above mentioned indemnity. 
 The fact is, what the French wanted was war with Mada- 
 gascar, so that they might have a sort of plausible excuse for 
 taking over an Island that they have long wished to possess ; 
 
 * W. E. Cousins. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 23 
 
 and which, but for the good offices of the Liberal Govern- 
 ment of England, and their very decided : “Hands off Mada- 
 gascar,” they would probably have been in possession of 
 to-day. 
 
 “Queen Rosoherina I. died on Wednesday, April 1st, 1868, 
 and early on the morning of Thursday, April 2nd, Ramoma, 
 a first cousin of Rosoherina, was proclaimed Queen under the 
 title of Ranavalona II. No idols were brought forth when 
 she made her first public appearance to the people on the 
 balcony of the large palace ; and no idols were to be seen at 
 the funeral of Queen Rosoherina. From all that could be 
 learned at the time, the new reign promised fair to be more 
 favourable to Christianity than that of Rosoherina had been. 
 
 “The attempt that had been made to change the government 
 had failed ; but the strong desire on the part of the people for 
 more liberal measures had been clearly shown, and the 
 rulers of the country saw that they had been standing upon a 
 mine ready to explode at any moment, and that their con- 
 tinuance in power must depend upon their keeping in harmony 
 with the advancing ideas of their people.” * Things had come 
 to a crisis, and the rulers of the country had to make up their 
 minds either to lead the people or to follow them. They could 
 not afford to follow them, and so were bound to lead them. 
 Various changes were accordingly made. The Queen had in 
 early life, it is said, been very interested in Christianity, and 
 had been much impressed by the truths which had been read 
 to her from the Bible, by one of the native preachers, and a 
 Bible, or some books of it, are said to have been hid for a 
 long time in one of the corners of her father’s court-yard. 
 But the truth seemed as if it had been choked by the 
 conniptions of the corrupt court of her aunt Queen Ranavalona 
 I., and kept from bringing forth fruit by the persecutions of 
 those terrible times. But the truth was not dead ; for the 
 announcement that she was to be the Queen of Madagascar 
 seemed to have quickened it into life, and to have lead her to 
 think what an opportunity she was about to have for serving 
 God and of taking a stand for Him and His truth. She told 
 her officers that she meant to worship the true God, and she 
 began her reign with family worship in her palace morning 
 and evening. 
 
 “One by one there came indications that the Queen and the 
 Prime Minister would declare themselves Christians. At the 
 coronation of the Queen, which took place on September 3rd, 
 
 * W. E. Cousins. 
 
24 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 Andohalo Church, Antananarivo. 
 
 1868, the declaration in favour of Christianity was unmis- 
 takable ; ” for the people were told in the royal proclamation : 
 
 (Art. 8.) “ And this also is my roord to you , ye under 
 
 heaven, in regard to the praying : it is not enforced ; it is not 
 restrained ; for God made you." 
 
 “Ranavalona I., the cruel persecuting Queen — the ‘Bloody 
 Mary’ of Madagascar — had done her best to burn and destroy 
 all the Bibles in the land ; but Ranavalona II., the Christian 
 Queen of Madagascar, had a Bible placed at her side in sight of 
 the thousands of her subjects, gathered from all parts of Mada- 
 gascar, to be present at her coronation.” And thus the Bible 
 and the crown were for the first time associated in Madagas- 
 car ; God grant that they may never again be separated. 
 “The reign of Ranavalona I. had been a reign of bloodshed 
 and terror ; but at the coronation of Ranavalona II. the words 
 ‘Glory to God,’ ‘Peace on Earth,’ ‘Goodwill among Men, 
 ‘God shall be with us,’ were inscribed in letters of gold on the 
 canopy under which her throne was placed. These things 
 augured well for the progress of Christianity, and time has 
 proved that they were not mere empty symbols, but Ranava- 
 lona II., and her enlightened Prime Minister, are most 
 anxious to see Madagascar a Christian country ; and a 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 25 
 
 succession of most important events has since made this 
 evident to all,” except those who have no wish to see it, or 
 who are so blinded by prejudice that they cannot see it. 
 
 “On Sabbath, October 28th, 1868, a religious service was 
 begun in the palace for the benefit of the Queen and Prime 
 Minister, and their attendants. From the beginning up until 
 April last, this service was conducted by native preachers 
 alone. Probably some fear of difficulty with the French 
 prevented the Queen from asking any of the English mission- 
 aries to take part in the services. About the same time as the 
 palace service was begun, all government work was stopped 
 on Sabbath. The various markets formerly held on Sunday 
 were ordered to be changed to some other day. Proclamations 
 were made throughout the country to the effect that the 
 Queen commanded the people to abstain from all work on 
 Sunday; and on February 21st, 1869, the Queen and Prime 
 Minister w r ere publicly baptized.” * 
 
 “On July 20th, the foundation stone of a Chapel Royal 
 was laid, and in the stone the following statement was 
 placed : — 
 
 ‘By the power of God, and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I, Rana- 
 vklomanjaka, Queen of Madagascar, founded this House of Prayer on 
 the 13th Adimizana, (20th July), in the year of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 1869, as a House of Prayer for the praise and service of God, King 
 of Kings, and Lord of Lords, according to the word in the sacred 
 Scriptures, by Jesus Christ the Lord, who died for the sins of all men, 
 and rose again for the justification and salvation of all who believe in 
 and love Him. 
 
 For these reasons this stone house, founded by me, as a House of 
 Prayer, cannot be destroyed by any one, whoever may be King of this 
 my land, for ever and for ever ; for if he shall destroy this House of 
 Prayer to God which I have founded, then is he not King of my land 
 Madagascar. 
 
 Wherefore I have signed my name with my hand and the seal of 
 the kingdom. 
 
 (Signed) Ranavalomanjaka, 
 
 Queen of Madagascar. 
 
 This word is genuine, and the signature by the hand of Ranavalom- 
 jaka is genuine, (Says) Rainilaiarivony, 
 
 Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of Madagascar. 
 
 Mr. William Pool, of the London Missionary Society, made the 
 designs of this House of Prayer .’ — Missionary Chronicle , Jan., 1870. 
 
 * A Brief Review of the London Missionary Society’s Mission in Mada- 
 gascar, from 1861 to 1870, by Rev. W. E. Cousins. 
 
26 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 That building is now finished, and was publicly opened by 
 the Queen in person on the 8th of April, 1880, when the 
 missionaries of the London Missionary Society, and the 
 Friends’ Foreign Mission Association preached and presided, 
 having been requested to do so by Her Majesty. After the 
 first day of the opening, the Chapel Royal was thrown open 
 to the congregations of the twenty sections, or districts, into 
 which the mission of the London Missionary Society and the 
 Friends’ Foreign Mission Association are divided, and Her 
 Majesty worshipped there with her people in her own Royal 
 Chapel for twenty days ! The Chapel Royal is certainly a 
 beautiful building, and is looked upon with surprise and 
 admiration by all who see it, and it reflects the greatest credit 
 upon Mr. W. Pool, the architect and builder for the London 
 Missionary Society in Madagascar, by whom the plans were 
 drawn, and who also superintended its erection, as also, upon 
 the Malagasy workmen who erected it. It may also be very 
 fairly said to be “a visible manifestation to all of the unhesitat- 
 ing manner in which the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ has 
 been adopted by the rulers of Madagascar, and confirms the 
 truth of what Ranavalona II. has repeatedly said on public 
 occasions since her accession to the throne : Ny fanjakako an- 
 kiniko amini Andriamitra, (‘I rest my kingdom upon God !’)”* 
 Since 1866, the missionaries of the London Missionary 
 Society have had a band of worthy fellow-workers, and able 
 devoted labourers from the Friends’ Foreign Mission Associa- 
 tion, labouring along with them in all that is for the temporal 
 and eternal welfare of the people. These Quaker missionaries 
 are doing a good work in Madagascar, mainly, although by no 
 means exclusively, in the way of education, they have the 
 largest and finest girls’ School in the Island, and their boys’ 
 School is only second to the London Missionary Society’s 
 Normal School, while they are giving very substantial help in 
 the preparation of a pure and proper literature for the young 
 and rising generation, and among them are some of the ablest 
 and most devoted missionaries in Madagascar. 
 
 [1870.] 
 
 On the 8th of September, 1869, Kelimalaza, (little but 
 renowned) the chief idol in Imerina, the central province of 
 
 •* Cousins. 
 
The Palace Church, Antananarivo. (From a Photograph.) 
 
28 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 Madagascar, was committed to the flames, by the orders of 
 Ranavolona II., Queen of Madagascar. During the remainder 
 of the month of September, a general burning of idols and 
 charms took place all over the central provinces of Imerina 
 and Vonizongo; and the great majority of the people com- 
 mitted those useless idols, which had been the objects of vener- 
 ation and terror for ages, to the fires without any great grief 
 for the loss of them ; for many of them had “turned to God 
 from idols to serve the living and true God ; and to wait for 
 His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even 
 J esus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.” 
 
 The officer sent by the Queen to the village of the great 
 idol, in order to burn it, speaking in the name of the Queen 
 said : — “Whose is this idol ? Is it yours, or is it mine ? ” The 
 keepers could not but reply that it was the Queen’s. “Then, 
 said the officer, “If this is mine, says Ranav&lomanjaka, I shall 
 burn my idol, for my kingdom rests upon God. My ancestors, 
 through lack of knowledge, trusted in sampy, (idols) but my 
 trust is in God. Without farther ado they set fire to Iveli- 
 maloza, and burnt him and his umbrella and all his belongings.” 
 Or as the people themselves put it, “ Insson-ko-setrohaizy ,” 
 (“they went to smoke ! ”) “The idol was simply a small piece 
 of wood resembling an insect, wrapped in scarlet cloth, and 
 decorated with silver chains.” * 
 
 “The effect produced by this public abolition of idolatry 
 was to make almost the entire population of the central 
 provinces nominal Christians ; and also to lead many, who had 
 long been halting between two opinions, who had lost all faith 
 in the foinner superstitions, and were longing and sighing for 
 something better, and yet were afraid to cast in their lot with 
 God’s people until they saw how the new Queen would do, to 
 decide for Christ and Christianity. As we look and think of 
 the great work then done, and the great change brought over 
 the minds of vast multitudes of the people, with all its draw- 
 backs, and they were neither few nor small, we can only say : 
 ‘It was the Lord’s doing, and marvellous in our eyes! ’ ” * Some 
 seemed to have thought that it was a mere matter of policy 
 on the part of the Queen and the Prime Minister professing 
 Christianity when they did ; but we believe it was a matter of 
 the purest and highest principle that could have been expected 
 of them, when all the circumstances of the case are taken into 
 account ; and we think their consistent Christian conduct since 
 has proved that it was a matter of principle and not mere 
 
 * Miss. Chron. 
 
MISSION WOKK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 29 
 
 policy. But even if it had only been a matter of policy, 
 surely Christian policy, and the policy which conveyed such 
 blessings to multitudes and to the Church of Christ was not a 
 bad thing. 
 
 “The tires of the first Ranavalona,” the persecuting Queen 
 of Madagascar, in which some of the noblest and bravest of 
 the “noble army of martyrs” perished, are remembered only 
 “with horror and detestation,” and are likely to be, by all in 
 every] land and every age, who have hearts to feel for the 
 sufferings of their fellow-men, while “the fires kindled by the 
 
 The Queen’s Pew, Palace Church. 
 
 second Ranavalona,” the present noble, enlightened, and 
 Christian Queen of Madagascar, “ will be remembered with 
 gratitude and pleasure” by all who have any interest in the 
 spread of the gospel and extension of the kingdom of God, 
 
30 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 The news of the burning of the idols reached the Directors 
 of the London Missionary Society about the middle of January 
 1870, and they decided to send out four new missionaries at 
 once. On the 22nd of January I was asked if I would be one 
 of the four, who were to sail a month from that date. I said 
 I would, and was told to go and prepare at once, which I did, 
 and within a month we were on our way to Madagascar. But 
 on the way I was struck down with typhoid fever, which 
 detained me some six weeks longer in the country, so that it 
 was not until the 6th of April, that we sailed from Gravesend 
 for Mauritius, on our way to Madagascar. As I was in 
 a very weak state when we left England, I did not get so 
 much good from the voyage as it was expected I would, so was 
 not very strong when we got to Mauritius, and, as there was 
 a deal of fever hanging about Port Louis at that time, we were 
 advised to go up to Curipipe, and stay there for the time we 
 might have to remain in Mauritius waiting for a chance to get 
 over to Madagascar. At Curipipe I was put into a bed with 
 damp sheets, which, in my then weak state, brought on a very 
 severe attack of sciatica, from which I suffered severely for 
 nearly four months. As was to be expected under the circum- 
 stances, my journey from the coast to the capital, was very 
 far from being so comfortable as it might have been ; for, being 
 jolted on the shoulders of four men, for some 260 miles, in a 
 very poor apology for even a Malagasy palanquin, while suffer- 
 ing from an acute attack of sciatica, can easily be understood 
 by any one as not having been very pleasant ! 
 
 We reached Mauritius on Sunday evening the fourth of 
 July, having been 89 days on the voyage from England ; and 
 we left Mauritius again for Madagascar on Saturday the 
 tenth, reaching Tamatave, the port on the north-east coast, on 
 Thursday the fifteenth, and Antananarivo, the capital of 
 Madagascar, on Saturday the thirtieth, fully five months from 
 the time of our leaving home. 
 
 As I have stated, we reached Antananarivo, the capital of 
 Madagascar, on Saturday the 30tli of July. On the following 
 Friday there was a meeting of the Imerina District Committee, 
 when I laid my instructions from the Directors on the table, 
 and I asked for some one to go with me to Vonizongo, in 
 order to examine and see where it would be best for me to 
 have my station. F or although I was allowed by my instruc- 
 tions to remain for the first year at the capital, if I felt so 
 inclined, and thought there would be any advantage to my 
 work by doing so ; still, as I was very anxious to go to my 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 31 
 
 own station, and to the people for whom I had come and to 
 my work, I had cpiite made up my mind that we should go on 
 to our own station at once at all risks. 
 
 My friend, the Rev. W. E. Cousins, was asked by the Com- 
 mittee to go with me, and he very kindly consented to do so, 
 and we arranged to start the next Thursday for the West ; but 
 we were prevented going then, and had to put off our going 
 until the following Tuesday. But on the Sabbath previous I 
 was prostrated by another very severe attack of sciatica, from 
 which I suffered for nearly four months, and was thus pre- 
 vented from going to Yonizongo at all during 1870; but as 
 was. after proved, all this was but a blessing in disguise. 
 I was rendered perfectly helpless by the attack, and was at 
 times in the most excruciating pain, and could get no sleep 
 at night, unless when under the influence of morphia, and so 
 the doctor had to come every evening and inject morphia 
 into my thigh, so as to sooth the pain that I might get sleep. 
 But unfortunately they had none of the proper preparation of 
 morphia, and so had to make up some compound with opium 
 and spirits of wine, which used to burn down the nerves of my 
 leg like molten metal, putting me in dreadful agony, and caus- 
 ing me to scream from sheer pain. Night after night I made 
 up my mind that I would not scream out, and used to put the 
 corner of the pillow into my mouth ; but it was of no use ; for 
 as the preparation went tearing down my leg like liquid fire, 
 there was nothing for it but to scream in perfect torture ; but 
 such was the relief I got from its soothing effects, and from 
 the sleep which it induced, that I was quite prepared to suffer 
 the few moments of pain, in order to get some relief from the 
 gnawing pain of the sciatica, and a fair night’s rest. 
 
 After a time my system got so accustomed to the opium, 
 that the dose had to be largely increased before it took effect, 
 and then it had to be given up, and I got large doses of 
 bi’omide of potassium to induce sleep ; but either that or the 
 opium, or perhaps both of them together, quite destroyed my 
 appetite, and then I had to get all sorts of tonics to try and 
 revive it, but with little effect. I was reduced to a most 
 emaciated condition, and was as helpless as a child, in fact, I 
 had to be lifted into bed and out of it, and dressed and 
 undressed just like a child. It was a sad and severe time for 
 both of us, although we also found that, “ God never smites 
 with both hands,” and that “all things work together 
 for good to them that love God.” We were in the path of 
 duty, and only prevented by His providence from being at our 
 
32 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 post, and so our duty plainly was to cpiietly wait His time, 
 and,- if needs was, suffer, however trying it might he to the 
 flesh. My fellow missionaries took a A ery gloomy view of my 
 case, so much so, that they discussed whether it would not be 
 better and safer, to send me down to the coast to go home 
 again, even in my then weak state, rather than risk my 
 remaining through the rainy season before I returned home ; 
 hut that I would have to return seemed inevitable, as no 
 one thought I would ever be able to do any work in Mada- 
 gascar, and I do not at all wonder at their thinking as they 
 did. For my own part, I never took such a view of my 
 then seemingly hopeless condition, for I could not think that 
 I had gone to Madagascar only to die, and I felt a sort of 
 inward conviction “ I shall not die but live and declare the 
 work of God,” and that feeling helped much to sustain my 
 spirit through all those trying months. 
 
 In October we removed, by the doctor’s orders, to another 
 house on the top of the Faravohitra hill, at the north end of 
 the capital, in order that I might get more fresh air than I 
 was getting down near the market place. About a fortnight 
 after we removed to F aravohitra, and just as I was being able 
 to move about a little by the aid of walking sticks, my wife 
 was laid low, and after sixteen hours of convulsions the 
 doctor said she could not possibly survive. I had been up the 
 most of the night before with her, and being but weak, I felt 
 worn out, and was compelled to go and lie down, and had 
 fallen asleep, when the doctor sent to waken me to take my 
 last look of her in life, he feeling convinced that she could 
 not live much longer, and that probably the next attack 
 would carry her off. But after the lady, (Miss Gilpin), who 
 was watching her with him, had left the bedroom to waken 
 me, he called her back, as he thought it would agitate me 
 terribly to be told, in my weak state, of her all but hope- 
 less condition, and perhaps she might not have any more 
 attacks, and in God’s goodness she had not, and thus He 
 was better to us than all our fears. And although the 
 poisoned blood which had caused the convulsions afterwards 
 went to the brain, and she was quite wrong in her mind for 
 about a week, and in a state of great weakness for many 
 weeks ; still all these but showed what a great mercy my 
 attack of sciatica had been, by which we had been kept in 
 the capital and thus near to medical assistance ; for, but for 
 that attack, and we would been there at our own station in 
 Vonizongo all alone, and forty miles — a hard day’s journey — 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 33 
 
 from assistance of any kind, and in that case my wife must 
 have died, and perhaps the shock of her death might have 
 been more than I had strength for. As it was, all turned out 
 for the best, and we saw then, and have seen since, how much 
 there was of the goodness and guidance of God in all our 
 sickness and sorrow, and in all we were then called upon to 
 pass through. 
 
 Towards the end of the rainy season, in the early part of the 
 year 1871, we began to make preparations for going on to Voni- 
 zongo, and to our station, as soon as the season would permit ; 
 but to this the doctors objected most strongly. They said 
 that 1 was utterly unfit to face the fever of the west, adding, 
 that 1 little knew to what I was going, and in that they were 
 perfectly right. They offered to give me certificates stating, 
 that in their opinion 1 was quite unfit to go to work in such 
 a noted fever district as V onizongo, and that I ought not to 
 be allowed to go ; but these I politely, but most positively 
 declined to accept of, feeling it to be my duty to go on to the 
 station to which I had been appointed by the Directors. The 
 doctors said I ought to make application for one of the 
 stations in the capital, but that I also declined to do, saying that 
 anything in that direction must come either from the Imerina 
 Distx-ict Committee, or from the Directors, both of whom 
 knew perfectly well of my condition, as also of the state of the 
 district to which I had been appointed, and to which I 
 intended going, and not from me, and as neither of them had 
 moved in the matter it was not for me to do so, and that I 
 was determined to go the station to which I had been 
 appointed, or go home again. Thus while I had a better 
 reason for remaining in the capital instead of going on to 
 the station to which I had been originally appointed, than any 
 one else who has ever done so since, every year I was at my own 
 station proved more and more plainly, that I did the right 
 thing in refusing to ask to be allowed to remain in the capital 
 instead of going on to my station, and that every man who 
 does not go to the station to which he has been appointed ; 
 but sticks at the capital, or some other half-way house, to be 
 a stop-gap or any thing else, does a wrong thing, and most 
 seriously risks the ruin of his usefulness as a missionary, and 
 his reputation as an honourable man for ever. Quite true, 
 the Directors are but fallible men, and far from the field 
 of operations, and have often to make their appointments upon 
 very slender data ; with but little knowledge of the men, and 
 perhaps even less of the field they are going to ; but they are 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 also sensible men, and as such quite willing to listen to 
 reason, and if a case can be made out that it is impossible for 
 a man to go to his appointed station, or that it would not be 
 for the interest of the Society that he should do so, I have no 
 doubt the appointment would be altered ; but until it is altered, 
 I belive it to be every man’s duty to hold himself bound by 
 the appointment he undertook from the Directors, throwing 
 the burden of his doing so upon them. It is no answer to say, 
 or rather not such an answer as it seems at first sight, that 
 letters on such subjects never reach the Directors, or that 
 even if they do, but little attention is paid to them unless they 
 come through certain channels. 
 
 As we would not consent to move from our determination 
 to go on to our own station, the doctors ordered us away to the 
 hills near the great forest for a month, in order to get some- 
 what braced up before we started for the west. We were 
 there on the hills during the month of April, and on our return 
 to the capital, my friend, the Rev. W. E. Cous’ns, and I left 
 for a fortnight’s tour in Vonizongo, to see what part of the 
 district it would be best for me to settle down in. We went 
 over a large part of the district, and met with a very hearty 
 reception everywhere. Of course the people in many parts of 
 the district were anxious that the White Teacher shoidd settle 
 among them ; but after the most careful consideration of all 
 claims, we came to the conclusion that Fihaonana, the home 
 of the martyrs, where the mother Church of the entire district 
 was, and around which so many sacred associations, memories 
 of the martyrs, and of the persecutions of former times clung, 
 was the best place for the mission station, and every year we 
 were in the Island only proved the wisdom of the advice 
 given to the Imerina District Committee, when we counselled 
 them to place the new mission station at Fihaonana. 
 
 We did a good deal of preaching and teaching while in 
 V onizongo on that occasion, a nd had a large number of questions 
 to answer. For example — we were asked, who the Queen of 
 Sheba was, and were she came from. How it was that Mel- 
 chisedec had neither father nor mother. Who the brethren 
 of the Lord were. And whether Mr. Pool, who built the 
 stone Churches at the capital, (the Society’s architect and 
 builder for Madagascar), pronounced by the Malagasy, 
 Powlie, and Paul (pronounced Powlie) the Apostle, who 
 wrote the Epistles, were the same ! &c., &c. 
 
 We found that one of the local preachers had been electri- 
 fying the district, by a sermon which consisted mainly of an 
 
MISSION WOllK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 35 
 
 accoimt of a dialogue, represented as having taken place 
 in heaven between the Father and the Son, when the Son 
 wished to leave heaven and come to earth to save mankind 
 on accoimt of Iris love for them. The Father was represented 
 as warning the Son, that the people on earth were all very 
 wicked, and that they would only treat him very badly and 
 then put him to death ; and the Son as saying, that He knew 
 all that very well ; hut it was just because they were so bad 
 that He wished to go and save them, and such was His love 
 for them, that he could not resist going even if they did put 
 Him to death ! 
 
 We also found, or rather were told, of a case in which 
 Church discipline had been exercised in quite a new, 
 and certainly very severe way on a man, just a few weeks 
 before our arrival in the district, where, in fact, Malagasy 
 military discipline had been exercised by a Church. The case 
 was this. A certain man from the capital had been going 
 through the district teaching hymn singing, and taught so 
 many hymns and tunes for so many dollars. He gave himself 
 out to be one of the aides-de-camp of the Prime Minister, 
 which gave him a status and influence in the eyes of the people, 
 that he otherwise would not have had. On leaving one of the 
 villages, where he had been teaching hymn singing, he took 
 the wife of one of the deacons of the village Church with him. 
 When this was discovered, a Church meeting was called, and 
 the husband of the woman and another of the deacons of the 
 Church were sent after the guilty couple, with instructions to 
 exercise discipline on the man, and bring the woman back. 
 They found the couple sitting together on the top of a hill 
 which overhung the river Ikopa, basking in the sun. They 
 immediately laid hold of the man, rolled him up in his lamba — 
 his cotton plaid — and flung him from the top of the hill into 
 the river where he was drowned, and went away home, taking 
 the woman with them, and reported the Church business 
 finished ! 
 
 W e foimd a large native mud hut, about twenty feet by 
 twelve, in the middle of the village of Fihaonana, and 
 although it was far from what we would have liked in the way 
 of a house, and ought to have had in such a noted fever district 
 as Vonizongo, still it was the best that was to be got, and so 
 we took it, had it cleaned out, and small glazed frames put 
 into the square holes in the walls that served for windows, and 
 on the 11th of July, 1871, we settled down at Fihaonana and 
 began our work, to which we kept until driven from our post, 
 
36 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 after many months of very severe suffering from fever, in 
 July, 1879. 
 
 We very soon found that our mud hut habitation was no 
 better than it looked, for having nothing but the thin grass 
 thatching over us, we suffered very severely from the cold 
 east winds during the night in the cold season. For being, as 
 were were, in the interior, some 5,000 feet above the level of 
 the sea, the south-east trade winds which blow over the Island 
 for about two-thirds of the year, are often most piercingly 
 cold overnight. It was while living in that mud hut, that 
 my Avife first got fever badly, and our eldest child bad a very 
 narrow escape of her life from a most severe attack of 
 bronchitis, brought on by the cold of the nights. Notwith- 
 standing that I made a sort of small closet for heV little cot, 
 by putting one of our large Malagasy made Avardrobes on each 
 side of it, and then putting boards over the top, it was far too 
 cold a place for her to sleep in, and hence she suffered from it 
 so severely, with no one to doctor but myself and my Avife ; 
 for Ave Avere forty miles from a medical man. Our little boy 
 also suffered Avhile we Avere there from dysentery, from the 
 effects of our situation in the middle of a Malagasy Aollage, 
 which is far from being one of the cleanest places in creation. 
 But as we had no other place to live in until I got a house 
 built, and there Avas a deal of work, worry, and red-tapeism to 
 be got through before that could be got finished, we had just 
 to make the best of it, and He Avho tempers the wind to the 
 shorn lamb, was not unmindful of us or of ours. 
 
 [1871.] 
 
 Vonizongo is a large district, about forty miles to the north- 
 Avest of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. It lies 
 mainly Avitliin tAvo ranges of hills, and is bounded on three 
 sides by two large rivers — the Ikiopa and the Betsiboka ; or 
 to speak more precisely still, by the two branches of the one 
 river, the Betsiboka or Katsepo. The river, or branch, which 
 is knoAvn as the Ikiopa, rises to the north-east of the capital, 
 a little to the south of the mountain of Angavo — the Ben 
 NeA-is of Madagascar — and in its course passes quite near to, 
 and waters the Avhole neighbourhood of Antananarivo. This 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 37 
 
 river or branch passes from the east, round the south and the 
 west of Yonizongo, and joins the Betsiboka on the north-west 
 at Imarovoay. The Betsiboka rises north-east of the capital, 
 flows round and bounds Yonizongo on the north, and joins 
 with the Ikiopa at Imarovoay, after which it is known by the 
 name of the Katsepo. It then passes through Iboina, and 
 flows out on the west coast at iMojanga. Within those two 
 rivers, or two branches of the one river, lies Yonizongo proper. 
 Yonizongo was never conquered, but the andriandcihy or chiefs, 
 gave themselves over to the Hova government, on certain 
 conditions. Originally the whole district was under a series 
 of petty chiefs ; little kings they were, in fact, very similar to 
 the chiefs of the Highlands of Scotland in former times ; and, 
 of course, yonder, as here, there was much fighting. Even 
 now, almost every village has its own andriandahy or chief, 
 who is the lord and master of the village, and all in it, either 
 as slaves or vahoaka — a sort of clansmen. This chief can do 
 almost anything he likes with his own people, and hence, as a 
 rule, they all follow as he leads, either to good or evil. In a 
 good many cases, he has been made the pastor of the little 
 village Church, for no other reason but that he is the chief of 
 the village, and ought therefore to be the head of the Church. 
 But while this is true, and in the present ignorant state of the 
 people, and the want of real and proper men able to undertake 
 the duties of the pastorate, it is perhaps the best thing that 
 could have been done ; for it must always be remembered that 
 the people are as yet overgrown children ; and while this is 
 quite true, I say, still it must and ought, in all fairness, to be 
 told on the other side, that to very many of those men the 
 Church of Christ in this land owes a deal. Some of the most 
 devoted of the martyrs were from among those men, and some 
 of the most earnest and devoted of the present pastors are 
 among them. I know personally but little of the early history 
 of the district, and seeing that such is the case, it may not be 
 out of place here to give a few facts from others. “Yonizongo 
 is a district renowned for having contained an unusual 
 number of petty chieftians and nobles. These have generally 
 claimed exemption from some particular kinds of service, such 
 as digging with the spade, fetching wood from the forests, 
 assisting in building houses for the Sovereign, &c. A number 
 of these were chosen, by Badama I., to assist in cultivating 
 some land at Foule Pointe, (on the east coast), where he 
 formed a colony ; and on the sendee being declined by them, 
 as incompatible with their dignity, Badama yielded the point, 
 
38 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 but still availed himself of their labours, by ordering that as 
 carrying a spade would be derogatory to their dignity, carrying 
 a musket could not, and they must, therefore, honourably 
 serve with the army in his wars. The inhabitants of the 
 district of Vonizongo were distinguished for their attachment 
 to charms and idols.” They are distinguished now, and have 
 been for years, for their attachment to the Gospel, and their 
 knowledge of, and faith in, the truth. During the year 1828, 
 three of the natives of this district were put to death, for 
 making the ody mahery — the powerful medicine or spell ; in 
 other words, for being sorcerers. And during the persecution, 
 fourteen were put to death for their love to Jesus Christ.” 
 “Vonizongo has no extensive valleys, but numerous small 
 fertile spots between the hills where large quantities of rice 
 are grown. This district, like other parts of the Island, con- 
 sists of numerous subdivisions. Its three principal towns are 
 Fihaonana, Fierenana, and Ankazobe.” * 
 
 From the time that the first missionaries came to Antan- 
 anarivo, a number of the people from Vonizongo came into 
 contact with them, and when they opened their first schools, 
 they had several young men from the district among their first 
 pupils, some of whom are now and have been some years 
 among the most devoted pastors of the district. And to some 
 of them, such as Razaka, the pastor of the mother Church at 
 Fihaonana, under God, we owe almost all that has been done 
 in the district for the advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom 
 there. I am told that it was Mr. Johns (who to the day of 
 his death had a deep interest in Vonizongo) who visited 
 Vonizongo for the first time in 1827, when he gathered the 
 people into six little meetings, or Churches, and afterwards 
 commenced schools at Isoavina, Fihaonana, Fierenana, An- 
 drombazana, Miaramanjaka, and Ankazobe. The house I 
 lived in at Fihaonana was on the site of the house in which 
 the first little Church in Vonizongo met 53 years before, the 
 mother of the present chief of the village was the first convert, 
 and her eldest son was the first preacher in the little Church, 
 and was afterwards burned at Faravohitra for his love to the 
 Lord Jesus, while his brother, the present chief, was sold into 
 slavery, and a third son is now second pastor at Fihaonana. 
 The people have the highest respect for the memories of those 
 devoted men who first brought the glad tidings of the Gospel 
 to Madagascar. They often speak most feelingly about them 
 and all they did, and their memories will long be cherished in 
 
 * Ellis. 
 
MISSION WOIilv IN YONIZONGO. 
 
 30 
 
 the hearts of the people. For Mr. Johns and Mr. Griffiths 
 they seem to have a more than ordinary respect, and for all they 
 
 did. The year after the Churches had been founded in Voni- 
 zongo, Radama I. died, but the Churches seemed to have 
 gained ground quietly for some years, and even after the 
 missionaries had left the island, and they were entirely at the 
 mercy of the late Queen Ranavalona — the Bloody Mary of 
 Madagascar — they seemed to have flourished and gained 
 strength. Even after things had begun to have a most 
 serious aspect at the capital, all was quiet in Yonizongo. This 
 might be accounted for by the distance of Vonizongo from the 
 capital, as also from the very few government officials who 
 would be there when compared with other parts of the country. 
 
 The first blood which was shed for the cause of the Lord 
 Jesus was in 1842, when two devoted men (Ratsitapahina and 
 Rabearahaba) suffered for having gone to preach the Gospel 
 to the Sakalavas, a very large tribe on the west side of the 
 island. “The Christians in Yonizongo having heard that some 
 of the Sakalava chiefs to the north-west were willing to 
 receive the Christian teachers, sent two of their number, 
 Ratsitapahina and Rabearahaba, to visit them. On their 
 return, these men were captured by the guards on the frontier, 
 and while their friends made their escape, they were carried 
 to the capital for trial. They were cruelly treated to induce 
 them to name their companions. To a Christian friend, who 
 brought them food while they were in prison, they managed 
 unperceived to whisper a message of affection to their fellow- 
 believers, and the assurance that whatever they might suffer 
 they would not reveal the names of their companions. And 
 they kept their word. On their trial, these Christians declared 
 to the judges that they went to the Sakalava country of their 
 own free will, to try to soften, by the preaching of the Word 
 of God, the hearts of the people who stole their cattle and 
 committed violence in the coimtry. They were sentenced to 
 
 die, and sent back to their own village to be executed. These 
 men had been soldiers, and manifested not only holy confidence 
 in God, but cheerful courage in death. They were both 
 executed in the public market-place, on Sunday, the 19th of 
 June, 1842. When led forth to be executed, they took leave 
 affectionately of their friends, saying, ‘Farewell, beloved 
 friends, God will cause us meet with Him in Paradise.’ The 
 heathen spectators were struck with awe and astonishment at 
 the manner in which these Christians met their death. Their 
 fellow-believers spoke of them as only having ascended to 
 
40 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 heaven before their companions. The heads of these first 
 martyrs of Vonizongo were severed from their bodies, and 
 fixed on poles in a public market-place (within gun-shot of my 
 house and the Church of Fihaonana, and quite near to a field 
 where in July, 1871, I preached in the open air to about 
 3000 people). But the sequel seemed to show that the ghastly 
 skulls served rather to perpetuate in the minds of the people 
 the constancy of the Christian, than deter others from receiving 
 their faith.” * 
 
 I have been unable to find out how many Church members 
 there were in Vonizongo when the persecution began. In a 
 letter written in 1856, it is stated that there were then 193. I 
 have been told by the present pastor of Fihaonana, Razaka, 
 that when the persecution began there were 36 Church 
 members at Fihaonana, 10 of whom are still living, and 26 
 dead. Of these 26 who are dead, two were burned, or rather 
 two suffered death: one, Ramitraho, being burned at Faravo- 
 hitra, and the other, Rakotonomei, was thrown over the rocks 
 at Ampamarinana. Both were preachers at Fihaonana. 
 Ramitraho was the tompo, or chief of the village — his brother 
 is so still — and his mother was the first convert to the faith of 
 Christ in Vonizongo. This Ramitraho seems to have been in 
 many respects a most remarkable man. After the breaking 
 out of the persecution, and when it was known that there were 
 many Christians in Vonizongo, several officers with men were 
 sent to bring them to the capital. While the officers were on 
 their way to Vonizongo, one came and told Ramitraho that 
 they were coming, and that he was specially mentioned, and 
 advised him to flee ; but the noble soul answered, “No, I will 
 not flee. If I flee to the coast, I may be killed by the Saka- 
 lavas, or I may die in the woods or the wilderness of famine 
 or fever, and if I am to die I will die' at my post.” He was 
 taken to the capital, along with about 300 others, a good many 
 of whom did not stand the test, but swore and promised to 
 pray to the idols, and so got free. But Ramitraho stood firm 
 as a rock in a stormy sea. All their threatenings seemed to 
 have moved and affected him as little as the wild winds of 
 winter move or affect the foundations of the everlasting hills. 
 He was burned at Faravohitra, and his fellow-labourer was 
 thrown over the rock at Ampamarinana. “Ramitraho, a 
 noble, a descendant of one of the most distinguished chiefs of 
 the country, replied (when asked to take the oaths invoking 
 the idols), ‘ God has given none to be worshipped on the 
 
 * Ellis. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 41 
 
 earth, nor under heaven, except the name of Jesus Christ.’ 
 ‘Fellow,’ exclaimed the officer, ‘will you not worship the 
 departed kings, and the idols which raised them up ? ’ To 
 which the steadfast confessor replied, ‘ I cannot worship any 
 of them, for they were kings given to be served, but not to be 
 worshipped. God alone is to be worshipped for ever and ever, 
 and to Him alone I pray.’ This faithful Christian sealed his 
 testimony to Jesus Christ with his blood in the flames.” 
 While Ramitraho was in prison, his mother visited him and 
 pleaded with him to say he would pray to the idols, and thus 
 save his life, but he said “No, I will not, I cannot.” I have 
 asked Razaka, the pastor of Fihaonana, if he really thought 
 his mother was a good woman. He answered, “Yes,” he had 
 no doubt whatever but that she was a thoroughly good woman. 
 “For,” said he, “ she used to visit the sick people and read 
 and pray with them, and teach the children, and do everything 
 that you could think of a good woman doing.” “Well but,” 
 I said, “ if she was really a good woman, how do you explain 
 her asking her son to say he would pray to the idols, in order 
 to save his life ? ” He answered, “ I do not know, sir ; but I 
 think she must have lost her mind at that time, through grief, 
 at the thought of the death of her eldest son, for I am quite sure 
 that she was a good woman.” Ramitraho’s younger brother 
 visited him while in prison also, and I have asked him if his 
 brother seemed rather afraid of death, or sorry to die ? He 
 said “No, not at all, he seemed rather to rejoice in the very 
 idea of it.” I have now in my possession the New Testament 
 which belonged to this good man, as also a part of his Bible ; 
 they were given to me by his wife, who seems to have been so 
 thoroughly crushed in spirit by the death of her husband, as 
 never to have got over it fully. The second brother of Ram- 
 itraho, he who is now the tompo, or chief, of the village of 
 Fihaonana, (Ratsimanjinjy), was sold into slavery, as was 
 also Razaka, the present pastor of Fihaonana, one of the most 
 remarkable men I ever met. To this man and his labours we 
 owe, under God, not only the number , but also the very 
 satisfactory state of the Churches in a very large part of Voni- 
 zongo. He was turned out of his father’s house while a lad, 
 because he would attend the teachings and preachings of the 
 first missionaries. He was sent to the coast by Radama II., 
 while prince, before the death of his mother, in order to see 
 what the French were doing on the west coast. He was 
 captured by the Sakalavas, was sold to the French, was taken 
 to Bourbon, and there they tried hard to make a priest of 
 
42 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 him, but could not ; he knew his Bible too well ; so when they 
 found that they could make nothing of him, and that he was 
 likely to turn some of those they had from them, by teaching 
 them the Gospel, they sent him back to Madagascar. He got 
 back to his own village, and since the death of the old Queen, 
 he has been not only the pastor of the mother Church at 
 Fihaonana, but really the head of the whole district, and the 
 man to whom all the Churches look as to their father and their 
 guide. He has, in fact, been a perfect Paul to the whole 
 district ; and although only a clansman, and no chief, still such 
 is the respect for the man, that he has more influence in the 
 district that any twenty chiefs. I remember once in a Bible 
 class asking this good man, how he would answer any one, 
 who might tell him that the Bible was not true, was, in fact, 
 only a fable, and thei’efore not a fit book for a man like him 
 to waste his time over. He said no one would ever maintain 
 such a thing, but some foolish ignorant Malagasy, who knew 
 no better. But I said, “ Supposing you were to meet with a 
 white man who was foolish enough to tell you that this Bible 
 was not God’s book at all ; but was simply ‘a cunningly 
 devised fable,’ I wish to know how you would answer him, and 
 prove that the Bible was true.” It was very hard for the 
 good man to suppose, that any white man could be so lost to 
 all common sense, and common reason, so foolish and ignorant 
 as to deny that the Bible was God’s book and true ; but I 
 asked him just to suppose the case of one, and say how he 
 would answer such a person. “ Well,” he said, “I know that 
 God made me, and I know that whoever wrote the Bible 
 must have known a very great deal about me ; for it tells so 
 truly of my state, and of how all my wants are to be met and 
 supplied. Now I cannot think that any one could have known 
 so much about me, as to write a book that suits me and 
 satisfies all my wants as the Bible does except my Maker, and 
 so I believe that God who made me wrote the Bible, and hence 
 it is that it tells so truly of my state, and satisfies all my wants. 
 Tells me so of my sins, and also tells me of a Saviour just 
 suited to my case.” 
 
 “Well, but,” I said, “if after all that he were to tell you, 
 that that did not prove it true ; but only proved that you 
 thought it true ; and were to say to you : my dear fellow, it is 
 all a mistake, you are deceived, it is only a fable, in fact, a lie, 
 although a very beautiful one, what would you say, how would 
 you answer him ? ” He said, “I would certainly say that it was 
 the strangest lie I had ever heard of or met with ; for I never 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 43 
 
 knew a lie do good in my life, and look at the good the Bible 
 has done to our country ! Before the Bible came this country 
 was simply a sink of iniquity, and look at the change which 
 the Bible has brought over this part of the country already 
 even. Sin is now hiding its head, and men are growing 
 ashamed of sins they once boasted about and laughed at. I do 
 not know anything about the lies of the white people ; but I can 
 tell you that our Malagasy lies are of a very different sort ! 
 It would be a most wonderful lie to do all the good it has done 
 in this land. No, sir, it cannot be a lie, it must be true, and 
 must be God’s book to do what it has done for our country.” 
 And I certainly thought the good man’s answer a very con- 
 clusive one ; being, as it was, so in the line of Nicodemus’ : 
 “F or no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except 
 God be with him.” (John iii. 2.) 
 
 Other two of the Church members of the first little Church 
 at Fihaonana, were sold into slavery, one of whom, Raman or- 
 inarivo, is now one of the pastors at Fihaonana. The other, 
 Rafaralahv, is one of the pastors at Miantso, some ten miles to 
 the south of the mission station at Fihaonana. Another of 
 the members ( Andrianarivo) died from the effects of his 
 prison treatment, and some fled to the Betsillo country. 
 
 In addition to those two preachers from Fihaonana, other 
 eight suffered death, who were from Vonizongo, besides twenty- 
 seven who were fined half the value of their persons or 
 property. “At Vonizongo, when the judge urged the people 
 to take the oath which recognised the idols, and to implore the 
 prescribed curse on themselves if they violated it, Rabodo- 
 manga stood forth and said, ‘I do not pray to wood and 
 stones, nor to the mountains. Unto God alone do I pray, for 
 He is great. He cannot have associates.’ One of the officers 
 said, ‘You wretch, will you not pray to the spirits of the 
 ancestors and to the idols ? ’ The heroic Christian woman 
 answered, ‘I do not pray to these ; it is God alone that I 
 serve.’ ” Four of the sisters of this woman were martyred, and 
 a sister’s daughter. Her son, Rainisoa, is pastor at Sam- 
 baina, and second only to Razaka in what he has done for the 
 spread of the truth. His mother was thrown over the rock at 
 Ampamarinana. Two of the eight whom I have just mentioned, 
 were Andriampaniry, who was a preacher at Fiarenana, (and 
 a pupil of Mr. Griffiths), and his wife, Ramarindalana, were 
 burned with Ramitraho, at Faravohitra. It was she whose 
 child was born, and perished in the flames with its mother. 
 They left one son when they died, who is now pastor at 
 
Fianarantsoa, the capital of the Betsillo province, South Madagascar. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 45 
 
 Fiarenana, in the same place and holding the same office as 
 his father did when he was burned. Then there was Rafara- 
 lahy, preacher at Sambaina, who, along with his wife, Rasek- 
 ena, and her three sisters, Ravao, Rafaravavy, and the mother 
 of Rainisoa, and also a sister’s child, Razafy, were thrown 
 over the rocks at Ampamarinana. Two of them were not 
 Church members, but their crime was that they prayed. 
 Then there were several others who ivere punished, some in 
 one way, some in another, and not a few promising to pray to 
 the idols, and so got free. Thus fourteen lost their lives 
 for their love to Jesus Christ, and many more were made 
 to suffer, not to mention the sufferings of those who lost dear 
 ones, as fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters — nor to 
 repeat the sufferings which, in fact, cannot be fully told (and 
 never will, until the great day) that many still living have 
 suffered. 
 
 Razaka, the pastor at Filiaonana, has told me, that during 
 the persecution many of the Christians from the capital, 
 among whom was Andriambelo, the co-pastor with Rev. W. 
 E. Cousins, at Amparibe, fled to Vonizongo. He said, they 
 used often to spend the night in reading the Bible together, 
 and praying, and when it was raining singing hymns, as the 
 noise of the falling rain kept the sound of the singing from 
 being heard any great distance off. They generally placed two 
 or three outside to watch, lest they might be caught ; and when 
 those on the out-look gave the alarm, the Bible was hid away, 
 and whoever entered only saw a few friends sitting talking 
 together. They used to go and come long distances to such 
 meetings, and at those meetings, tracts were lent from the one 
 to the other, as a tract could often be carried, and hid away 
 under their garments, when a Bible or Testament could not. 
 Parts of the New Testament were also lent about in that way, 
 even down to single leaves, and also leaves of the hymn book, 
 and the Pilgrim’s Progress. He said that they often used to 
 long for a rainy night, in order that they might be able to 
 sing. 
 
 “In order to avoid frequent interruption and danger, from the 
 constant watch kept over her by the emissaries of the Govern- 
 ment, Rafaravavy bought a house at Ambatonakanga. There 
 a small company of believers, some from the district of Voni- 
 zongo, forty miles distant, occasionally met at night for 
 prayer. Sometimes they travelled twenty miles to hold one 
 on the tops of the mountains, or in the hollows on its sides, 
 their religious meetings losing all sense of weariness, in the 
 
46 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 freedom and security with which they could join in praise and 
 prayer to God.” Razaka has also told me that when he heard 
 of the late Queen’s illness, he went oft' to the capital with a 
 heating heart, for he was on the borders of liberty. When he 
 got to the capital, he at once sought out Andriambelo, and 
 asked, “How is the Queen?” when he answered, “Very ill.” 
 Next day he went again and asked, and was told very ill still, 
 in fact, worse. On the third day, while they were sitting 
 talking together, they saw a man run past the house, and then 
 a few more. They got up and went out to ask the cause of 
 the excitement, when they were told that the Queen was dead. 
 “When we heard that,” he said, “we could not speak. We 
 took hold of each other’s hands, and looked in the face of each 
 other and wept. It was all we could do. We wept for joy, 
 for we were free.” But I said, “Did you weep for joy that 
 the Queen was dead, Iiazaka ? ” He said, “We did, sir, for 
 we knew then that we were free from our sorrows, and free to 
 worship God when and where we liked, and we wept for joy.” 
 At the death of the Queen, Razaka, and the other worthy men 
 who had been sold into slavery, were of course set free, and 
 the good men set to work at once, to build up what had been 
 broken down, and to spread abroad the truth as it is in Jesus 
 Christ, and to-day there are in Vonizongo over 100, on the 
 whole well regulated (considering the instruction which they 
 have received) and flourishing Churches, mainly the residt of 
 his labours. What is chiefly wanted now by those Churches, is 
 not increase of numbers, but increase in knowledge. In fact, 
 I do not expect a great growth in the future, either in Churches 
 or in members ; but I do expect a great spread of Christian 
 knowledge on the part of the people. I think there is every 
 reason to believe that there will be such an increase, for they 
 are most anxious to learn, and most diligent in the use of 
 every means which come within their reach. After the arrival 
 of the new missionaries in the country, Vonizongo was visited 
 for the first time by the Rev. W. E. Cousins. In May, 1864, 
 Mr. Cousins visited Vonizongo a second time. “This district 
 foi’med a hiding place for many of those who fled from the 
 capital, and from it many of the most stedfast martyrs came. 
 Nothing woidd so rejoice the Christians of Vonizongo, as the 
 appointment of a missionary to reside among them, and take 
 charge of the Churches in the district.” 
 
 Revs. G. Cousins and B. Briggs, visited Vonizongo in 1867. 
 Rev. W. E. Cousins had paid a visit (the third) in September 
 of 1866. Revs. R. Toy and J. Pearse visited them in 1868. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 47 
 
 Mr. Street visited in 1868. Rev. W. E. Cousins visited them 
 again in 1869, and then along with myself in the month of 
 May, 1871. 
 
 In 1866, Andriambelo, (the native pastor at Amparobe, 
 and now Royal Chaplain), spent a month among them teaching 
 and preaching ; and in 1868, Rabe, now pastor at Analakely, 
 in the capital, spent three months among them doing the same. 
 
 And now I come at last to what I have seen myself, since I 
 went to reside in the district. My object in giving all the above, 
 is that a sort of connected view of the district, and what has 
 been done there from the first may be clearly understood. I 
 visited the district along with Mr. Cousins in May of 1871. 
 W e spent a fortnight there ; but were unable to visit many of 
 the places we had intended on account of the amount of 
 fever there was at that time, our men refusing to take us to 
 those places because of the fever. I have lived there now almost 
 nine years, having gone there on the 11th July, 1871. On 
 both occasions we had a most hearty welcome, and our relation- 
 ship with the people has been of the happiest nature. In fact, 
 almost all that I have been brought in contact with, has been 
 of the most cheering and encouraging character, quite beyond 
 all my most sanguine expectations. Of course there is still, 
 and will be for a long time to come, a great amount of ignor- 
 ance, but who in their senses could look for or expect anything 
 else ; and in fact, if their opportunities for receiving instruction 
 are taken into account (and they most certainly ought to be), 
 I question very much if they ought not to rank very high 
 indeed as a most advanced and intelligent people. Why, if 
 one thinks but for a moment of what those very people were 
 only a few years ago, and what they are now, it seems some- 
 times almost too difficult to believe that all is real, and not a 
 dream. They have been from the first a very earnest people, 
 and most anxious to learn all they can. They have a 
 marvellous knowledge of their Bibles and Rew Testa- 
 ments. They do read them, whatever else they may or may 
 not do. I used to think that in Scotland the people read 
 their Bibles well, and I think so still ; but Yonizongo, I 
 almost think, leaves many parts of Scotland far behind. Of 
 course, many read the Bible and the New Testament because 
 they have no other book to read, but I even think that of itself 
 is good. But then it must be told on the other side that 
 many, very many, read them because they love them. Some- 
 times when I pressed them to buy other books they would say, 
 “ W e do not know these yet, but we know the Bible and the 
 
48 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 Testament, and we must have them, and perhaps we may buy 
 these afterwards.” I have sold many Bibles since I went to 
 Fihaonana, although not so many as I coidd have wished, 
 which is easily accounted for. First, Is. is a deal of money 
 for a Malagasy — for a people who divide their money into the 
 15th part of a penny — less than the 7th part of the much 
 abused Scotch “bawbee.” 
 
 A few weeks after I went to Fihaonana, Razaka the pastor, 
 came to me with a young man who had been sent from one of 
 the far off villages, to ask my advice under the following 
 circumstances The preacher of the Church, by whom he 
 had been sent to me, had fallen into sin, and was living a very 
 bad life with a young woman, one of the singers, notwith- 
 standing that he was a married man. The Church came to 
 know of his conduct, and were for turning him out at once ; 
 but then there was this difficulty. The Church had no pulpit 
 Bible of its own, and the one which had been used from the 
 first belonged to this man. Now if they turned him out, of 
 course, he would take his Bible with him, and the Church 
 would be left without one ; and yet they coidd not think of 
 keeping him still as a preacher. What were they to do ? 
 I soon put matters all right by giving the man a Bible 
 for the Church, which would belong to it and no one else, and 
 told them to turn the man out at once. 
 
 I have been told on good authority that there was an old 
 Andriandahy, or chief, down towards the west coast, who, one 
 day, called all his people, of whom I understand there are a 
 goodly number, together, and baptized them all straight ofl^ 
 and then told them, “Now you are baptized, see that you now 
 conduct youselves in a proper manner, for if I but hear of 
 any of you doing wrong, stealing, or getting drunk, I shall 
 certainly punish you very severely.” I was told that even this 
 has had a most wonderful effect for good, for a time, on that 
 part of the country ! 
 
 One of my pastors came to me, during my first year in the 
 district, to ask what was to be done in the following case : — 
 A man had been baptized, after attending the classes for the 
 appointed time, while at the same time his character was good, 
 and he seemed to understand what he had learned. After his 
 baptism, he wished to be received into the Church and for 
 that end attended the classes for instruction, and at the end 
 of the appointed period, as there was nothing against the man, 
 but everything in his favour, they were about to receive him 
 into the Church ; but then they were met, as they thought, 
 
Ml SSI OK WORK IK YOK1ZOKGO. 
 
 49 
 
 l>v a great difficulty — his wife did not wish to join the Church— 
 was not baptized, and did not want to he, and their difficulty 
 was this — Could they receive the man without Ids wife, and thus, 
 as they thought, separate man and wife ! Then there was an- 
 other case precisely the same, where the wife wished to join the 
 Church and the husband did not. Are you to receive the 
 husband without his wife, and the wife without her husband ? 
 they asked ; or are we to tell the husband that lie must wait for 
 his wife, and the wife for her husband ? Of course, I told them 
 that they were to receive the husband, even if his wife never 
 came forward, and the same with the case of the woman. On 
 one occasion, during my first year in the district, while visiting 
 one of the villages about thirty miles north of Fihaonana, and 
 conducting the communion service there, 1 saw three little boys 
 among the communicants, and asked who they were, and what 
 they wanted. 1 was told that they were Church members, and 
 1 afterwards found out that one of them was the son of one of 
 the preachers of the Church. I told them that it was not 
 right to take children like that into the Church as members, for 
 that they could not understand such an ordinance in a proper 
 manner. After the service, 1 had a long talk with them as to 
 who ought, and who ought not to be received as Church 
 members, with regard to years, knowledge, and character. Of 
 course, the preacher, whose son was one of the boys who had 
 been received, did not at all like their not being kept as mem- 
 bers ; but as they were mere children, it would not have done. 
 
 While one met with a few irregularities here and there, still 
 there were not one half of what I at least expected. As a whole, 
 the Churches were in a most marvellous condition, considering 
 the very few opportunities they had enjoyed of being instructed 
 in the things which pertain to the kingdom of God. If they 
 made mistakes, which of course they did sometimes, it was 
 almost always from want of knowledge as to the right thing 
 to do. If they knew what it was that ought to be done, they 
 generally did it. I fancy that is a little more than can be said 
 even of some at home. I may also state that the real mistakes 
 that they fall into were really very few indeed. So much so, that 
 one was often reminded of the words, “They shall be all taught of 
 God.” If anything of a really difficult nature came up, they 
 almost always sent on to Fihaonana to ask my advice ; and 
 before I went there they used to send to the capital. 
 
 I had repeatedly to crush the idea that I was the head of 
 the Churches, and that what I said ought to be looked upon 
 as something like law. I have always told them that I was 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 MISSION AVORK IN VON I ZOKOO. 
 
 in no sense the head of the Churches, but only one of their 
 teachers, and that the pastors of the district ought to settle all 
 such questions as where a new Church was to be built, and as 
 to whether it was needed or not. They knew the district and 
 its wants, and people, &c., better even than I did, and they 
 were quite able to settle all such questions. Then again, I 
 think that everything they can do, they ought to be left to do 
 for themselves. We may, and perhaps in most cases would 
 and ought to, stand behind the scenes and prompt them as to 
 what is the right thing to do ; but they ought to be left very 
 much to act for themselves. It is most important for the 
 interests of Christianity that all such questions as the number 
 of the Churches of a district should be settled by the pastors 
 of all the Churches in that district, otherwise every little 
 village would have a Church, even if it had only six houses 
 perhaps, and whenever one head man fell out with another, 
 each would go and cause his people to build a Church in his 
 village, and he would be appointed pastor of it, even if there 
 were but twenty people to come into it, and the half of the 
 twenty were children. Pure Congregationalism will not do 
 out there yet ; and the more the Churches are bound together, 
 and led to listen to the voice of the Church as a body, the better. 
 The fact is, we do not carry out any “ism,” but practice 
 the good parts of at least three systems. We are, in point of 
 fact, superintendents of the districts under our charge, while 
 at the same time we are accountable to the Presbytery (i. e. the 
 District Committee) for all that we do, while each Church is 
 complete in itself, and manages all its own affairs. 
 
 Well, but something now in regard to the direct work of 
 preaching which I did. During the dry season, I generally went 
 out teaching or preaching three days a week, and sometimes for 
 a week at a time. One of these was always a Bible class for 
 my pastors of some part of the district — sometimes those 
 forty or fifty miles to the north of me. I generally spent 
 three or four hours in those Bible classes with my pastors, and 
 there some of the happiest hours of my life have been spent. 
 I have had some most refreshing seasons in those classes, which 
 were feasts of fat things to all of us, and the promise was 
 fulfilled, “He that watereth others, shall himself also be 
 watered.” I generally met with the pastors of the three 
 divisions of my district once a month. On the communion 
 Sabbath, I preached at Fihaonana, in the morning, and then 
 conducted the communion service. In the afternoon I used to 
 have a Bible class. On the Monday, preached at the Mission- 
 
MISSION WORK IN A ONIZONGO. 
 
 51 
 
 ary Meeting of the Churches, -when there was one. On the 
 Saturday before the first Sabbath of every second or third 
 month I used to go to Ankazobe, about thirty miles to the 
 north of my own station. I got there in the afternoon 
 generally and spent the evening in explaining texts, talking 
 of Church work, and such like. On the Sabbath morning I 
 preached and then conducted the communion service. I 
 preached again in the afternoon, and then at the Missionary 
 Meeting of the Churches on the Monday morning. In the 
 afternoons, I usually met with my pastors, and spent three 
 hours with them teaching and explaining some part of the 
 Gospels. The evening again was generally spent in the 
 explanation of texts, talk about the Schools, Church difficulties, 
 &c. On the Tuesday morning, I started for my next centre 
 where I preached to the people, had a Bible class, and very 
 much a repetition of the former day’s work. I visited the 
 other Churches on the communion Sabbaths in turns. In 
 going out on the Sabbath, my general plan was that of taking 
 two Churches while out — one in the forenoon and another in 
 the afternoon. I generally started in time to get to my first 
 village by about ten o’clock, where I preached to the people 
 for about an hour : then taught them a hymn : then explained 
 the difficidt texts which had been kept for my coming ; then 
 saw any sick folk in the village, and if they were very bad, I 
 sent home for medicine for them. While I was preaching, &c., 
 my men had been eating their rice, so that they were quite 
 ready to start with me for my second village as soon as I was 
 ready. At the second village I followed much the same plan, 
 and generally got home about sunset. I always told what 
 villages I was going to a few days before, and thus the word 
 got abroad, and hence I always had very large congregations, 
 for congregations in the country. When the rainy season 
 began, and I could not go out except to the near villages, I 
 began classes for my pastors — teaching them for four hours 
 a day, for three days a week — thus giving them twelve hours 
 instruction a week. I had an attendance of from forty to 
 sixty ; and during the first few months I had them, they 
 made most remarkable progress. Many of them came ten and 
 even twenty miles to attend those classes — living in the 
 village during the week and going home on the Saturday, 
 preaching on the Sunday, and returning again in time for the 
 classes on Monday morning. Others again travelled to Filiao- 
 nana eight and ten miles every morning, and went home again 
 at night. I taught them reading and writing, grammar and 
 
52 
 
 MISSION WOlilv IN VON1ZOXUO. 
 
 arithmetic, and on Fridays, Bible classes, and outlines of sermons, 
 fhe progress they made in the course of a few months was both 
 remarkable and encouraging. 1 was very sorry when the 
 illness of my dear wife from fever, prevented my taking those 
 classes up again, as the doctor would not allow her to return 
 to Fihaonana, and I could only visit them for a few days now 
 and then until she was able to return home I had intended 
 beginning them again in January, and hoped to be able 
 to take those classes all the year round, and by that means 
 instruct those young preachers who would with some training 
 make good pastors. I fancy that it will be in this way that 
 we must provide pastors for our Churches in Yonizongo, as 
 but few of them can go to the capital. And after all, if the 
 Institution at the capital provides for the district Churches 
 connected with the city Churches, it will do well. 
 
 The making use of the little medical knowledge I had, took 
 up a deal of my time. The work in this direction was far 
 more than I was anything like equal to — even if I had had 
 nothing else to do — for there was more than ample work for 
 an M.D., and it was hardly to be expected that 1, who had 
 only four months initiation at a public hopital, even with 
 the little 1 had gleaned before, and have since gleaned from 
 medical works, could be equal to the medical wants of 10,000 
 people. 1 have, I believe, been able to do some good, to 
 alleviate not a little suffering, and in one or two cases, I think 
 saved life. 
 
 The most of the cases were simple, and the operations not 
 going beyond opening a boil, or drawing teeth, amputating a 
 crushed finger or toe, or sewing up a torn face or leg. Very 
 many cases L sent to the capital — not thinking that I would 
 be justified in either treating or operating, at the amount of 
 risk I must have had, with a doctor within forty miles who 
 could do all that was required, perhaps without any risk, or 
 with at least very little. L was very careful on this point, 
 knowing, as 1 did, that any mistake I might have made would 
 tell against the mission as a whole, and myself. The people 
 were most grateful for all that 1 could do for them, although 
 they had most outrageous ideas, and most unlimited faith in 
 my powers to cure all sorts of diseases and ills that flesh is 
 heir to. They had a great deal more faith in my medical 
 knowledge and powers than I had, for 1 was often at my wits’ 
 end and did not know what to do, or what to give them — 
 which state of mind generally ended in my making an 
 experiment on them, and giving what I hoped would do 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 53 
 
 them good, if their trouble was what I thought it to be. When 
 they came back to thank me, and to tell that they were really 
 cured, I often wondered whether it was my medicine or their 
 faith in me, or if old Dame Nature had cured them, and would 
 have done so if they had taken no medicine. I was a good 
 deal astonished for some time by their always asking me 
 when 1 gave them medicine, if they ought to fast, until I 
 found out that the old idol priests and conjurers were doctors 
 after a sort, and that their principal prescription (and I am 
 strongly inclined to think their best ) was to fast. 
 
 The Malagasy often make themselves ill by eating too much. 
 It seemed to me, sometimes, that the people reasoned some- 
 what in this form — If the teachers of the false religion could 
 cure some diseases, the teacher of the true must be able to 
 cure all diseases. It is very plain that to be able to do a 
 little for the body gives one great power over such a people ; 
 for if you can do good to their bodies, there is a great hope 
 that you may be able to do something for their souls. Many 
 of them have very little idea about their souls, but they all 
 know they have bodies, and to be able to do good to the one 
 is a great help in dealing with them about the other. I had 
 only a few of what one could call serious cases. I had a few 
 very bad cases of typhoid fever, a good number of Malagasy 
 fever cases, and a few rather serious cases of inflammation on 
 the lungs. One case, where I think perhaps I saved life, was 
 where a woman was bleeding to death under rather peculiar 
 circumstances, but I was able to put a stop to the bleeding 
 and to bring her round. Another case I had, of a child who 
 fell naked into the fire and was burned badly, but came round 
 all right. I had another rather severe case, where a little boy 
 had a very large boil on his side. After preparing him for a 
 day or two I put him under chloroform, and operated quite 
 successfully. He remained three weeks in the village, and I 
 dressed the boil until quite well again. I had another case of 
 a woman with a badly lacerated hand, and which I dressed 
 every morning for a long time ; but so bad was it at first that 
 I could not dress it until I had got my breakfast. My wife 
 came one morning while I was dressing it to have a look, 
 but she never came back again. I was amply repaid for all 
 my trouble in seeing a complete cure wrought. I was often 
 kept for hours in the morning seeing sick folks, giving medicine 
 and dressing sores. 
 
 The selling of books took up a good deal of my time. I 
 sold about £.30 worth of books during the first year. Among 
 
54 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 those I sold were about 2000 penny lesson books, 28 bound 
 volumes of Teny Soa for 1870, (Good Words), 130 Testa- 
 ments at Is. 6d., 3 Bibles at 4s., and 20 bound volumes of the 
 Introduction to the New Testament, &c. The numbers 
 of the Bible and Testaments sold will no doubt appear very 
 small, but in explanation of this I have to tell that most 
 of the pastors, preachers, teachers, and leading members 
 of the Churches had obtained Testaments from the capital 
 before I went to Vonizongo, and those I sold have been 
 to the poorer members of the congregations. Then, also, 
 it must be remembered that a shilling is a deal of money 
 for those poor people. With regard to the Bible, it must 
 be remembered that four shillings is a great sum of money for 
 the Malagasy — the wages of a labouring man for a month. 
 
 With regard to the state of the Churches as I found them in 
 1871, I am happy to be able to tell that if they are not all we 
 could wish them to be by any means, they were certainly a great 
 deal more than we could have expected them to be under the 
 circumstances. While others had to tell of people rushing to 
 baptism by the hundreds who were quite unfit, and many also 
 to the table of the Lord, I have nothing of the kind to tell 
 about, but only to say that on the whole all things were done 
 decently and in good order in Vonizongo, but that was in 
 great measure, if not entirely, because there was such a man 
 as Razaka the pastor at Fihaonana superintending the district 
 and directing the other pastors. For I attribute, under God, 
 very much to the conduct of those two remarkable men, Ra- 
 zaka and Rainisoa, and to the men whom, as a rule, they got 
 appointed to be the pastors and preachers, the state of things 
 we found. As a body, although of necessity they did not 
 possess a deal of knowdedge, they did possess a good deal of that 
 which is perhaps only second to knowledge, and without which 
 knowledge is of little use, namely, common sense. They are a 
 very sensible class of men, and have done and are doing a most 
 noble work. With regard to the thrashing to Church about 
 which I heard a deal, I am glad to say that here again I have 
 nothing to tell of such things having been done in my district. 
 I heard of one “Tompo,” who had taken to beating his people to 
 Church, and I sent for him and all connected with the beating, 
 and went into the whole thing from the beginning to the end, 
 and found, after hours of investigation, that after all it only 
 came to this — he had met his man going to another Church, 
 and had taken hold of him by the arm and perhaps twisted 
 him round, and told that he ought to go to the same Church 
 
.MISSION WORK IX VONIZONGO. 
 
 00 
 
 as his master. The man had told the pastors of the Church to 
 which he was going when his master met him, and these pastors 
 not being on the best of terms with this man’s master, tried to 
 get up a case against him. I believe my calling all parties 
 tegether, as I did, was the cause of a deal of good, for the 
 report soon spread of what I had done, and also of what I had 
 said with regard to masters causing their people to go to 
 Church. That was the only case I even heard of, and I am 
 quite certain that very, very little, if anything was done in 
 that way in Vonizongo. One cause of this was that the 
 people were so anxious to go the House of God (many with 
 mistaken notions, I have no doubt), that anything of the kind 
 was not even thought of by those above them. But then even if 
 it had been the case that many of them were “caused” to go to 
 Church by the head man of the village instead of being left in 
 the village to steal the goods of those who did go, or to 
 commit worse crimes, I confess to not being able to see it to 
 be such a fearful crime after all, while at the same time I 
 should most certainly tell the head men to do no such thing. 
 We are compelling children to attend School at home, and the 
 Church is the only means of education that there is in many 
 parts of the Island, and it ought to be remembered that the 
 people there are only big children as yet. But as I have said, 
 I heard but of one case, which really was not a real case ; but 
 even if there were thousands of cases, while I should do what 
 I could to put an end to such doings, I could not set it down 
 as an awful crime. 
 
 I repeat again that the state of things which I found to 
 exist there, astonished me a good deal. What the people 
 wanted was simply to be taught and guided in the right way, 
 and they were most anxious to follow that which was right. 
 Of course there were many things that we did not like to be 
 found among them. But as the knowledge they need spreads, 
 these drawbacks will soon disappear like the mists of the 
 morning before the rays of the rising sun, for I feel quite con- 
 vinced that the piety of the people is something more than the 
 piety of the “morning-cloud-and-early-dew” type. 
 
 A word of comparison as to the state of the Churches 
 in Vonizongo in 1871, as compared with their state in 
 1863, may not be out of place here. In 1863, when Mr. 
 Cousins made his first visit, he found 3 Churches, namely, 
 Fihaonana, Fierenana, and Ankazobe, with a membership of 
 122, and in 1871 there were 991. Then there were but 615 
 adherents, in 1871 there were 5,500. Then there were but 
 
56 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 three Churches really, and in 1871 there were 26. He does 
 not, because perhaps he could not, tell how many were able to 
 read ; but I think if we set them down at 80, we do them more 
 than justice ; while in 1871 there were upwards of 1,000 able to 
 read the Word of God, if they were not able to possess it. 
 There is no word of what money they had raised then, but it 
 could not be much; but in the year 1871 they raised £70. 
 Still that was short of the year before ; but by way of 
 explanation of that, it should be stated that they put up a 
 great number of village Churches during 1871, and hence 
 were compelled to make a most extraordinary effort. I do 
 not think I can tell anything more convincing than just to 
 state those facts, and allow them to speak for themselves. 
 The man who thinks that any thing but a most glorious work 
 of God has been going on in the land, must be making a very 
 great mistake. And then again, it is not a thing of the past. 
 No, blessed be God, the work is going on now ; the Gospel is 
 spreading, and vital godliness is deepening in the hearts of 
 the people ; and I have no doubt whatever but that there is a 
 most glorious future in store for the country. I only hope 
 God will spare us to see it, and to do what little we can to 
 help on the great and good work. 
 
 The nation is being roused by the power of the grace of 
 God from the sleep of ages. I know there were some who 
 looked with suspicion on our work, and called it a mere 
 political excitement ; and because our converts did not come 
 up at once to the converts of lands which have had the Gospel 
 for ages, are almost prepared to ascribe the excitement to a 
 work of the prince of darkness. With regard to this, T can 
 only say that if it is, he works one way here at home and 
 another way yonder in Madagascar ; and so long as he works 
 as he is now doing we must bid him God speed — even if he is the 
 devil. No, no, my friends, it is God’s own work, and not the 
 devil’s, for “he would not do the work,” that is being done in 
 Madagascar at the present time, “even if he could, and he 
 could hot do it even if he woidd.” 
 
 [1872.] 
 
 I must now be content with mere broad outlines of my work, 
 arid general facts connected with it. F or there are a great many 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 57 
 
 matters that occupy my time and attention that can not be 
 embodied in a short account like this. I was always very 
 happy to have progress, real and decided, to report. It may not 
 be all we could wish, yet it was progress in the right direction, 
 and such as we ought to thank God for. We ought to thank 
 Him that the drawbacks are nothing to what they might have 
 been, and that the success has been much more than we had 
 any right to expect, considering the amount of the labour 
 expended. The Lord hath been mindful of us and of our 
 work, and we believe He will still bless us. We believe that — 
 
 “The work which His goodness began, 
 
 The arm of His strength will complete ; 
 
 His promise is yea and amen, 
 
 And never was forfeited yet.” 
 
 During the year 1872 a great change took place — a change 
 -which some might regard as a step in the wrong direction, 
 though I was not disposed to regard it in that light. The 
 change was this: in 1869, when the idols were burned, there 
 was a general rush all over the country to the Church on the 
 part of the people, and Churches were built everywhere, very 
 many of them in places where they -were not needed. It 
 would have been much better for my own district, for example, 
 if there had been only ten, or at most twenty large Churches, 
 instead of fifty small ones. I had cases where there were 
 four and five Churches within half-an-hour’s walk of each 
 other, and where it would have have been greatly preferable 
 to have had only one, if for no other reason than that of 
 crushing out party spirit, which is in danger of running high. 
 But, of course, this is partly the fruit of the poor ignorant 
 people being left to themselves, and to do too much as they 
 like, and thus turn liberty into licence. Each Andriandahy 
 (chief) thought, of course, that it was his solemn and bounden 
 duty to Queen, Government, and God, to build a Church 
 (getting as much in the way of money from the missionai’ies 
 as he could) in his village, and appoint himself pastor, or do 
 what was very much the same thing, get his people to appoint 
 him pastor, even if there were several Churches quite near, as 
 in many cases there -were. The people in some districts had 
 even the idea that they would be treated as traitors if they 
 did not go to Church, and they looked upon it as their fanorn- 
 poana (Government service), and it was “ thaf—i.e ., the fear 
 of the Queen and the Government, and not always the fear of 
 
58 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 God, by any means — that led them to come to Church by 
 thousands, as also to build Churches. It is no mere idea, 
 but a matter of positive and provable fact, that in some 
 districts at least, two-thirds of the people looked upon 
 and spoke of going to Church as fanompoana (Government 
 service), and were very much astonished when told that it 
 was not that, but service to God. They knew of the Queen, and 
 feared her and her officers ; but they knew nothing of God, and 
 there were no teachers to tell them of Him or of His love, 
 and hence did not fear or care for Him. During the years 1871 
 and 1872, they found out partly through our teaching and 
 partly by other means, that they had been wrong, and that 
 they would neither be treated as traitors, nor punished even if 
 they never went to Church; that the religion of Jesus Christ 
 is service to God, and not to the Queen, and hence, for a time, 
 they fell off in their attendance at Church at the rate of at 
 least 50 per cent. Now, I regretted this, but only because I 
 think it would have been far better for them to have attended 
 Church, and at least heard the Word of God, than spent their 
 Sabbaths as many of them did. Still, I was inclined to look 
 upon it a little in the light of the wheat and the chaff being 
 separated. In some places, where we had 800 and 1000 of a 
 congregation, we got 200 hearers. The fear of the Queen and 
 Government was gone, and the poor people knew no higher 
 fear, and there were but few to tell them of that “fear of the 
 Lord which is the beginning of wisdom,” and hence the change. 
 
 There was another matter which caused me a good deal of 
 pain during the year 1872, namely, the many sad cases we 
 had of some of the seeming best of our people falling into the 
 most gross and open sin. I was sadly disappointed, that so 
 many fell into what is one, if not the besetting sin of the 
 Malagasy as yet — namely, licentiousness. But many of these 
 poor people knew little of anything above the grossest 
 animalism. Hence the prevailing tendency that existed 
 among among young and old, male and female, to sensual 
 indulgence in foi'ms more or less gross. Nevertheless, our 
 firm belief that the blood of Jesus Christ could cleanse even 
 such from all sin, and from the power of sin, sustained our 
 spirits and brightened our hopes. It were poor work to live 
 and labour, as one must, among such a people, degraded by sin 
 and sunk in iniquity, if one had only a Gospel that is no 
 Gospel to preach to them, and only the formality stone to give 
 them when they ask for the bread of life. 
 
 One young man I had been teaching in the hope that he 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 59 
 
 might be able after a time to go up to the Institution at the 
 capital, and come back when his studies were finished there, 
 to be a benefit and blessing to his people. He was a son of 
 Ramitraho’s, who died for his faith in the fires at Faravohitra, 
 in 1849, and who was the first preacher of the little midnight 
 meeting at Fihaonana. As the son of such a father, I was 
 deeply interested in him, and had fondly hoped that he might 
 be led to follow in the faith and footsteps of his sainted father, 
 and perhaps one day fill his place as pastor of the Church, 
 but grace does not always run in the blood, and my 
 fond hopes were blighted, for he fell into sin of a most sad 
 nature. As he was one of those whom I thought among my 
 best and cleverest young men, I felt his fall very much. I 
 slept but little the first night after I heard of it, for I felt as 
 if I had lost a son in the faith. I only tell of this one case ; 
 and although perhaps one of the worst, still we had several 
 bad cases during the year 1872, and I had several very sore 
 grievings over them. Into the details of any of them I dare not 
 enter ; they are too revolting to permit of anything of the 
 kind. 
 
 One very bad feature of all such cases was that they did 
 not seem at all to realise the heinous nature of their sin. Few 
 seemed to have the slightest idea of the real nature of what 
 they had done, and, in fact, many treated it as not worth any 
 attention ; and if taxed about it, they simply made light of it, 
 and said that they had been a little foolish in the past, but 
 that they meant to be wiser in the future, although, at the same 
 moment, they were thinking of how they could manage to com- 
 mit the same wickedness again without its becoming known. 
 They generally denied all point blank, until brought face to face 
 with the witnesses ; and when they saw they could not get out 
 of it, they said that they had done wrong, but that they 
 repented, and they expected, because they said they repented 
 — while not having the faintest idea of what is meant by true 
 repentance — to be received back again into all the privileges 
 of Church membership. In cases of Church members falling 
 into gross and open sin, we made a point of suspending them 
 for a year, and then after that we began to think about taking 
 them back. With their light views of sin, of course this 
 astonished them a good deal, even the wisest and best of them. 
 If they gave proof during the year that they were truly sorry 
 for their sin, then we thought of taking them back again ; and 
 if not, they had just to wait until we saw some signs of true 
 repentance. Our pastors and preachers all thought it a good 
 
60 
 
 MISSION 'WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 thing, and that it would help them very much in carrying out 
 the discipline of the Church; for there was very great danger 
 of the “big folks” carrying everything their own way. If a 
 buj man fell into sin, he had only to say that he repented, and 
 the pastor had to receive him again into the Church, and dared 
 not refuse to do so, unless he had the white man and the rest 
 of the pastors and preachers of the district to back him up in 
 his doings; or, if he did, he had better look out, for the big 
 man would find some means of making him sutler. I think 
 one circumstance which helped to what we had during the 
 year 1872, was this : The excitement which followed the 
 
 burning of the idols, had worn ofk and the fear that the Queen 
 would punish them if they did not come to Church and lead 
 good lives had been found out to be false, and as they had no 
 living faith in the Son of God ; hence, having nothing to 
 fall back upon, or to support them, when the reaction came, 
 they of necessity sank back into old habits, and into the 
 slough of native sensualism. It was very plain to be seen 
 that old habits had a strong power over the people — a power 
 from whose thraldom nothing short of the grace of God can 
 deliver them. And “men must be formed to the practice of 
 the elementary virtues before it is possible for them to 
 recognise the beauty, nobleness, and eternal obligation of 
 righteousness. But the precepts of the Gospel of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ are all of a kind to enlighten the conscience, 
 enlarge the mind, and purify the heart, and not merely to 
 control the will.” 
 
 I was detained in the capital during the first four months of 
 the year 1872, through Mrs. M.’s illness, and only returned 
 to Vonizongo on the 4th of May. As soon as I got back, I 
 set to work at once, for although I had had many meetings 
 with those of my people who were in the town while there, 
 and had also visited them as often as I possibly coidd, still I 
 found that a good many things had got out of working order, 
 and had to be set right again. We had fully as hearty a 
 welcome back to our own station, as we had when we went 
 there at first ; and they came to me a few days afterwards, 
 and offered to make all the bricks for my new house, so 
 glad were they at our coming back. But, as I knew very 
 well that they would make the most of the work fall on the 
 poor slaves, who would get nothing for it, I told them I could 
 not accept of their kind offer, as also the reason why, at which 
 they seemed not a little astonished. They, however, made me 
 a present of some 60,000 bricks, all of which I know were 
 paid for. 
 
MISSION WUUlv IK VOXIZONGO. 
 
 61 
 
 One of the very first things 1 did on getting hack was to 
 resume classes for my pastors and preachers again, and I 
 have kept them up ever since, having had them generally for 
 four hours a-day for two days a-week at Fihaonana. Mr. 
 Stribling took them for two hours a-day on other two days, 
 during part of the year 1872 ; but he found that, with other 
 duties, he could only give them one day ; and, as but few of his 
 pastors came (they thought it too far, i suppose), he gave them 
 up at Fihaonana. On my getting back to our own station 
 at Fihaonana, in May, 1872, of course, I had to see at once to 
 getting our house built, but it was not until the last Aveek of 
 .1 une that I could get anything done. It occupied a very great 
 deal of my time, for I had, of course, to see to everything. 
 
 I found during the year, that having classes for my pastors 
 and preachers at Fihaonana only, was not anything like enough 
 for my district, so I opened classes at four other places. One 
 7 miles south, one 7 north, one sometimes at 12 and sometimes 
 at 18 miles north, and one about 20 miles north. The tAvo 
 nearest I went to very often, every Aveek during the dry 
 season. When I went to Ankazobe (which I tried to do 
 once a-month, although not always able), I left home on 
 the Saturday morning, and, after a hard and hot ride of 
 seven hours, got there in the afternoon ; and as I generally 
 sent word that I Avas coming, the Churches all round and 
 far doAvn towards the west-coast, came to meet Avith me. 
 I preached and conducted the communion on the Sabbath 
 morning, and then had three hours of a Bible class in the 
 afternoon, and at both the Church Avas about as full as it could 
 hold. On the Monday morning, I saAv all the sick folks that 
 might wish to see me, and sold books for tAvo hours or so, and 
 then had my classes for some four hours, got dinner, and started 
 for my next place, some ten miles south. I spent the next 
 day in much the same Avay, seeing sick folks and selling books 
 for the first two hours of the morning, my classes for four or 
 five hours, then dinner, and off again to my next place, where 
 I did the same, and the next day the same, and got home about 
 sunset on the Thursday evening. When I Avent out thus, I 
 generally took my medicine chest Avith me and a box of books, 
 and so travelled in the three-fold capacity of teachei’, bookseller, 
 and village doctor or practising apothecary. The last time I 
 Avas at Ankazobe, in 1872, 1 saAv about 60 sick folks on the 
 Monday morning, and brought back some £4 for books, &c. 
 
 Although I have no exact record of the numbers, I think 
 at these five places I must have seen, and tried to do what I 
 
62 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 could for over 1000 persons during the months of the year 
 when I was able to go to see them. I did not give my 
 medicine away for nothing, but made all pay for it who could, 
 and tried also to make those among the people who had money 
 pay for those who had not. Still, a great many cannot pay, 
 and it would be cruel to ask them yet. Apart from the 
 extraction of teeth (of which during the season, while the cold 
 east Avinds prevail, I had a deal — sometimes as many as 1 1 in a 
 morning). I had almost nothing to do in anything like a surgical 
 capacity, as I sent them all on to the capital. I amputated 
 two fingers from the hand of a boy, and sewed up the face of 
 a woman, that had been ripped open by the horn of a bull ; 
 but beyond this, I had nothing. They tried very hard to get 
 me out to attend cases of a more delicate nature, but I refused. 
 When bad cases happened, they always came to me and I told 
 them how to do, and gave them whatever medicines I had. 
 They Avere generally very grateful for the little that I was 
 able to do for them, and I often felt sorry that I Avas not able to 
 do a deal more. I sold some £40 worth during tAvelve months of 
 Bibles, Testaments, lesson books, &c., &c. Among these 
 were some 3000 copies of our little monthly magazine Teny 
 Soa ( Good Words ). The building of my house took up a 
 very great deal of my time during the year, and thus I was 
 only able to be out in my district tAvo days a-Aveek. I 
 preached once a-month, and conducted the communion at 
 Fihaonana, and in the afternoon held a Bible class with the 
 Church, taking them through the gospel of Luke. They 
 studied so as to get up a chapter during the month, and I asked 
 them a series of questions in order to see that they had done so, 
 and then I expounded and explained the chapter. The other 
 three Sundays of the month I Avas out in my district preaching 
 and teaching. The year 1871 I used to Ausit two Churches 
 on a Sunday, and spend a short time Avith each ; but the year 
 1872 I have found it better to Ausit only one, and spend the 
 day Avith them, than pay a running visit to two. My work of 
 necessity consisted of a deal of Avandering about up and down 
 the country, scattering the seed of the kingdom, sowing beside 
 all waters. The people generally got to knoAv when I Avas going 
 out, as also where I Avas going, and it was a very common 
 thing to have a number of sick folks to see on the Avay side, 
 AA'ho had come, or had been carried out to meet AAuth me. I 
 saw them, and spoke with them, and if I could do anything 
 for them I told them, and they sent on a man to where I was 
 to put up, if my medicine chest was not at hand, and I sent 
 
MISSION WOHK IN VoNlZONGO. 
 
 63 
 
 them what I thought would do them good. I had a deal of 
 difficulty during the year in trying to get Schools established 
 along with every Church. The difficulties were partly from the 
 entire want of the proper men, and partly from the fact that 
 the people were not interested enough in education to care 
 whether they had a School or not ; and partly — I might almost 
 say mainly — from the fact of the great increase of fanompoana 
 Government service) during the year, which took away the 
 masters we had so often, as to do a deal of harm to the Schools. 
 Still, notwithstanding all that, almost every Church had a 
 School of some sort, if only for a day a-week, and for a part of 
 the year ; and even that was much better than they were a 
 year before. We had a School at our own station at Fihaonana, 
 and at the first we had as many as 75 (which was a large number 
 for a small village), but afterwards we could hardly get 40. 
 This was mainly owing to the carelessness and utter indifference 
 of the parents. We were very much in need of a compulsory 
 School law, and I often wished that the Queen would say that 
 all children must be sent to School somewhere, for that was 
 all she had to do — and we would soon have had scholars 
 enough, which would have been a very great blessing to the poor 
 children, [and she has just said so, 1881]. We had not enough 
 of children to fill our School in the village, and but few of the 
 people were interested enough to send their children very far to 
 School. We paid our master (such as he was) 2s. a-month, 
 the Church at Fihaonana paying Is. and I the other. The 
 plan of only giving half help ( and only that where there would 
 have been nothing done if 1 had not done so), I carried out 
 towards all, and thus lead them gradually to know that they 
 ought to help themselves. 
 
 1 had been trying during the year to reduce the number of 
 my Churches, there being far too many, but I only succeeded 
 with a few of them, as in most cases the “big” man of the 
 village had been appointed the pastor (on slender enough 
 grounds of merit in some cases); and as he regarded joining 
 his Church with any other as a sort of disgracing him, of 
 course he opposed it, and all his people had to go with 
 him. The most of those men were appointed to their office 
 before I went to the district, and hence I could not then 
 turn them out without perhaps doing more harm than good. 
 Now, however, neither a new Church nor a new pastor can 
 spring up without consulting the quarterly meeting of all 
 the pastors of the district. My classes had not been attended 
 so well during the year 1872, but that was due partly, I think, 
 
64 
 
 MISSION WORK. IN VONlStON GO. 
 
 to the fact that I opened classes at four other places, and 
 partly because I instituted examinations after a sort, which 
 they did not take to at all willingly, for they liked simply to 
 sit and listen without being troubled with thinking or remem- 
 bering; but, I think, mainly from the fnct that their fanom- 
 poana (Government service) was so much increased that the 
 poor fellows have not been at liberty to come to classes as 
 they were before. They did not take kindly to examinations 
 during the year 1872 ; yet at one I had out of 230 questions 
 on the first ten chapters of Luke, they answered 200. Of 
 course, the questions were of a very simple nature. Still, I 
 think the result was good. I had four young men training 
 for some time during the year, preparing them for entering 
 the institution at the capital. They did well, and kept at the 
 head of the classes ; but then, of course, it was very much on 
 the principle that a man with one eye is a king among the 
 blind ; and in the capital they found things somewhat the other 
 way, if not altogether reversed. One of them was a diviner 
 in former days, as was his father before him ; but he was for 
 some years the pastor of the Church at Tokotanitsara, and 
 among one of the best young men we have ; I only wish we 
 had other fifty like him ; he had four years at college, and is 
 now one of our very best evangelists, and is doing a good work. 
 Another was a younger brother of Ramitraho, who was the 
 first preacher at Fihaonana, and who suffered for his faith in 
 the fires at Faravohitra. He is one of our best preachers, 
 and bids fair to be a very useful man, he is now our second 
 pastor at Fihaonana. The Church at Fihaonana I took a 
 good deal more under my care during the year 1872, and I 
 succeeded in introducing into it the system of the Sustentation 
 Fund on a small scale, each of the members having consented 
 to give something every month to the Church, from about a 
 “bawbee” up to twopence a-month. I had one examination of 
 the Church members as a body, and another of them one by 
 one, and thus was able to get at something like their real and 
 true state, and to see who Avere fit to be Church members, and 
 Avho Avere not. This plan I most fully carried out, Avith 
 regard to all the fifty Churches under my care, and thus was 
 able to get something like a fair idea of their true state. I 
 Avas most anxious to get this carried out also, from the fact 
 that I believed it would do them all a deal of good. If any 
 one Avished to be baptized, or received into the Church, the 
 pastor told me of them, and I saAv them, or if I could not do 
 so, I sent Razaka, our good old pastor at Fihaonana, who can 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 65 
 
 be trusted in all matter’s of the kind. By this means, I 
 hoped after a time to get my Churches into a much better 
 state than they were. I was compelled to leave but little in 
 the hands of the present native pastors, as there are not five 
 in every fifty erpial to the duties of a pastor. They can, and do, 
 teach the people the minor truths of the Gospel, and that is about 
 all we can expect of them, if we remember what most of them 
 were, and what their training has been. I also succeeded in 
 getting the members of the Church who were able to read, (and 
 there were only a few old people who were not), to take each of 
 them one or two of the adherents who were unable to read, to 
 teach them, and when they could read, take one or two more ; 
 and by this means, I hoped, after a time, to be able to have all 
 who come to Church able to read the word of God, and in 
 possession of at least the Gospels ; and the most of them in 
 possession of the cheap Bible. I also most fully intended 
 to carry this out in all my Churches, and I found it much 
 easier done in the others, after I had got it started at my 
 own station, as what the mother Church did, the others were 
 almost sure to follow. 
 
 The people improved very much in cleanliness, and in the 
 decent way in which they came to Church during the year ; 
 as also in their attention while there. So that even in this 
 direction, progress was made. I had a colporteur at work 
 wandering up and down the country, and attending all the 
 markets. I bought him a couple of tin boxes, and a large 
 native umbrella, and we had a regular Bible and book store, 
 with Bibles, New Testaments, lesson books, &c., &c., in every 
 market from 30 miles north to 10 miles south of our own 
 station. 
 
 From these general facts it will be seen that we made 
 some headway during the year 1872, and although slowly, 
 real progress was made. Still, notwithstanding that, I was 
 more than once a good deal cast down, by the fact that I had 
 not known of one genuine and decided case of conversion 
 during the whole year. I had many of the old inquiries, as 
 to who was the “Queen of the South” ; as to how it was 
 that Satana was allowed to fight in heaven ; or as to how it 
 happened that Melcliisedek had neither father nor mother ; 
 but I never had so much as one to ask about the way of 
 salvation, or what a man must do to be saved. I had never 
 seen an anxious soul, nor one in tears but twice, and I am not 
 at all sure that the weeping had anything whatever to do with 
 real soul matters. I often longed to see some anxious about 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 the salvation of their souls ; it would have done mine a deal 
 of good, for it was often weary work without that. They 
 came to Church, and they sat quietly and listened, or gazed 
 at the preacher with a sort of soul! ess, stupid wonder. 
 I preached to them, and pleaded with them, as best I could, 
 to accept Christ and His Gospel and he saved, until some- 
 thing would get into my throat, and the tears find their 
 way to my eyes, and 1 had to sit down, for I could say no 
 more. I often felt very sad about this, and longed for the 
 days I had seen — when the people were willing in the day 
 of His power. We are in need of many, very many things, 
 in order to carry out successfully and properly the great 
 work among the people committed to our care ; hut above 
 and beyond all our needs, we are needing an outpouring of 
 the Spirit of God — a baptism from above— “breezes from 
 the better land.” Friends at home must not think that the 
 work is done, or that the whole country has been converted 
 to God ; for if they do, they will be far wrong. It is 
 very far, indeed, from that, and the state of some of the 
 country districts is really something awful to think about still, 
 from want of teachers and preachers. We who live in the 
 country among the people, and see them, and know them and 
 their everyday life, know their depraved state in a way that 
 others never can. Of course, I think the old illustration of 
 the stagnant pond, and the spring bursting up in the centre of 
 it, bringing much to the surface that was unseen before, may 
 apply in some measure to Madagascar at the present time. 
 But while all this may be very true, and while I think, of 
 course, that the only cure is, keep the water of life running 
 into the same pond, for it is the living waters of the Gospel 
 alone that will ever make a real and radical change. While, 
 I say, all this may be very true, still there is much to make 
 one sad often, and we perhaps felt it morej being so much 
 alone in a country district. 
 
 During the latter part of 1872, and the early part of 1873, 
 I had my house to build, which was a very serious business 
 indeed, being, as we were, a hundred miles from the forest, and 
 all our wood having to be carried from the forest on the 
 shoulders of men, there being neither roads nor railways, 
 waggons nor carts, nor any other means of transit. 
 
 But perhaps what made the building of a house a more 
 serious matter than it otherwise ivould have been, even amid 
 all the difficulties that there were, was the fact, that I, in 
 common with most, knew nothing whatever about house- 
 
MISSION WORK IN YONIZONGO. 
 
 67 
 
 building. I knew a good deal about practical mechanics, 
 which has served me again and again infinitely more than some 
 other branches of knowledge, in the acquiring of which 1 had 
 spent far too much time and not a little “midnight oil,” for all 
 the use they have ever been to me ; but about house building 
 I knew nothing. I had never had anything whatever to do 
 with the building of a house in my life. Well, there was 
 no use finding fault with the position in which providence had 
 placed you, what was to be done was just buckle to it, and 
 make the very best you could of the circumstances, and do 
 your very best under them, and if a man only does so, be will 
 be astonished at what he may accomplish under God’s blessing 
 and with His help. For a man never knows what is in himself, 
 or what he can do until he is placed in a position that develops 
 it and puts him on his mettle. 
 
 I got a plan of a house from our builder, which after 
 modifying and altering to suit what I wanted, I began to 
 build. I had to get brick-boxes to get 100,000 sun-dried 
 bricks made, and the people had to be trained to make them. 
 Then the good bricklayers would not go from the capital out 
 to our fever district to work, not even for double pay, and so 
 I had just to take what men I could get, and 1 got a bad set 
 of men, who were a source of great sorrow and trouble to me. 
 They scamped their work whenever they could, and they 
 would seldom apply the plumb line unless I was standing 
 looking at them. Many a foot of the walls of my house had 
 to be taken down again and again, because the plumb line had 
 not been applied. I suppose to some of them the constant 
 applying of that plumb line must have appeared to be a most 
 idiotic thing ! 
 
 It was the same with the carpenters as with the bricklayers, 
 the good ones would not leave the capital to work in a fever 
 district not for double pay ; and so I had just to take whom 1 
 coidd get, and do my best with them. Here again, I had the 
 misfortune to get a bad set of carpenters to begin with. 
 Scamping seemed to be the main article of their creed also, 
 and they did not seem to think that stealing was a very great 
 crime, if they were not caught in the act. While I had such 
 men I had seldom my sorrow to seek. My wood disappeared 
 in the most mysterious way, and my screws vanished so 
 quickly that I could not understand how they had been made 
 use of. My English tools got lost or broken, and one day in 
 going in suddenly upon those men I found the lazy fellows had 
 bored the holes for the screws for the hinges of my room 
 
68 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 doors, with a gimlet so large that they could push the screws 
 in with their thumbs ! And there they were pushing them in, 
 one after the other with their thumbs ! Of course, when I 
 appeared, they seized hold of the screwdriver, and pretended 
 to be working very hard, sending the screws home. When 
 they had finished I took the screwdriver and withdrew the 
 screws a little, and then picked them out with my fingers, and 
 having fairly caught them cheating me in that barefaced way, 
 I discharged them, after having fined them. 
 
 The same style of thing had to be gone through in the way 
 of watching, when I came to thatch my house. As I had to 
 push on very hard in order to get roofed in before the rains 
 came on, as they would have brought down all my ceilings, 
 and I escaped only by a few hours, I had all the thatchers on my 
 roof I could get. There were some sixteen of them at work for 
 about three days, and I had to sit up there on the chimney, 
 under a broiling sun, with a big white umbrella over me, and 
 watch those men at their work, otherwise this would have 
 been scamped in such a way that my house might as well not 
 have been thatched at all. That was in 1872, and I had to 
 have my house rethatched in 1879; for notwithstanding all 
 my watching, it had not been so well done as it ought to have 
 been, and being only thatched with dried grass, it was found 
 after seven years to be needing rethatching ; but then I had 
 no need of watching the thatchers, I had nothing to do with 
 it, in fact ; for, being ill, I had to leave it to the deacons and 
 Church members to get done, and they got it done in a way 
 that was a credit to all connected with it. 
 
 I have mentioned some of those things to help some to a more 
 correct idea of the kind of work that many a missionary has to 
 take part in, if he goes to open a new station, and thus plant 
 Christianity in the “regions beyond,” and also to shew, if that 
 is needed, that, as the greatest of modern missionaries, Dr. 
 Livingstone, says, “A missionary is not the dumpy man with 
 a Bible under his arm simply,” that many good people suppose 
 him to be ; but a many-sided man, who will be prepared to 
 turn his hand to any thing and everything that will help 
 forward the kingdom of God, without having any particular 
 fear of his doing so being “ infra (lie /,” or out of place for him 
 as a “minister of the Gospel to put his hand to.” Dr. Living- 
 stone also says, that, “If young missionaries for Africa and 
 6uch like places would only spend one half the time they spend 
 over Latin verbs in learning how to make a wheelbarrow, or 
 mend a waggon wheel, it would be infinitely more useful to 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 69 
 
 them afterwards ; ” and there can be no doubt in the minds of 
 any, who know anything about the matter, that he is perfectly 
 right ; but then, Dr. Livingstone, although the greatest of 
 modern missionaries, and a horn king among men, was only a 
 practical missionary, and hence his opinion is not worth very 
 much with sentimental folks ! 
 
70 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 Next to the preaching of God’s truth, pure and simple, and 
 the getting of the minds of the young and rising generation 
 saturated with it, nothing so consolidates mission work in a 
 new district, and in the minds of the people, as the putting up 
 of proper buildings in which they can meet with comfort to 
 worship God, in which their children can meet to be instructed, 
 and in which their missionary from a foreign land, can dwell 
 among them with safety to himself and do his work. And yet, 
 although the most needful and useful, and at the same time 
 the most troublesome, worrying, and wearing out work I 
 know of in the mission field, it is, strange to say, often the 
 most thankless work a man can put his hands to; and he 
 ought to be very glad indeed if he gets off without the severest 
 remarks for putting up so many buildings at his station, 
 (although he himself may have found the money for most of 
 them from his own personal friends), from some, and sneers 
 from others, for having, forsooth, so much to do with “ secular 
 affairs ,” as if anything could be secular to the man who is 
 truly consecrated to the cause of God ; and as if “Christianity 
 did not touch everything or it touches nothing.” The 
 man who is not prepared to be anything or nothing, “a 
 hewer of wood or a drawer of water,” to advance the kingdom 
 of God, and who has not got above regarding this kind of 
 work and the other kind of work being “ infra dig ” for him to 
 do, ought to stay at home. Not to compare infinitely great 
 things with infinitely small, but “AVhen St. Boniface landed 
 in Britain, he came with a gospel in one hand and a capenter’s 
 rule in the other ; and from England he afterwards passed 
 over into Germany, carrying thither the art of building.” It 
 may be very easy for one class of workers to sneer at another, 
 because they may be compelled to be, for a time almost always 
 “amongst bricks and mortar ” ; but it may be a question if such 
 sneering is very manly, and if it be not quite possible to serve 
 God and His cause even in such a way as that. 
 
 In the country districts of Madagascar, a deal of work 
 has had to be done in the way of house-building, Chapel and 
 School-bnilding, as well as in planting and building up the 
 Church of God, and a deal -will yet have to be done in that 
 way ; and in that respect mission work in the country districts 
 differs very much from mission work in the capital, where it 
 is, and has always been, much more of a pastoral and literary 
 nature. Then, in the capital, the missionaries had their 
 houses, chapels, and school-rooms, built for them, while in the 
 country the missionaries have not only had to build them for 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 71 
 
 themselves, but also to find most of the money for the chapels 
 and the school-houses. Then the country missionary has to 
 be his own family doctor and dentist, and to be to the best of 
 his ability, doctor and dentist to 10,000 to 20,000 people, 
 while at the same time he is architect, builder, and bookseller 
 for his district, and general superintendent of everything. In 
 fact, a great amount of work that he ought not to have to do ; 
 but there is no one else yet to do it, and so he must just put 
 his shoulder to the wheel and make the best of it. Thus work 
 in a country district is very laborious, worrying, and wearing ; 
 but these, in my poor opinion, ought only to make it the more 
 elevated, enviable, and honourable ; and it can only be, surely, 
 in the opinion of those poor little souls, of whom Robert Hall 
 said : “You might put fifty of them in a nutshell and then they 
 would escape through the maggot holes,” that such a position 
 can be regarded as inferior and degrading ; although it 
 certainly is so to men with much ministerial starch, or clerical 
 enamel, to all, in fact, but those who have souls, Christian 
 common sense, and somewhat of the spirit of their Master. 
 
 There is really so much to tell about, that one hardly knows 
 where to leave off ; but I hope I have been able to give facts 
 enough to show that we made the very best use we possibly 
 coidd of all that had been committed to our charge ; as also to 
 show, that we did our very best for the interest of the 
 Church, and to extend the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
 J esus Christ. My hopes of being able, with God’s blessing, 
 to do a deal more in the future than I have done in the past, 
 as also to do it a deal better, are of the brightest. With God’s 
 blessing on honest, earnest effort, I am still of the opinion that 
 there is, and cannot fail to be, a bright future yet in store for 
 Madagascar. 
 
 [1873.] 
 
 In my Report for 1872, I mentioned that I had had an 
 examination of the members of the Church at Fihaonana, as 
 a body, but that I was to have another, in which I purposed 
 examining individually, and thus be able, if I could, to get at 
 something like their time state, and see who were, and who 
 w'ere not, fit to be members of the Church. This plan of 
 
72 
 
 MISSION "WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 individual examination I not only carried out most fully with 
 regard to the Church at Fihaonana, but also in regard to 
 other ten Churches under my charge, the only Churches of 
 which I sent returns that year. This plan of individual 
 examination of Church members, I was most anxious to carry 
 out with regard to all the Churches under my charge. And 
 I was so, from the fact, that I believed it would do the 
 Churches themselves a deal of good, as also from the fact, that 
 a great number of our Church members were unfit to be so. 
 And, thirdly, because by sending home the returns of Church 
 members sent to me by the native pastors year after year, I 
 had always the feeling that I was doing something very like 
 throwing dust in the eyes of those at home ; and I did not 
 mean to do that any longer. F or it is most important that all 
 at home should have a correct idea of the real state of matters. 
 For, while I really could have done little other than what I 
 did — that is, if I was to send returns at all — namely, send on 
 the returns that were sent to me ; and while I have no reason 
 for thinking that any of them were false returns, still that they 
 could do any thing else than give a rather false view to friends 
 at home, was hardly possible, seeing that so many of those 
 who were entered as Church members were hardly fit to be so. 
 Such being the state of the case, I sent no returns of Church 
 members that year, but of the ten Churches whose members 
 I had personally examined individually, and this plan I 
 carried out, so far as I was able, with regard to all my 
 Churches ; and, with this end in view, I sent the more intel- 
 ligent of my pastors and preachers here and there through my 
 district, in order to prepare Church members for examination. 
 In some cases, those examinations showed a state of matters 
 that even I, with all my fears as to their state, was hardly 
 prepared for. In one Church of eighty members, I could 
 only find four, in anything like a fit state for membership. 
 Perhaps I ought to say that this was the very worst case I 
 met with. Still many of the others were quite bad enough. 
 In some few cases, I was a little shocked by the amount of 
 ignorance I met with, although, perhaps, I ought not to have 
 been so, considering the very few chances many of them have 
 had of gaining knowledge. For example, in answer to the 
 question, What must a man do to be saved ? I was told in 
 one case, that he must go to Church, be baptized, and receive 
 the Lord’s Supper. In another case, I was told that a man 
 could buy salvation in the market ; and in a third, that a man 
 ought to sin in order to be saved ! 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 73 
 
 These examinations also showed me how much something 
 of the kind was needed, if we were to know at all the true 
 state of our Churches, or of the most alarming amount of 
 ignorance that existed among our so-called Church members. 
 And how much remained to be done, before these so-called 
 members were Christians in deed and in truth. In my exam- 
 ination of the members of the Church at Fihaonana, I had 
 them all to my own house, and examined them one by one in 
 my study. 1 examined them as to their knowledge of divine 
 truth, and the fundamentals of the faith ; and then I had some 
 most serious conversation with them as to their state, and 
 their prospects for eternity. I tried to impress upon them, 
 that knowledge could never change the heart ; and that 
 mere knowledge of itself would never save their souls, there- 
 fore, nothing short of a living faith in the Son of God 
 and His atoning blood, would ever save them. After such 
 conversation with them, I prayed with them, and I cannot but 
 think that good would flow from such interviews, and from 
 such plain dealing with individual souls in private. 
 
 I kept to my old idea of never doing a thing that I could 
 get a Malagasy to do for me ; for as I could do work they 
 could not, I made them do at least all they could, and, in fact, 
 it is only by so doing that any one can ever hope to overcome 
 the thousandth part of the work that is to be done. Seven of 
 the men I had with me at my own station at Fihaonana, and 
 who had got a good deal of instruction, I sent out on the 
 Sabbaths to preach. While their labours were confined to 
 the Fihaonana district, I paid them one shilling a month ; but 
 during the time the western district was under my charge, I 
 had to do my best to divide their outgoings between the two 
 districts, so I had to give them two shillings a month, and this 
 I generally paid in books — thus making sure, as far as I could 
 do so, that they who taught others should themselves 
 possess all the help we can give them in the way of books. 
 I had often to send them ten, twenty, and even thirty miles of a 
 journey to preach, or to see what state the Churches were in ; 
 and I do not think that I fell into the mistake of paying them 
 too much, and thus made mere hirelings of them, or mere 
 prophets for a piece of bread. While at the same time, the 
 cheap rate at which they can live in Madagascar, and seeing 
 that they were not dependent altogether upon what I gave 
 them, it made what they got very acceptable, and a fair 
 remuneration for the work done — so far as one can speak of 
 fair remuneration for such kind of work. Some of the® were 
 
74 
 
 MISSION WORK IX VOXIZOXGO. 
 
 but poor preachers, while others preached very -well indeed, 
 and, all of them, I fondly hope, were really good men and 
 true, with hearts filled with love to God, and fired with love 
 for souls. To one of them, Razaka, the good old pastor of 
 the Church at Fihaonana, I paid four shillings a month ; but 
 for that he did a deal of work for me, in fact, I hardly know 
 how I could have got on without him, for he was my right- 
 hand man and helpmate in almost everything. 
 
 I had had five young men under special training, in the 
 hope of being able to get them into the Institution at the 
 capital ; but 1 found that, after all my toil and trouble, not 
 one of them went. Three of them passed the required 
 entrance examination. But after they had done so, tAvo of 
 them had to go oft’ to the south Avith the army, and the third 
 Avould not consent to go up to the capital for four years, unless he 
 could take his Avife and little daughter with him, and as to do 
 so Avould have required that he should have four shillings a 
 week to keep them, and as I could not pay that, having 
 no money to pay it from, of course he did not go. With 
 regard to the other tAvo, one of them fell into sin, and the 
 other quarrelled Avith his AA'ife, a\ ho brought charges of a A ery 
 serious nature against him, and, of course, he could not go up 
 until these Avere seen into, and by that time he could not go ; 
 and so I did not get one out of the five. 1 felt a little down in 
 spirits about this at the time, for Avhile they would and did 
 come, and Avere most anxious to come, to all classes which I 
 had for general instruction, they were not very Avilling to 
 come to any classes Avith the A'ieAv of being prepared for the 
 Institution at the capital, for the training of a native ministry. 
 Many said that they could not possibly go, as they had no 
 means of subsisting during the four years they must be there, 
 and so they would not deceive me by coming to a preparatory 
 class, and then at the end of the time tell me they could not go. 
 They repeatedly pleaded with me, (and while Dr. Midlens and 
 Mr. Pillans, the deputation from the Directors, were in the 
 Island, they had an appeal made to them on the same subject at 
 three different places ), that Ave should have something in the 
 way of a Training Institution, on a small scale, for the pastors 
 and preachers of the district of Vonizongo, in so far as to have 
 systematic classes. And, in my opinion, that Avas the best 
 thing we could do. For Ave had to get a number of Avell- 
 trained native assistants, else that immense district could 
 never be Avrought as it ought, and as it must be Avrought to 
 do good. Now, of course, the men had to be trained, but if they 
 
MISSION WORK IN YONIZONGO. 
 
 75 
 
 would not, or could not go forty miles to the capital, until wo 
 could provide for them in a better way, what was to be done ? 
 The only thing left, that I could see, was to give them the very 
 best training that could be given in their own district, but then 
 again, how was that to be done ? I confess I could not see how 
 it was to be done, or how much time was to be given to the work 
 of systematically training pastors and preachers, and at the 
 same time attend to all the other departments of the work to 
 be done. This idea of our training our own pastors and 
 preachers was no new idea of mine, forced on me by the circum- 
 stances of the case, for I was quite alive to it from the very 
 first, and in my Report for 1871 I stated this same conviction. 
 Instruct those young preachers, who would, with a training, 
 make good pastors. 1 still fancy that it will be in this way 
 that we must provide pastors for most of our Churches in Yoni- 
 zongo, as but few yet are fit to go to the Institution at the 
 capital. 
 
 I had some most interesting and hopeful young men, who 
 would most readily have fallen into systematic classes, and 
 who, with three or four years’ training could not have failed, 
 with God’s blessing, to be very useful. I talked the matter 
 over with Dr. Mullens and Mr. Pillans when they were in the 
 Island, but without being able to get much light on the subject, 
 for it was simply a case of making an attempt to do half as 
 much again as I was doing, and yet I hardly knew what to do 
 first, so how to accomplish it was rather a mystery; bxit I suppose 
 we must do our best. Some more good Schools for girls in 
 addition to the good one we had at our own station were also 
 very much needed. F or, with the exception of the classes con- 
 ducted by my wife, there was but little done for the female 
 portion of the community in the district. And yet a deal more 
 must be done for the females if our work is to be what it ought to 
 be ; even if some of our present work is given up. And yet what 
 part or portion of it to give up I hardly knew ; for it seemed as 
 if I must take more on instead of giving up any of what I had. 
 
 I mentioned in my Report for 1872 that there had been 
 a very great falling off in the attendance at Church during 
 the year, and during the year 1873 this was very much 
 increased. It arose mainly, (but not altogether by any means), 
 owing to the great numbers who had to go off' to the wars 
 in the south of the island, as also to follow the Queen 
 during her visit to the Betsileo country. One Church, that 
 of Ambohitrinimamba, quite near to Fibaouana, where I had 
 often preached to 600 and 800, during the year 1873, there 
 
76 
 
 MISSION WORK IN YONIZONGO. 
 
 was an average congregation of twenty! and on at least one 
 occasion, four!! The going off to the wars did a great 
 deal of harm. For it has not only thinned the Churches, 
 but most of my Schools were broken up by the teachers 
 having been taken away for soldiers. My Schools gave 
 me a most extraordinary amount of trouble, worry and anxiety, 
 during the year 1872, and yet they were in nothing like the 
 state they ought to have been, and I plainly saw would never 
 be, until we could get some better trained teachers, who would 
 be allowed to remain at their work. This I hoped to get, and 
 did get, but not before long, for, although the twenty lads to 
 whose training I devoted a part of four days a-week, during 
 the greater part of 1873, made most satisfactory progress, 
 still it was three years after that before I was able to 
 get any of them out into the congregational Schools of the 
 district. Although my district Schools were in nothing like 
 the state I should have liked to have seen them, still I was 
 able to get some new Schools started during the year 1873, as 
 also to get some of the old ones put upon a better footing, and 
 we made some progress towards the getting of a School of 
 some kind connected with every Church. In one village, the 
 Church was very much put about to find a teacher for their 
 School, and as they could not find one, and were quite at a 
 loss to know what to do, the Chief of the village came forward 
 and offered his services to be the teacher of the children, 
 whenever he was free from fanompoana, (Government service), 
 and would not take anything in the way of remuneration for 
 his services. 
 
 By the Western District being handed over to my charge, 
 my work was very much increased, but not so much as might 
 have been expected. For I joined the classes together, and 
 thus worked the two districts as one. By joining all the 
 classes that could be joined, the work was made a little lighter, 
 and it quite killed any feeling of belonging to different districts, 
 and at the same time it was just as easy to teach a Bible- 
 class of 260 as 100. I tried to divide the labours of my 
 preachers, as also my own, as nearly as 1 could, over the two 
 districts, making no distinction between them, and after a 
 little, all feeling of separation was wrought out. After I got 
 all my examinations in the native language over, and my 
 house built, I felt freer for the work of my district, and, of 
 course, my hands were soon full enough. During the year 
 1873, I spent about five days a-week at the immediate work of 
 my district. That is, I was out in my district about three days 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 77 
 
 every week preaching, teaching, seeing sick folk, selling books, 
 &c., and the other two days were generally spent in the work 
 of my district at my own station. Once in two months, (when I 
 conld get away, which I could not always do), I spent about a 
 week among the Churches in the north part of Vonizongo. 
 Then, once a month, I was here and there throughout my 
 district, preaching at the missionary meetings, or rather gather- 
 ing of the Churches, on the Monday after the communion. 
 One day a week I had a class for the pastors and preachers 
 near to my own station. I gave two mornings a week to the 
 special work of my picked young men. Another afternoon I 
 had a Bible-class with the women and girls of my wife’s 
 classes ; and another I had a singing class. Thus, my hands 
 were quite full, and, to have taken up systematic classes besides 
 all these, would have been impossible. I used to take my 
 modulator with me to my classes in the north and south, and 
 it was very popular with the people, as they were very fond of 
 singing, and I often wished 1 knew it better, and were better 
 able to teach them. I began it in the hope that I might be 
 able to do them some good, even if I could not carry them on to 
 great perfection, or teach them singing as it ought to be 
 taught ; but I just did my best, and it did the people good, 
 and they were very fond of it. I had a nasty return of 
 my old enemy, of the latter part of college days, namely 
 congestion of the brain, during 1873, and I had to be careful, 
 and could not always do the half I would have liked, for 
 the work was very hard at times, and the toorry was a deal 
 harder. My week-day Bible-classes in the north and south, 
 I kept up, with one or two short breaks, all the year through, 
 or rather all the dry season, and made an attempt, by 
 leaving early in the morning, and getting home again 
 before the rains came on in the afternoon, to carry them on 
 all through the year, as breaking them up during the rainy 
 season always did them a deal of harm. 
 
 During one of my visits to the Churches in the north part 
 of Vonizongo, while I was engaged examining the Church 
 members at the Church of Antsampandrano, a blind girl came 
 forward among the members to be examined. Of course she 
 could not read, and therefore could not answer the questions 
 of the Catechism ; still she answered all the questions that I 
 put to her very well indeed. During my conversation with 
 her, she said that she could not see Jesus Christ with the eyes 
 of her body, but she could and did see Him with the eyes of 
 her soul. She seemed to be to some extent a “pillar in the 
 
78 Mission work in vonizongo. 
 
 Church,” being, as she was, the “leader of the singers.” She 
 had been instructed in Divine things by a godly woman, a 
 relation of her own, who is a member of the Church there, 
 and who was baptised and received into the Church in 1832. 
 This woman was instructed in the truth and baptised by one 
 Andriamonana, a most remarkable man from all I could hear 
 about him, and one who seems to have been a kind of an 
 “Apostle of the North,” who not only roused the people to 
 think of eternal things, but who also did a deal to keep the 
 dame of faith burning in the souls of many a hidden one 
 during the days of darkness and persecution. He had, it 
 seems, to hide here and there all through the country, and to 
 change his name several times, in order to escape detection, 
 but lie was known to the “faithful few” as “Papa,” for they 
 said he was a father to them. This devoted man was caught 
 at last by “the blood-hounds that barked for this fugitive 
 king,” and was put in chains, and died in them of fever 
 at Ambohiboahazo, west of Andevoranto, on the east coast. 
 
 On the Sabbath morning, while at Antsampandrano, I was 
 taking a turn round the village, and I saw an old chapel, and 
 1 thought I would just like to look into it, and see what sort 
 of a place it was inside, and, on entering, I was met by the 
 blind girl coming out, and I have reason for thinking that I 
 had disturbed her at prayer. 
 
 Once more. One Sabbath while examining the members of 
 the Church at Ambohitrazo, an old man came in, and in 
 answer to my questions told me that he could not answer the 
 questions of the Catechism, for he had not learned them, as he 
 could not read, for he was an old man, he said, and it had 
 only been within the last year or two that he had paid any 
 attention to religion at all, or even thought about preparing 
 for another world. He said he had not a great deal of 
 knowledge in his head about religion, but he had love in his 
 heart for the Lord Jesus Christ, and was trusting in Him 
 for salvation, and that 1 must not judge his heart by his head. 
 This poor old man’s statement did me a deal of good, and 
 pleased and satisfied me more than if he had been able to 
 repeat all the “Confession of Faith” and the “Whole duty of 
 Man.” Although he could not answer the questions of the 
 Catechism, not having learned them, he was very far from 
 being destitute of knowledge as to the faith which is in Christ 
 Jesus. He had just come home the night before from the 
 wars in the south of the Island. He had gone away to the 
 war all alone, without child or relation with him, and he said 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 79 
 
 lie had asked God that lie might not fall in battle, and that he 
 might be brought back to his own village again. And, said 
 he, “God has answered my prayer, for there was no battle, 
 and I am back again to my own native village, and my own 
 Church.” I need hardly say how much good the meeting with 
 such an one does one’s own soul, or how it refreshes and 
 strengthens the soul amid much that is worrying and worthless. 
 
 Well, but to pass on to another part of my work, that of 
 trying to do what I could for the people during their times of 
 sickness. With regard to that, the demands upon my time 
 and attention in this direction very much increased during the 
 year 1873, so much so that I had been entertaining most 
 seriously the thought of turning the old chapel at our own 
 station at Fihaonana, into an hospital on a small scale. I had 
 been led to some extent to think of doing so, from the fact 
 that the people had asked repeatedly about such a thing, 
 stating very strongly what a blessing it would be to that part 
 of the country. But also, from the fact, that great numbers 
 came to me, and I often had the medicine for them ; but as it 
 was, in some cases, of a very dangerous nature, I could not 
 trust it to them, lest they might make any mistake and kill 
 themselves, when, of course, I would get the credit of it. 
 If I had had them near me, in a sort of a small hospital, I 
 could have seen that they got what was good for them, as also 
 that they got it in a proper way. Then, again, many of them 
 quite positively refused to go to the capital, to the hospital 
 there, for food and fuel to cook it is so very expensive for them 
 there that, with their very limited resources, they could not 
 do it, they said. The result of this was that they just went 
 back to their own villages to die, and in some cases that I heard 
 of, to have recourse to magic in order to find out what was the 
 matter with them, and what would cure them. My principal 
 difficulty in doing anything in the way of a small hospital, 
 for liyht and minor cases, was that I had no funds for any thing 
 of the kind, and that it would have increased my work, and my 
 hands were already so full that I did not know what to do 
 first ; still I hardly knew what was to be done for my poor 
 people, but before Ave return to Madagascar Ave may get light 
 on the subject and some help towards it. I gave my medicine 
 away at first mostly for nothing, until I kneAv the people a 
 little, and kneAv avIio could, and who could not pay for it; and 
 I am very thankful now 1 did. I seldom gave my medicines 
 aAvay afterwards for nothing, except to the very poor, and to 
 take anything from some of them would be cruelty in the 
 
80 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 extreme. I made all who could, pay, at least something, for 
 what I gave them ; and on Christmas-day I had collections 
 in the Churches for the poor who could not pay, but I only 
 got 4s. 8d. ; still I mean to keep up the practice, in the hope 
 that we will get a little more after a time. 
 
 I am sorry to say that I did the least during the year 1873, 
 in the way of selling Bibles, Testaments, and School books, 
 See., of any previous year, not having done more than some 
 twenty pounds all the year. I began the year well, and, if 
 things had gone on as they began, I should have had an 
 account of some £60 perhaps, by the end ; but so many of my 
 people were taken away by the war, and to follow the Queen 
 to the south, that a deal of harm was done to this branch of 
 my work. Still I was able to dispose of some twenty pounds’ 
 Avorth, besides some 3,000 copies of “Teny Soa” ( Good Words). 
 W e were longing very much all the year for the new Bible at Is., 
 and more so as the other missions had had them for some time, 
 and were selling them ; hut none had reached us, and the people 
 had quite tormented me for them, for they had expected 
 them for a whole year and more. The Church at Fihao- 
 nana kept up their payments during the year 1873, and raised 
 some £6 10s. At the end of the harvest season, I spoke to 
 the people about each of them giving a basket of rice to the 
 Church as a kind of thank-offering for the good harvest they 
 had had, and they did so. I then dug a pit for the rice in my 
 own yard, to keep it in, and when we sold it we put the 
 money into the funds of the Church. By this means I hoped 
 to lead the people to give a good deal of help to the Church ; 
 for, although they cannot give money to any great extent, as 
 they are very poor, still it is very easy indeed for them to 
 give a basket or two of rice at the harvest season. 
 
 A word as to the work my wife quietly did among the 
 women. She carried on her sewing classes for two days a- 
 week, and was able to do a good deal, having secured the 
 assistance of a good Malagasy teacher, and thus was able to 
 have a good School for girls every day in the School, beside a 
 class for grown women in our own house once a-week. Such 
 work was very much wanted indeed. I was gladdened by 
 seeing decided marks of real progress among our people, 
 and among none more than among the females. In fact, 
 as a whole, the people made great progress during the 
 three years 1871-1873, and in many respects were no more 
 like the same people than light is like darkness. My wife, by 
 means of her sewing classes and meetings, quietly gained a 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 81 
 
 great power over the women. They came to her in all their 
 troubles, and consulted her with regard to all the little 
 ailments of themselves and children, which they did not care 
 to come to me about. I had the girls’ School-room built in 
 the yard, and put windows into it, and we got a few desks, and 
 the place was very comfortable, and made a good School- 
 room, where a deal of work was done. 
 
 From about a month after we settled at our own station at 
 Fihaonana, my wife had had sewing classes for the women, to 
 which some of the little girls came now and then ; hut it was 
 not until ’73, after we had got into our own house, and had, 
 through the kindness of a Scotch merchant friend, who made 
 my wife the present of five pounds for her mission work, with 
 which I built a School-room for her in our own yard near the 
 house, so that she could have the girls’ School near her, that we 
 were able to do much for the girls in the way of systematic 
 teaching of any kind. That year systematic teaching of the 
 girls was begun, and a sewing class for them twice a-week, to 
 teach sewing, and train them in the cutting out and making of 
 clothes for themselves and their relations. It was rather a 
 serious matter to begin with, to provide needles, thread, 
 thimbles, and materials for them all with which to operate. 
 I wrote to a merchant friend in Aberdeen, asking him to get 
 us all the patterns and remnants of flannel, tartan, tweed, 
 calicoes, and print, &c., he coidd from the wholesale and retail 
 drapers and send them out. He got us a large bundle, and 
 on them the little girls were set to work to learn sewing, and 
 to make themselves patchwork timics, and their brothers 
 and fathers shirts, as we wanted them all clothed, as well as 
 we could get them, as soon as possible. We found that the 
 children, and the boys and girls up until they were six or 
 seven years of age, wore no clothing, and even after that age, 
 the boys had only a loin cloth, and the girls a short tunic. 
 But we also wanted something for their chests, as they suffered 
 a good deal from the cold south east trade-winds during the 
 winter, and the shirts of flannel, tartan, and tweed patchwork 
 were just the things for them, and were very much appreciated 
 by them. Of course they were very much in the style of 
 J oseph’s coat, “many colours ” ; but that did not matter at all, 
 they were the best and the warmest things of the kind they 
 had ever had, and they were very glad to get them, and they 
 were a great blessing to them. But we did not give these 
 patchwork shirts, &c., to them for nothing, we made them pay 
 for them, because we believed that giving people everything 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 for nothing is a very bad plan, and tends to pauperise 
 them, and so they paid from 2d. to 2s. each, according to 
 their quality, and we put the money into the mission-box, to 
 help to pay the salary of the Malagasy teacher. We could 
 always sell ten times as many as we had, and what we had 
 were generally bespoken weeks before they were ready ! The 
 last bundle sent out to us in ’77, we never got them 
 taken to the School-room ; for such a number by that time 
 wei’e able to sew, and make clothes for themselves and others, 
 without any direction, that they came and bought up all the 
 patches, and in a few days they were on them or their relations 
 as shirts, &c. But the girls soon got dissatisfied with that 
 style of clothing, and so they saved up and bought nice prints, 
 which by that time were being brought to our markets, and 
 had dresses cut out, and then they made them at home. Then 
 they had to make something better also for their fathers, and 
 brothers, and husbands, and then the tune was changed, and 
 instead of the old saying: “She’s only girl,” “Ambinjaratra 
 hiani/ ny vekivavy” “Women are only trifles,” it was : “Yes, 
 the girls are of some use, the women can be useful,” which 
 was a step gained in the right direction. 
 
 It was very interesting and somewhat amusing, to see some 
 of those little girls getting their first lessons in sewing. Some 
 of them, poor things, did not know which end of a needle went 
 first ; for many of them had never seen a needle in their lives 
 before. To see those poor little creatures sitting there, many 
 of them with hardly a rag to cover them, and watch the 
 earnest methodical way in which they went to their work was 
 really a study. But their patient earnestness and perseverance 
 soon made them most beautiful sewers. We brought home 
 some Malagasy sewing with us, and we took it one night with 
 us to a Ladies’ Missionary Sewing Meeting, and they were 
 astonished beyond measure at it, and could hardly believe it 
 had been the work of human hands, so beautifully was it done. 
 And thus those Malagasy girls, who not many years ago hardly 
 knew how to use a needle, many of them are now most 
 beautiful sewers. Many of the people will not now give more 
 than the price of the material for English made-up goods, and 
 the reason they give is, that the English sewing is so bad they 
 have to take it all to pieces and sew it over again ! 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 83 
 
 [1874.] 
 
 During the year 1874, my work was a good deal interrupted. 
 In the month of January we went up to the capital to attend 
 the meetings of the Missionary Conference. In 1873, the 
 Rev. Joseph Mullins, D.D., and the Rev. John Pillans, were 
 sent out by the Directors of the London Missionary Society, 
 as a deputation to visit the Madagascar mission. They were 
 about a year in the Island, and during that time they visited 
 all the mission stations connected with our own Society, and 
 those of the Friends’ Foreign Mission Association, several of 
 those connected with the Norwegians, and also a large part of 
 the Island. We had them at our station at Fihaonana, Voni- 
 zongo, for about a fortnight, in December, 1873, and enjoyed 
 their visit very much, and I believe both we and our work 
 profited by their advice and suggestions. In January, 1874, 
 a Missionary Conference was held at Antananarivo, the 
 capital of Madagascar, which was attended by nearly all the 
 missionaries of the London Missionary Society in the Island, 
 those of the Friends’ Foreign Mission, and also those of the 
 Medical Mission. 
 
 The Missionary Conference, the Committee, and other 
 Meetings which followed, took about a month, so that it Avas 
 not until the second week of February that we got back to 
 our OAvn station. Our return to our station was, on this 
 occasion, of rather an exciting nature, from the fact of the 
 rivers being flooded, still Ave got over them all until Ave came 
 to the last, which had been flooded by the rain of of the 
 previous night to a most extraordinary degree. When Ave 
 came to the banks of this river, the bearers set us all doAvn, 
 and refused to cross, saying they would certainly be droAvned 
 if they attempted it. After sitting there on the banks of the 
 river for about an hour, vainly trying to persuade the men to 
 carry us across, I had to assume a rather different tone, and 
 tell them that Ave must cross, and that they must take us 
 across too, that I Avas not prepared to spend a night on the 
 banks of the river Avith my wife and children in some filthy 
 Malagasy hut overrun with vermin of all kinds, and that 
 Avithin sight of my OAvn house, simply because they Avere 
 afraid to Avade the river. This had the desired effect, and 
 several of them got up and stripped. I picked out four of 
 the tallest of them, men over six feet high, and they took 
 
84 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 up the palanquin, and, holding it as high above their heads 
 as they could stretch, they walked into the water ; but 
 it required eight of them to keep us from being earned 
 away by the current. In the middle of the river they were 
 for one or two steps over the eyes and ears ; but holding up 
 the palanquin high above their heads they bravely pushed on 
 and got safely over. One after another we were in that way 
 carried safely over the river, and we reached our own home 
 just as it was getting dark. 
 
 But my work was mainly interrupted during 1874 by the 
 very serious amount of affliction which we were called upon 
 to pass through. My wife and children were all ill for about 
 three months, and she so seriously indisposed that she was 
 brought to the very brink of the grave, and had a very narrow 
 escape of losing her life from a fearful mistake having been 
 made ; but God in His goodness spared her to her children 
 and me. The anxieties connected with her illness, and 
 the nursing of her and the children were too much for me, 
 ■weakened as I was at that time by overwork, trying to over- 
 take all the duties of the two districts which had been left on 
 my hands, and so, just as they got better, I was laid aside from 
 my regular work by an attack of my old enemy, congestion of 
 the brain. I had, of course, to give up all my work for about 
 a month, and although I began again to do a little at the 
 end of that time, yet it was several months before I was able 
 for full work again. It might have been better for me if I 
 had taken longer rest ; but it was very difficult to do it with 
 such an amount of work to be done, and I felt so keenly the 
 arrears that I tided to do what I could as soon as ever I was 
 able. Not being able for my old amount of regular duty, and 
 being anxious to get all the help I could from home for the 
 building of our model station Church, knowing, as I did, that 
 the grant given me by the Society, and what my people might 
 give, or do, would not be enough, I set to work and wrote to 
 friends at home asking them for help, and wrote 800 pages of 
 begging letters, by means of which I raised some £150 ! 
 
 With the exception of one month, I kept on with my 
 preaching, my Bible classes, and other work at my own 
 station, although I was not able to go much out into the 
 district to teach or to preach for several months. My preaching 
 and teaching at my own station at Fihaonana, gradually 
 became a source of pleasure and satisfaction to me ; for my 
 people began to be so interested, to pay so much attention, 
 and to be, to some extent, intelligently interested in what was 
 
The Falls of the Ikopa, Imerina. 
 
86 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 taught them. As a very large proportion of them were in 
 possession of Bibles, or Testaments, and were able to read 
 them, and I kept mostly to expository preaching and lecturing, 
 I got them to refer to many parts of the Word of God in 
 confirmation of what I was teaching, and the rustling of the 
 leaves of their Bibles in casting up the passages, “made music 
 that sweetened the calm.” 
 
 During the year 1872 we had a very great falling off in the 
 attendance at Church; but during 1874 the tide turned, and 
 a gradual improvement took place all over the district. Im- 
 moralities also declined, and we had fewer scandals and cases 
 of Church discipline than we had had since the first year we 
 were there. A “Christian public opinion” was growing, and 
 sin began to hide its head, and the people to be ashamed of 
 what they once gloried in. Several, also, of those who had 
 been suspended from Church membership, showed great 
 anxiety during the year to be received back into the Church 
 again, and professed sincere sorrow for their sins. One man 
 in particular, who had fallen into sin, and that too in spite of 
 all our warnings and advice, was brought to think of his ways 
 by repeated strokes of affliction, and the death of one after 
 another of his companions in sin. For a time he only rebelled 
 more and more under his affliction ; but at last he came to 
 himself and said : “Well it’s of no use, for this is God’s doing, 
 He is dealing with me for my sins, and there is no good to 
 be got by going on fighting against God, and against the 
 vazaha’s (white man’s) advice.” He was received back again 
 into Church fellowship, a sadder, and I hope, and think, a 
 wiser man. He has since died, and gone, I hope, to “the 
 better land.” 
 
 The people at our own station at Fihaonana, were very 
 much excited during the year over the building of our model 
 Church ; and they wrought very hard to get it finished 
 during the year 1874 ; but through some mistake, by which 
 the grant, recommended by the District Committee, did not 
 come to hand we were unable to finish it. I advanced £30 
 of my own money, in the hope that the grant, and help from 
 home, would arrive in time to allow us to get it finished that 
 year. One reason why we were so anxious to get our new 
 Church finished was, that the old mud Chapel, in which the 
 people had worshipped for about ten years, was rapidly 
 getting into a condition that rendered it unfit and unsafe for 
 us to meet in. Had it fallen that rainy season, we should 
 have had no place in which to meet for eight months. Many 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 87 
 
 of my brethren and others, thought I was very foolish in 
 doing as I did in order to get a good Church at our own 
 station, which might serve as a model for the rest of the 
 district ; and no doubt from many points of view they were 
 perfectly right. 
 
 I had my own preachers, deacons, and some of my Church 
 members taught bricklaying while my own house was being 
 built, and they built the walls of my new Church, and they 
 did it for about one fourth of the regular pay for bricklaying, 
 in order to keep down the cost of building. Our own people 
 raised about £20, and £3 2s. 6d. was raised in the other 
 Churches of the district to help us with the mother Church, 
 and although the sum they raised may seem small, it was a 
 very great deal for them at that time. In addition to the 
 money, and the working for one fourth the regular pay, our 
 people made about 100,000 of the bricks for nothing. And 
 all that was done from as pure interest in the Church, and in 
 spiritual matters as could have been reasonably expected from 
 the people at the time. We had no fanompoana (compulsory 
 work) about it ; for we had agreed not to ask the chief of the 
 "v illage to help us, as we knew that that would only mean his 
 calling a meeting of Iris people, and setting them all to make 
 bricks for us, &c. ; but just to leave it to those who were really 
 interested in the work to do what they could. Of course the 
 chief did not much like such a way of doing things, as it gav e 
 him no hand, as chief, in the matter, and so he stood aside for 
 a time ; but when he saw that the work went on quite the 
 same without him, he came forward and made offer of his 
 services, and really did a deal to help us, poor old man. 1 say 
 poor old man, because I feel very much for him ; for although 
 a member of the Church I fear he is not a member of Christ, 
 and yet he knows the truth, and it often troubles him a great 
 deal, and he dare not now do the things he once did. But 
 notwithstanding all that help, the building of our Church, like 
 the building of the manse, was a very serious business, and 
 cost an amount of worry, anxiety, and trouble, such as no one 
 can have an idea of except those who have had experience of 
 such work. The very fact of having all our wood to bring a 
 hundred miles on the shoulders of men, will give some idea of 
 what building on our side of the island means in Madagascar, 
 and yet, next to the preaching of the “truth as it is in .1 esus,” 
 few things are of more importance than that of putting up 
 good comfortable Churches, in which the people can worship 
 God, and showing them how to build proper houses for 
 themselves. 
 
88 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 On our return to our own station, in February, ’74, I began 
 classes for my pastors, preachers, and people, at four other 
 centres besides my own station — two in the south, and two in 
 the north, and to these I Avent once a fortnight. My wife 
 went with me to all these classes ; for as I bought a horse 
 while in the capital, she was able to ha\ r e my bearers, which 
 she could not have before, and thus was often kept at home 
 when she would have been out. At all the four places she 
 had large and most interesting classes, of, on an average, 50 
 women and girls. She had also her sewing class twice a 
 week at our own station at Fihaonana ; but we afterwards 
 found that far too much had been attempted, and she 
 suffered for it afterwards. A journey of 20 miles tAvice a 
 week in a tropical sun, is more than most ladies can stand, 
 in addition to all the other work of the week. Our Friday 
 afternoon Bible classes Avere followed by a singing class, which 
 was a great source of attraction, and to which we got some- 
 times as many as 250 ; for the people are immensely fond of 
 singing. And they really do sing remarkably Avell, con- 
 sidering the very small amount of training they have had. 
 It was really refreshing to one’s OAvn soul to see some 200 
 of them, from almost lisping childhood to grey old age 
 singing Avith heart and voice : “There is a happy land,” 
 “O, that aat.11 be joyful ! ” “Rock of ages cleft for me,” “Jesus 
 the Good Shepherd,” &c., &c. 
 
 At one of those singing classes, I remember asking our 
 good old pastor, Razaka, how he liked the new hymns. He 
 said, “I like them all very well, sir, but,” he added — and the 
 big tears were tloAving down his furrowed cheeks as he spoke 
 — “I like this one best.” I said “Which one do you mean,” 
 and he answered, “This one : ‘Rock of ages cleft for me, let 
 me hide myself in Thee ! ’ ” 
 
 Yes, I thought that is it, that is the truth that touches the 
 hearts of God’s people all the Avorld over. For here, at least, 
 “there is no difference betAveen the JeAV and the Greek,” 
 “where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor 
 uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free ; but Christ 
 is all.” 
 
 The Malagasy people are very fond of singing, while at the 
 same time their language is very suitable for singing, being a 
 very soft, flowing, flexible language, it is called the Italian of 
 the East, and is well worthy of the name. The people meet 
 and sing for an hour, and in many places for two hours, on the 
 Sabbath morning before the service begins, which it generally 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 89 
 
 does at nine or ten o’clock. They like every hymn to have 
 its own tune, and they say Mivady izy , i. e., they are 
 mated, matched, married— literally, they are husband and 
 wife — the hymn being regarded by them as the husband, and 
 the tune the wife, and hence every hymn must have its own 
 tune-wife, and every wife-tune its own husband in order to 
 satisfy them ! 
 
 During ’74 we began a Sabbath School on the Sabbath 
 afternoons, for old and young, and all who liked to come, 
 instead of the afternoon service in the Church, and it was a 
 great success. Of course we had a deal of hymn singing, 
 which was of itself a great source of attraction ; but we had 
 also teaching and catechising, and I believe, that a deal of the 
 seemingly intelligent attention I got when I preached at my 
 own station, was due to the teaching and catechising of the 
 Sabbath afternoons. I sent out six preachers from our own 
 station almost every Sabbath during the year, and also several 
 of our best singers to teach singing in the other village 
 Churches. 
 
 With regard to the Schools of the district during 1874, 
 little can be said, in fact, the less said about them the 
 better ; for they were in a sad state, as they had been 
 allowed to go to ruin, and all my former toil over them some- 
 thing very like wasted. There was a growing interest in educa- 
 tion among the people of the district, and had it been laid hold 
 of, and directed into the proper channels, a deal might have been 
 made of it. Schools will not rise of themselves in Madagascar 
 any more than anywhere else ; but that they could be raised, 
 I had positive proof after they were again placed under my 
 charge, and that they could be kept up I have had proof ever 
 since. For I had the honour and satisfaction of doing what had 
 never been done in the Island before, and what has never been 
 done since, namely, that of raising 44 new Schools during 
 seven months, and gathering 2400 into them ; and although it 
 was the hardest seven months work I ever had in my life, it 
 was well worth doing, and proved that the remark that, “It 
 was impossible to raise Schools in Vonizongo,” was hardly 
 worth the breath that uttered it ; for they were raised, and 
 have been kept np, and instead of the some 150 old and 
 yoimg in the district, whom we found able to read the Word 
 of God, we left np wards of 2,400 — no bad ten years’ work 
 of itself, even if we had done nothing else. 
 
 Of our work in connection with the Schools, the late 
 Foreign Secretary of the Society, Dr. Mullins wrote in ’75: 
 
90 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 “W e are greatly struck with your educational success ; how 
 ever have you managed to gather so many village Schools, 
 and to fill them with so many scholars ? I suppose you have 
 managed to impart some of your own enthusiasm to the people! 
 Well it is a good work, and we ti-ust God will bless it 
 abundantly.” And again, in ’76 : “ You have sent two capital 
 accounts both of your general work and of the examination of 
 the Schools. We have been much struck by the development 
 of Education in your district.” 
 
 During 1874, I sent 24 young lads up to the capital for the 
 entrance examination for the Normal School; but only six 
 passed. I also sent two of our most sensible and trustworthy 
 women up to the hospital at the capital, to be trained in 
 midwifery and sick-nursing under Drs. Davidson, Mackie, and 
 Mrs Hogg, and by that means I was able in some small measure 
 to supply a long felt want. While my students were at college 
 in the capital, their wives also got some instruction in sick- 
 nursing. I intended my two ti-ained nurses to take charge of 
 a small hospital, I hoped to have been able to put up at our 
 own station, by the help of friends at home and my people ; 
 but all the help had to go to the putting up of a large School- 
 room for our large station School, and so the small hospital 
 had to give way to the School-room. I was very anxious for 
 something in the way of an hospital, so that I might be able 
 to do a little more for the sick and suffering than I was. I 
 had no way to put any severe cases that were brought me, 
 and with which I felt able to cope, but into my own kitchen, 
 and it was not always convenient to have sick people there. 
 
 We had a partial revival of Bible and book selling during 
 the latter part of ’74, and sold 400 copies of the new cheap 
 Bible at Is., and 100 copies of the New Testament at 6d., 
 besides a large number of Catechisms, Commentaries, Text- 
 books, Manuals of Simple Hermeneutics, Lives of Christ and 
 Paid, &c., &c., as also some 2500 copies of our Malagasy 
 monthly, “Good Words.” The sale of School books and 
 School materials never was so low as during ’74 ; but of course 
 the state of the Schools accounted for that, and it revived 
 towards the end of the year, and during the last two months 
 of the year I sold more School books and School materials 
 than during the previous eighteen months, which proved that 
 a new start had been made in elementary education. 
 
 We got out our Church bell during ’74, and rung it for the 
 first time on Christmas-day, the first sound of a bell that had 
 ever been heard in that part of the country ; for 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 91 
 
 A poor man’s Palanquin, Madagascar. 
 
 “The sound of the Church-going bell, 
 
 Those valleys and rocks never heard ; 
 
 Never sighed at the sound of a knell, 
 
 Nor smiled when a Sabbath appeared ! ” 
 
 On Christmas-day, ’74, we had the largest congregation I had 
 seen at our own station for two years, and at the close we 
 collected £5 for the new Church. We thus collected £112 
 in the district during the year 1874, which was £20 above any 
 of the former years. Our bell set the the other Churches of 
 the district collecting to get bells for themselves, and as I 
 promised a Church clock to every congregation who bought a 
 bell, within a few months I had orders for six bells. 
 
 [1875.] 
 
 I think one of the best reports I ever had to send home, 
 was the one I was able to send at the end of the year 1875. 
 For although I had nothing of a very marvellous or startling- 
 nature to report ; but only to tell of the marvel of real, steady, 
 and, from many points of view, rapid progress being made in 
 
92 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 all the departments of my work, still I considered that marvel 
 enough worth reporting. I say that was one of the best 
 reports I ever had to send ; for that year had been the best 
 and most successful year we had ever had ; for in it we had 
 more work done, more real progress made, more money 
 gathered, more Schools at work, more books sold, better 
 meetings, and fewer scandals in the Church — and I do wish I 
 could add and more souls saved — than ever we had in any one 
 year before that time ; I might almost say than all the former 
 years put together. I say, if I could only add, and more 
 souls saved, I would feel satisfied ; but as it was I was not ; for 
 that was the drawback to our joy. I find that there is a good 
 deal of truth in the remark that : “After a religious creed is 
 established in a community” — as to some extent, at least it is 
 in Vonizongo now — “the preacher educates gradually, far 
 oftener than he converts suddenly.” 
 
 The Gospel is gradually growing in the country districts of 
 Madagascar into a mighty power which is making old things 
 to pass away, and all things to become new. It is revolution- 
 ising the whole face of society, social, political, and religious, 
 affecting evei'ything in fact, from the fireside to the forum, 
 and from the Queen on the throne to the prisoner in chains. 
 
 It is “overturning, overturning, overturning,” and working 
 wonders in all directions, such as only the Gospel of the 
 grace of God can ; yet all this is being done in a comparatively 
 quiet and gradual way, and as the result of quiet, earnest, 
 hard work on all hands. We have very little excitement of 
 any kind, in our work, and although some of us have the 
 feeling sometimes that we would be none the worse of a little 
 more fire , if we could only have it without much smoke ; still, 
 it is perhaps a matter for more thankfulness than we are 
 always prepared to admit, that we have so little of the 
 exciting, so little of the startling or the marvellous in our 
 work ; while from another point of view, it might fairly be said 
 to be all of the most marvellous kind. And what is mostly 
 needed now is not so much excitement of any kind, until the 
 people be better grounded and established in the “Great 
 Fundamentals of the Faith,” until those great and glorious 
 tniths, which are the foundation of the Gospel of Christ, have 
 embedded themselves more deeply in the minds of the young 
 and rising generation, and have so entwined themselves 
 around their hearts and souls as to become part and parcel of 
 themselves, and religion become less and less a mere thing 
 of fits and starts, of times and seasons, of Sabbaths and 
 
MISSION WOKK IX YONlZOXGO. 
 
 93 
 
 ceremonies, and more a reality of everyday life. What is 
 mainly needed at the present time is not so much enthusiasm, 
 as wise guidance, and the exercise of a very large amount of 
 forbearance, discretion, tact, and Christian common sense. 
 These, along with a scattering of the Truth by every means in 
 our power, by the teaching of its precepts and the expounding of 
 its doctrines according to our light, abilities, and opportunities ; 
 and simply allowing the people to grow up into strong men 
 and women in Christ Jesus, unfettered and untrammelled by 
 any useless fences or forms. This will do more good, and the 
 results will wear better, and tell more for good in days to 
 come, than any amount of mere frothy excitement or sensation- 
 alism. At the present time I am very glad indeed to be able 
 to tell, that I believe our people are thus growing, and are 
 making real and rapid progress in their knowledge of the 
 Truth, and in the power to apply what they know to the 
 various circumstances and relationships of life. 
 
 With but one exception, the Churches under my charge did 
 not increase in number during the year 1875, and they 
 admitted but very few new members ; but at that I was not at 
 all astonished, and I might add, in a certain sense, not very sorry. 
 For until the people, by the increase of their knowledge of 
 the Word of Cod and the way of salvation, have a higher 
 and holier idea of Church membership, perhaps the fewer new 
 members we get the better for the purity, growth, and strength 
 of our Churches. 
 
 I have said that our Churches are growing in knowledge, 
 and so they are, and their thirst for information of almost all 
 kinds “growing with their growth and strengthening with 
 their strength.” Their power of applying the intelligence they 
 already possess was also growing, and in proof of this I could 
 fill pages with examples, but let one suffice. 
 
 The Church at Antsampandrano had given us very much 
 trouble from the first forming of it, in fact we had more 
 trouble with it than with all the other Churches of the 
 district. This had arisen almost entirely from the fact that 
 there were seven Andriandahy (petty chiefs) in that village, 
 and they all wanted to be either “heads” or “pillars” in the 
 Church. All wanted to be either pastors or preachers, although 
 there was not a man among them fit for Church membership, 
 for they were all bad. But notwithstanding this, when the 
 Church was commenced in 1865, being almost entirely com- 
 posed of their own clansmen and slaves, two of these men 
 were appointed as pastors and two as preachers ! As the 
 
94 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 place was a long- way from our own station, I had not been 
 able to visit it very often, (although I had visited it much 
 oftener than many of the other Churches), hence I was some- 
 time before I came to understand how matters really stood 
 there. But even after I did so, I found it impossible to do 
 anything ; for I could lay hold on nothing for which I could 
 turn those men out of their office, and no one was bold enough 
 to bring anything against them. 
 
 At last the two pastors and one of the preachers had a 
 quarrel with the other preacher, and these three entered his 
 house while he was in bed, and beat him in a most brutal 
 manner, leaving him bruised, bleeding, and senseless. He 
 appealed to the Queen, and his assailants had a very narrow 
 escape of being put in chains. When I heard of what had 
 taken place, I sent out immediately and called my pastors and 
 preachers to meet me at Antsampandrano, for our “Quarterly 
 Meeting,” to suspend those men from office in the Church. 
 When we got there, we found that this had already been 
 done, the little Church of their own clansmen and slaves had 
 already expelled them, and of course, we ratified what the 
 Church had done. 
 
 After waiting and behaving — outwardly at least — very well 
 for a little over a year, those men made application to be 
 received back into Church membership again, and the two 
 teachers whom we, the “Quarterly Meeting,” had appointed, 
 sent on to me to ask what they were to do. I told them they 
 were to do nothing, as the Church had no power to receive 
 expelled members, as that was the work of the “Quarterly 
 Meeting.” 
 
 For we had been compelled to pass a law, that if any one 
 was suspended from Church membership, only the “Quarterly 
 Meeting” of the pastors, preachers, and deacons, could 
 receive them back again into Church fellowship, as we found 
 that if any of the “big” men were suspended from Church 
 membership — and as a rule they were generally the parties 
 who were suspended — they had only to say they repented ; 
 and they were at once received back again into full com- 
 munion. If they were not, they had simply to bring a little 
 pressure to bear on the Clmrch — and they did so— until they 
 they were received ; and so we had, as a body, to come to the 
 rescue of these weak and harassed Churches in order to put 
 an end to such a state of overbearing. Note, all suspended 
 parties must be re-admitted through the “Quarterly Meeting,” 
 and not through the individual Church to which they may 
 
MISSION MO UK IN YONIZONOO. 
 
 9.3 
 
 have belonged, and thus we have been able to put. a stop to a 
 great abuse. 
 
 Those men therefore applied to us ; but the meeting was 
 unanimous in the opinion that they ought not to be re-admitted, 
 as they were utterly unfit for Church membership, and we 
 therefore refused them re-admission. At this they M r ere very 
 much astonished, and very angry. On their way home from 
 the meeting, they got their slaves, "who were the messengers of 
 the Church at Antsampandrano to the “Quarterly Meeting,” 
 persuaded, or frightened into reporting to the Church there 
 that M r e had received them again, and so next Sabbath they 
 ■were at the Communion. We heard of it on the Monday, and 
 sent on at once and suspended the whole Church, and told 
 them that they would be cut off from all connection with us, if 
 they did not turn those men out of the Church at once. On 
 the Wednesday, the two teachers along with the deacons came 
 to me, M r hen the lie that had been told them was found out, 
 and they -went home, and to their honour be it told, that little 
 Church of clansmen and slaves turned their chiefs out of the 
 Church, as men unfit for the communion of the Church of 
 Christ ! 
 
 Now I do not know what others may think of this; but I 
 call it brave— I call it heroism of no mean order. The three 
 men came to our next “Quarterly Meeting;” but we again 
 refused them re-admission, telling them that we did not believe 
 in their repentance, that we did not believe they M r ere con- 
 verted men, and that we never would receive them again until 
 we had good reasons for believing they -were. That we did 
 the right thing in thus refusing them was proved afterwards 
 by the fact, that one of them, the one Mho had been the chief 
 pastor, was “wanted” for some time by the Queen, for knocking 
 an eye out of a man ! 
 
 Then, again, I am glad to be able to say that our Churches 
 are gradually groM'ing in their liberality towards the cause of 
 Grod. They raised £7 in the district during the year 1875, to 
 help us with our new Church at Fihaonana. They also raised 
 £4 13s. to help the “Union” to send native missionaries to 
 the tribes in the south ; and at one of our “Quarterly 
 Meetings,” they agreed to raise £10 (4s. a Church) to pay the 
 expenses of re-roofing, and other M r ays doing up our old 
 Church at Fihaonana, to serve as an hospital on a small scale, 
 until we got a better. That -was to be collected on Christmas- 
 day, and they agreed to raise 4s. a Church every Christmas to 
 pay the salaries of the two nurses, and also to provide beds, 
 
96 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 They subscribed for 300 copies of one of my sermons 
 which they wished me to print. They also wanted me to print 
 one every few months, so that they may have them to read on 
 the Sabbath evenings, and that those far off Churches, which 
 I could not visit very often, might have them to read on a 
 Sabbath when they had no preacher. They also agreed to 
 give me half a measure of rice each Church every harvest as 
 food for the Society’s horse, instead of the rice they used to 
 give to my bearers when I went to visit them. This was all 
 in addition to the expenses connected with their own individual 
 congregations, and the money raised by them for purely 
 congregational purposes. 
 
 In some cases the amount raised during the year 1875, was 
 very high, as, for example : The congregation at Miantso 
 built a nice brick chapel during the year, and for that, and 
 other purposes they raised £22 9s., besides £2 13s., which 
 was really a large sum for a small and poor village congre- 
 gation like theirs to raise during one year. The congregation 
 at Ankazotsara raised the sum of £l 1 3s. to finish their Church 
 and buy a clock and bell. The congregation at Miadampa- 
 honina raised £5 12s. 4d. for congregational purposes, and 
 to buy a bell, and the promise to make a present of a clock 
 to every congregation who bought a bell, (as we wanted bells 
 and clocks both very badly for School purposes), had a very 
 stimulating effect. 
 
 My own congregation at Fihaonana really did liberal things 
 during the year, and far beyond even my most sanguine 
 expectations. They raised £18 14s. in money, they gathered 
 2000 bundles of thatching to cover the new Church with, 
 equal in value to about £3 ; they made 40,000 bricks, and 
 handed them to the bricklayers, besides making all the mortar 
 needed in laying them, equal to £4 ; they thatched the whole 
 of the roof of the neAv Church and vestry, equal to £3 4s. ; 
 and they made us a nice walk from the manse to the Church. 
 What with money, labour, and material given, they really 
 raised what is equal to about £28 14s. The women also 
 prepared the floor of our new Church, and then made mats to 
 cover the floor, a space of 60 feet by 30. 
 
 It gladdened my heart more than I can tell to see the roof 
 on my new Church at last, and to find how diligent my people 
 had been, what they had done, and to find things as I did, 
 when we returned from our enforced absence in town. It 
 proved to me, in a -way that hardly anything else could have 
 done, that they were benefitting, to an extent I never gave 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 97 
 
 them credit for, by the instruction they were receiving. We 
 got at last into our new Church, although it was far from 
 being finished, as it was simply roofed ; but we had been 
 flooded out of our old place. Our new place had cost us a 
 great amount of toil, trouble and expense, far more than we 
 expected when we began it. The latter had arisen mainly 
 from the very high price we had had to pay for our wood. 
 My poor people grumbled a good deal at the high price we 
 had to pay for the wood, but seeing it had to be brought 
 100 miles it could not be got cheaper. We brought our four 
 cross beams only from the capital, and they cost us 64s. in the 
 market there, and 56s. to bring them to our own station. If 
 we had not been helped in a most handsome way by friends 
 here at home, and a few in the island, we could never have 
 built our Church as we did. 
 
 The old Queen made a very great mistake, in taking the 
 good people from our district, and making martyrs of them in 
 the capital. If she had only been content to martyr them at 
 Fihaonana and Fiarenana, where they came from, tee should 
 have got the memorial Churches for them ; as it was, congre- 
 gations in the town, which had nothing whatever to do with 
 the martyrs, some of them having been raised since the re- 
 opening of the mission in 1862, got the beautiful stone 
 memorial Churches without a penny of cost, and we had to 
 get our own as best we could. Still, notwithstanding, we got 
 after a time, a place of worship such as Avas a comfort to 
 ourselves, a credit to the cause, an ornament to the country, 
 and worthy of the home of the martyrs, and thus Ave were in 
 some measure repaid for all our toil, trouble, and expense. 
 
 Another department of my work, or rather, to speak more 
 precisely, a section of the above, that of the “Quarterly 
 Meeting” of the pastors, preachers, and deacons, I have 
 already referred to ; but I think it ought to have a little more 
 than a mere passing remark, considering the power it is for 
 good. For I found it a groAA'ing source of strength and 
 usefulness, and a means of imiting us all in our common, work. 
 I declined to have anything whatever to do AA T ith Church 
 business as an indmdual, and had it all brought to the 
 “Quarterly Meeting” and settled there ; and whatever was 
 approved of by the majority Avas carried out. By that means 
 my people were trained in habits of self-reliance, and how to 
 deal Avith those difficulties which were always cropping out, 
 as well as Avith Church business in general. We had generally 
 good meetings, and a deal done at them. I was, of course, ex 
 
 H 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 98 
 
 officio, chairman, and generally, by the exercise of' a little tact 
 and common sense, got them to do precisely as I wanted. Of 
 course when all was done “we” did it, and I gave them as 
 much credit as ever they liked for what was done, all I wanted 
 being, that they as a body should adopt and carry out what I 
 believed to be the right course to be adopted. 
 
 The condition of my Churches had a very beneficial effect 
 on the growing efficiency of the 
 
 Schools . — Very few of our Church members had any 
 children, or only such as were grown up ; but they were very 
 anxious to do all in their power by means of Schools for the 
 children of those who were only adherents, or not even that ; 
 and if the parents had only been as anxious for their welfare, 
 there would never have been any difficulty in having splendid 
 Schools. As it was, we were in a superior condition to what 
 we were the previous year. Then we had only 16 Schools in 
 all the district, and 10 of these had been raised by me during 
 the previous month, after the Schools had been placed again 
 under my charge; but in 1875, we had 50 Schools at work, 
 and over 2,000 children attending them, and if we had only 
 had proper teachers we could soon have had some excellent 
 Schools ; for there was a growing thirst for knowledge of all 
 kinds, and anxiety for good Schools ; and in those Schools 
 nearly all the work done in the Sabbath Schools here at home 
 is being done, in addition to teaching the ordinary elements 
 of education. 
 
 During the year 1875, I had an offer from the Church at 
 Miantso to pay 12s. a month to a good teacher if I could send 
 them one. As it was, I had to do the best I could with such 
 teachers as could be got for a penny a day, the Church 
 paying the one half and I the other ! But even that small 
 sum was about all I could give ; for as I only got help for 26 
 Schools, at 2s. 6d. a month, and I had to pay some of my 
 teachers 3s. a month, others 2s. 6d., and others 2s., besides 
 other incidental expenses, I had but little margin left. In 
 many cases the teachers really did remarkably well for their 
 penny a day, and I often wished I had had more to give them. 
 
 At Filiaonana we had during the year, two very good 
 Schools. We had a School for girls in our own yard, to be 
 near my wife, with 115 on the books, and a very good 
 daily attendance ; and a School for boys in the village, with 
 125 on the books, instead of 25 as formerly, also well 
 attended. I was greatly helped — in fact, the great change 
 in. the condition of my Schools was mainly brought about— 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 99 
 
 by the assistance I got from “ Local Authorities ,” by getting 
 them to bring the pressure of their influence to bear on the 
 parents to send their children to School. But for their 
 assistance I could have done but little. 
 
 At the examinations in 1874, they were found to be very 
 far behind indeed, as was to be expected, (seeing that some of 
 them had not been a month in existence, and only six of them 
 had been a year), and especially deficient in the children’s 
 little catechism. I told the people how very sorry I was to 
 find them in such a poor condition. They said they were also 
 very sorry, and would do their best in order that they might 
 be better up next time ; but they added : “We have only bad 
 them for a few weeks, and they are all children of the people 
 of this world, who never teach them at home, and so very few 
 of them can read as yet, that we find it very hard work to 
 teach them the catechism ; but as you say they must learn it, 
 and be better up in it next time,” and 300 copies of the 
 catechism were sold in a few weeks. 
 
 But while our Schools were in a superior condition in 1875, 
 to what they were in 1874, they were far from being what 
 they ought to have been, and what I hoped to make them once 
 I had some good teachers. The altered state of affairs with 
 regard to my Schools during the year 1875, led to an alteration 
 in another department of my work, namely, that of the sale of 
 Bibles, Testaments, School books, and School materials 
 generally. The year 1875 was one of our best years with 
 regard to these, and I sold almost as much as during the former 
 four years. I paid about £120 to the Printing Offices during 
 the year. I disposed of 3,000 copies of our monthly magazine, 
 “Good Words,” namely, 250 copies a month. I also disposed 
 of 3,000 copies of an adaptation of the Westminster Catechism. 
 These are facts that need no comment, they may be safely 
 left to speak for themselves. 
 
 Medicine . — The old fear of the White Man’s medicine 
 kept rapidly dying out, and a knowledge of its power spread, 
 especially that of the odi-tazo ( quinine). During the fever 
 season, we had the most severe time we had ever known up 
 to that time, although I have since thought, that I may have 
 come to know more of it that season than ever I did before, 
 from the very large increase of patients of all kinds, but 
 especially fever patients. I sold some 8ozs. of cpiinine in 
 seven months, besides other medicines. We purposed doing 
 up our old chapel to serve as an hospital on a small scale, 
 and the two women trained in town, as midwives and sick- 
 
100 
 
 MISSION WORK IX VON IZOXGO. 
 
 nurses, were to take charge of it. We were not able to do 
 any thing to it until the dry season, as we had to re-roof it, 
 and put in drains under the floor, but before the end of 
 the rainy season the walls fell down, and we were left without 
 any place to use as a small hospital. 
 
 District Bible Classes . — At Anboliimiandry in the south of 
 the district, and Ambohiboahangy in the south-west, which I 
 went to every alternate Tuesday ; and Fiadanana in the west, 
 Ambohijanakolona in the north, Ambohitrazo in the north- 
 east, and Fiadanana in the east, which I went to once a month 
 on the Fridays, taking them in turns, kept up fairly well 
 during the year 1875, although not always so well as 1 could 
 have liked, as also, did those I had at our own station at 
 Fihaonana for my pastors, preachers, and teachers on Monday 
 and Wednesday afternoons, and Saturday mornings. Our 
 enforced absence during a part of the year broke them up for 
 a little. During the first six months of the year 1875, my 
 friend, Air. Pickersgill, very kindly came across from Am- 
 bohibeloma every month, and had a singing class with our 
 people, which they enjoyed very much, and which did them 
 a deal of good. He taught them the Sol-fa notation, which 
 they liked, and I think they made very fair progress during 
 the time they had teaching. I wish he had been able to 
 have continued to perfection what he so Avell began. 
 
 Owing to the state of my wife’s health during the year 1875, 
 she was not able to go out with me to my district classes, as 
 she used to do, much to our own sorrow and to the people’s 
 regret. We hoped she would have been able to do a little 
 in that way during the year, although not much ; for 
 domestic duties took up so much of her time, and then she 
 had the girls’ School at our own station to look after, for 
 Malagasy teachers could not be left quite to themselves, and she 
 gave two forenoons a week to it ; for although she was not able 
 to go out with me, she kept up her classes with the girls and 
 sold some £3 8s. worth of garments made by the girls in the 
 School from remnants sent from home, beside £10 worth of 
 old clothing sent out to be sold for the benefit of the hospital, 
 and for which the people were very thankful. 
 
 My tale of the main features of our work during the year 
 1875 is told, and from the facts I have given I think any one 
 will be able to form a very fair idea of the state of our work. I 
 have given nothing but facts, and I leave friends to draw 
 their own inferences. But still I may say, and I think 
 most friends will agree with me, that we had great cause for 
 
.MISSION WOllK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 101 
 
 thankfulness, for the measure of success which attended our 
 feeble efforts, even if it be only as regards the outward, and 
 as merely pertaining to the machinery of the work — merely to 
 the preparation of the soil and the sowing of the seed of the 
 kingdom. For no one can get good work from bad machinery, 
 or satisfactory results from bad or senseless organisations, or 
 heavy crops from badly tilled and prepared soil, or lasting 
 results from mere sensationalism and surface work, so that 
 even if the little success that there may have been only 
 pertained to the seeming outward, still it is an important 
 matter and a cause for thankfulness ; for in missions, as in 
 everything else, “nothing succeeds like success.” We often 
 longed for something higher and better than we ever saw ; 
 but still we hailed what we did see, as in some measure 
 the shadows of coming events. We were digging and 
 ploughing, preparing the soil, and scattering the seed in all 
 directions, in the full conviction that the harvest will come, 
 and some one will have a glorious gathering in of souls even 
 if we do not. 
 
 [1876.] 
 
 In my report for 1875, I told that the previous year had 
 been the best year we had ever had, and certainly the 
 year 1876 was the most eventful. Eventful, not merely to my 
 district, but, if I mistake not, more or less so to the entire 
 mission. The country had been passing through a crisis of 
 great magnitude during the year : through a social revolution 
 in fact, second to none perhaps that it lias ever encountered. 
 A revolution of greater importance, from some points of view 
 at least, and in the opinions of those who had seen all the 
 three, than was the revolution at the death of Radama II. or 
 of Rasoherina I., although all was accomplished without 
 the shedding of blood. The country was for some months in 
 a state of great excitement, which was mainly caused by two 
 things, a conscription by the Government— which was really 
 a revolution of the military establishments of the country, and 
 the placing of them upon a firmer and better basis — and a 
 most extraordinary excitement on the subject of slavery, 
 
102 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 which seems to have been mainly brought about by false 
 reports having got abroad, that the slaves were all to be 
 freed ; and, if they were not, the English were coming to free 
 them by force ! 
 
 Of course such a state of things could not fail to affect our 
 work while it lasted ; but I think our work is now on a 
 firmer and better footing than ever. All work was at a 
 complete stand-still for some months, and if I had not had the 
 finishing of my new Church to do, and thereby had my hands 
 quite full of work, I would have had a very miserable time of 
 it. For all my classes were closed, and my Schools shut up 
 for want of teachers — except at our own station at Fihaonana 
 and a few places near to it — Bible selling, book selling, and 
 everything else stopped, and nearly everybody oft' to the 
 capital. 
 
 The principal event of the year 1876 was the opening of our 
 new Church at Fihaonana, the “Martyr Memorial Church,” at 
 the home of the martyrs, where they lived and wrought, and 
 among whose rocks, ravines, and caves they hid themselves and 
 the Word of God during the days of darkness and persecution. 
 We had a very good opening on the whole, and the people 
 were very much pleased with it, as also with the number of 
 the missionaries who countenanced it by attending ; for we 
 had twelve of the brethren present, three of the town pastors, 
 and a very large gathering of the people. The present of £10 
 sent us by the Queen, pleased my people very much, as it 
 showed her interest in our work both to them and to the 
 outsiders ; as also, how false the reports had been that had 
 been circulating for some time previous, that she had no 
 longer any love or respect for religion, and was about to put 
 a stop to all worship and schools. Fihaonana was quite a 
 scene of excitement, and all the houses in it, as well as in the 
 villages all round, were crammed full with people. We had 
 a prayer meeting on the Saturday evening, and had intended 
 having the Communion service on the Sabbatli evening ; but 
 we afterwards found that this could not be carried out. 
 
 By five o’clock on the Sabbath morning the people were 
 standing waiting at the Church doors to get in, and hours 
 before the time of service the Church was crammed in every 
 corner, and numbers standing outside. The service began at 
 nine o’clock, and after the usual introductory exercises 
 Andriambelo, the pastor of Amparibe, in the capital, preached, 
 or rather gave a short account of former times in Vonizongo. 
 Razaka, our good old pastor, was to have read a short history 
 
MISSION' WOK K IX VOXIZOXGO. 
 
 103 
 
 of the Church at Fihaonana, beginning with the first visit of 
 Mr. Jones in 1827, but owing to the press of business he was 
 unable to get it ready. After Andriambelo had preached, 
 our Secretary, Rev. B. Briggs, the official representative of the 
 Committee in the absence of the Chairman, preached from 
 i Cor. xv. 58. In the afternoon, Andrianaivoravelona, the 
 pastor of Ampamarinana, in the capital, gave an excellent 
 sermon, after which Rev. G. Cousins preached shortly, and we 
 were very sorry that so little time had been left to him, as his 
 sermon was a most suitable one for our people, and could 
 hardly have failed to do them a deal of good. 
 
 On the Monday forenoon Rainimanga, of Ambohipotsy, in 
 the capital, preached a good sermon upon the devils entering 
 into the swine ; and when he had finished Rev. J. Richardson 
 preached a short but pointed and pithily put sermon, from the 
 xvth Psalm : “Lord who shall abide in Thy tabernacle ; who 
 shall dwell in thy holy hill ? ” 
 
 After the service, on the Monday forenoon, we adjourned 
 outside, where we presented “ hasina ,” the usual allegiance 
 money, to the Queen’s messengers, and received from them 
 before all the people the £10 sent us by the Queen. “ Matiosy 
 mirad //,” Matthews, husband and wife, were then thanked in 
 the name of the Queen and Prime Minister for what they were 
 doing for the good of the people. As I had to reply to that, 
 I simply said we were only doing what we had intended doing 
 when we came to the Island, namely, our very best and utmost 
 for the good of the people and the spread of the Gospel ; and 
 for the future we only intended continuing to do as we had 
 been doing. They then gave the Queen’s message about the 
 Schools, and contradicted the false reports that had been 
 flying about, to the effect that she had forbidden the people to 
 pay the School teachers. 
 
 Our people came out very clean and tidy to the opening, 
 and a few of them even “braw,” and our singing was very 
 much admired ; for as w r e had neither organ nor harmonium, 
 nor “kist o' whistles” of any kind, to arrest the attention of 
 the people, and keep them sitting gazing in stupid open- 
 mouthed wonder at the performer, instead of joining in the 
 singing, a large proportion of our people make very good use 
 of the organs God gave them and sang heartily, and hence we 
 had as much real congregational singing as in most Churches 
 in the Island, and if it is not always quite correct, it is 
 generally with the soul. There was not all that life and 
 earnestness about the services I woxdd have liked to have 
 
104 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 seen, but still on the whole all passed oft’ well, and my people 
 were very pleased with them, and stirred by them, I think, 
 although not so much as could have been wished, but the 
 moving of the people is not a very easy thing, which only shows 
 how much we need something beyond even the preaching of 
 the truth to move them, and mould their hearts, and make new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus of them. 
 
 The number of the Churches under my charge did not 
 increase during the year 1876, and two of them, along with 
 their Schools, were incorporated with other two of the 
 Churches. That was brought about in the one place by the 
 death of the man who was preacher and schoolmaster there, a 
 quiet, hardworking, good fellow, and our inability to hud 
 another to fill his place ; and in the other place by our finding 
 out that the pastor of the Church was secretly living with 
 two wives, and as we had no one to put in his place, we joined 
 the Church and School to the next nearest to them. 
 
 Through Government business, by which so many of the 
 pastors, preachers, and schoolmasters were called to the capital, 
 and kept so long there, many of the Churches and Schools 
 were closed for several months. In consequence of this, many 
 of the people fell away from the means of grace, and some 
 “Went out from us because they were not of us ; for if they 
 had been of us, they would have continued with us.” As soon 
 as some of the people found that they could leave off going to 
 Church with perfect safety, in fact, that the safest thing for 
 them to do, perhaps, would be to leave off going ; for as there 
 were lots of rumours rife, to the effect that the Queen had no 
 longer any love or respect for religion, and that she was about 
 to put a stop to all praying and Schools, they left off attending 
 Church, thereby proving that the Church membership of 
 those of them who were Church members had been a mere 
 farce, a name and nothing more, and that true l-eligion had 
 never reached their hearts or touched them. Still, notwith- 
 standing, we fondly hoped there were many, some even among 
 those who left us for the time being, many of them mainly 
 from fear — for the poor people were terrible cheated once, 
 and it will be a generation or two before they have thorough 
 confidence in any government again — in whose hearts the 
 good seed of the kingdom had been sown, and in which it will 
 yet spring up and bear fruit to the praise of the glory of His 
 grace. 
 
 The Queen set some twenty of my pastors free from 
 government service during the year 1876 — among whom was 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 105 
 
 good old Razaka, our pastor at Fihaonana, and the Paul of 
 the district — and sent them home to do what they could to 
 help me in the work ; with strict orders that they were 
 not to turn traders, and go wandering over the country, 
 instead of attending to their duties, for if they did they would 
 have to return at once to their old service. They were to do 
 nothing but attend to the interests of the Churches and Schools 
 of their respective villages, and that was to be counted by the 
 Queen and Government as their share of that service which 
 all must render to the Government for the general good of 
 the country. We heard that all pastors of Churches who 
 had been chosen by the people, and whose appointment had 
 been agreed to by the missionary in charge, and all school- 
 masters, were to be freed from government service ; as their 
 services to the Churches and the Schools were to be regarded 
 as for the good of the kingdom, and so taken in lieu of 
 government service. That was a fact, and being carried 
 out, it was a blessing to the county, and cannot fail to do 
 a vast amount of good, if only a little care is exercised 
 to see that only such as are pastors and teachers are released. 
 In order that this might be done in our district, we called a 
 meeting of the “Quarterly Meeting,” to go over the roll of 
 our pastors and teachers, and then sent it to the Prime 
 Minister, so that there might be no cheating ; for many would 
 have tried to pass themselves off at the capital, as pastors and 
 teachers, in order to get free from government service. During 
 the inspection for the conscription, it is said that the Prime 
 Minister asked one man what he was, and he said he was 
 the pastor of a village Church. “Were you chosen by the 
 people?” “Yes.” “Has the missionary agreed to your 
 appointment?” “Yes.” “Can you read?” “Not much.” 
 “Can you write?” “No.” “What can you do then to 
 benefit the people?” “Well I just do my very best for the 
 good of all of them.” “That’s right,” said the Prime Minister ; 
 “go away home and continue doing so : you are free.” 
 
 Owing to so many of the pastors and preachers being away 
 so long in the capital, during the year 1876, many of the 
 Churches were closed for several months, and hence with the 
 exception of Fihaonana, Ankazotsara, Tsitakondaza, Miadam- 
 pahonina and a few others, very little real work was done or 
 true progress made during the year. At Fihaonana we kept 
 making progress, and the congregation did remarkably well. 
 
 About a fortnight before the time we had originally fixed 
 for the opening of our new Church, we found we would have 
 
106 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 to take down the south gable, which had been put up the 
 previous year while I was on the hills, having been, through 
 carelessness, built off the plumb. The hurricane we had in 
 the beginning of the year 1876, had shaken the roof a little, 
 and we found that the gable was giving way, and so we put 
 off the opening for a month. We took off a third part of the 
 roof, took down the gable, made 40,000 new bricks, put it up 
 again, plastered it outside and in, re-roofed the part we had 
 taken off, whitewashed and finished it inside, and all that we 
 did in five weeks, nearly all the work being done by the 
 people, who besides provided the material, and an entire set 
 of new mats for the opening. Xow we have a nice, large, 
 handsome chapel to meet and worship God in, through the 
 help given to us by the London Missionary Society and other 
 friends both in Madagascar and here at home, as a partial 
 reward for all the toil and trouble we had connected with it. 
 We got the walls nicely coloured, and designs in blue put on 
 the cornice round the top of the walls, and also under the 
 windows right round the Church, with a fleur-de-lis above 
 each of the gothic arched windows, and a blue band round 
 them. Altogether it looked very chaste indeed, and that it 
 did so well, I owed to my friends who kindly gave us 
 suggestions as to how it ought to be done. We have a large 
 handsome platform pulpit at the north end, with a very 
 tasteful rail from designs by Mr. Johnson of the Friends’ 
 Foreign Mission Association. 
 
 I found that I could not lay down a wooden floor in my 
 new Church for less than about fifty pounds, we having to 
 bring the wood about a hundred miles, and no means of con- 
 veyance, but being carried on the shoulders of men, and so I 
 determined simply to macadamise it and plaster it over with 
 mud. I got the children to bring a stone in each hand every 
 morning as they came to School, and when all was ready we 
 threw in all the stones that had been brought, but we found 
 that all that had been brought during six months only filled 
 one corner; and so I got the School children, over two 
 hundred of them, to consent to carry stones with me, and we 
 set to work, carried stones from eight to twelve o’clock every 
 day, except Saturday and Sunday, for a whole fortnight, for 
 the purpose of macadamising the floor. 
 
 Thus we got at last a good, substantial, well-finished 
 Chiirch, which was much admired by all, as a credit to us and 
 to any part of the country, and worthy of the home of the 
 martyrs, and of its name. The Martyr Memorial Church. 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO 
 
 107 
 
 The Mai’tyr Memorial Church at Fihaonana, Vonizongo, Madagascar. 
 
 And that we did so, we owe a little to our own efforts and 
 dogged perseverance ; but more to the generosity of our 
 many friends, both young and old, both in Madagascar and 
 here at home, to whom we return our most sincere and 
 hearty thanks for all the help they gave us. As our object 
 was good, and the people were doing their utmost, we never 
 had any scruples in appealing to our friends for help, and our 
 appeals were answered in a way, and with a generosity that 
 we hardly expected even in our most sanguine moments. We 
 begged right and left, and were hardly ever refused. One 
 gave us plans, another beautiful designs, and a third most 
 valuable suggestions besides a subscription. The London 
 Missionary Society led the way with a grant of £60, and our 
 friends, both here at home and in Madagascar, followed to 
 the same liberal tune, and to each and all we return our 
 most heartfelt thanks, and sincerely hope they may never 
 want friends to serve them as generously as they have served 
 
108 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 us. May the words of the wise man be fulfilled in their 
 experience : “The liberal soul shall be made fat ; and he that 
 watereth shall be watered also himself.' 5 Our Church, in- 
 cluding clock and bell, &c., cost £265 5s. lid. For a Church 
 that will seat, as the Malagasy sit, 800 people, I think it is 
 very cheap, and we were very pleased to get it. 
 
 In January, 1876, I told my congregation at Fihaonana, 
 that our School had so increased in numbers, from 25 to 265, 
 we would require more teachers, and their united salaries 
 would amount to 24s. a month, besides houses and rice — for 
 that part of the country had such a fame for fever, that it was 
 only by paying high wages that we could get teachers to come 
 out from the capital to us, although it was not always so bad 
 as they generally tried to make out ; in fact their own stupid 
 habits had often nearly as much to do Avith their getting 
 fever as the district had. And that if they would pay 12s. a 
 month and give rice, I would pay the other 12s. and give the 
 houses, and they agreed to do so. I told them we had better 
 collect for a year at once, as it wotild only be a bother to be 
 collecting every month, and so they asked a month to collect 
 the money, when they paid me in £7 6s., to which sum I had 
 not given a penny. I introduced the box system into my 
 district in 1876, a small tin box for each family, for dropping 
 any spare bit of money into during the week, a sort of 
 “Missionary Box,” and the first opening of them when we 
 called them in, we found the 50 boxes to contain 30s., while 
 the Church-door collections for the same three months 
 amounted to 32s. They thus raised as a congregation the 
 sum of £9 8s. during the year 1876, besides giving work and 
 material to the amount of, at the very least and lowest, £10, 
 which for a poor village congregation of 85 members, I con- 
 sidered most remarkably good, being, about 4s. 6d. a head for 
 every member, and I suspect, excepting the money to pay the 
 teachers, few but members gave. 
 
 The “Quarterly Meeting” of the pastors and preachers — 
 the Presbytery ! — did good service during the year 1876, in 
 helping with the many difficult questions that were continually 
 cropping up among these young Churches. We were very 
 much troubled during 1876 with the questions of marriage and 
 divorce. For although a goodly and increasing number of 
 our Church members were being married in the Church, still 
 the pastors had not always been so careful as they ought to 
 have been, and in some cases they and we had been cheated 
 in the pai’ties we married, and so in a few months after there 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 109 
 
 had been a divorce, which caused a deal of scandal. This 
 question of marriage caused much trouble all the country over 
 for several years ; but as there is now a law of the land on the 
 subject of divorce, I hope we have seen the end of these 
 troubles. 
 
 The state of the Churches, and the causes that affected them, 
 had also a most detrimental effect upon the Schools. For 
 with the exception of the four Schools connected with the 
 four principal Churches of the district, and a few others, the 
 majority made but little progress during the year 1876. The 
 progress made by the above four Schools in particular, was 
 mainly from the fact that they had good teachers, who had 
 not been disturbed in their work ; whereas most of the teachers 
 of the other Schools were but poor teachers to begin with, and 
 they had been so much away during the year that they got 
 but little work done. We had the examinations of all the 
 Schools as usual in 1876. In my report for the year I 
 mentioned how far back we found most of the Schools in the 
 catechism at the examination we had in June, 1875. Hence 
 I was glad that we found them in a much better state at the 
 examination in February, 1876, and better still at the exam- 
 ination in October, especially the four principal Schools ; for 
 they went through the three catechisms beautifully. After 
 the examination, Mr. Thorne, the superintendent of education, 
 said they would compare in Scripture knowledge with any 
 School he knew, and that they were the best up in the 
 catechisms of any Schools he had ever examined ; and seeing 
 that his work lies almost entirely in examining Schools, his 
 testimony carried weight with it. 
 
 I made a point of catechising the children for an hour the 
 first thing on the Sabbath wherever 1 went to preach. There 
 were several advantages which arose from such a plan, that 
 were worth all the time and trouble. It impressed more 
 firmly upon the minds of the children the truths they had 
 learned, and at the same time gave opportunity for explaining 
 a little more fully the truths themselves, while the grown up 
 people present heard both the questions and the answers, as 
 well as the explanations given, and many who would not, and 
 not a few who could not, learn these things, got the benefit. 
 
 I was very pleased that four Schools did so well, and if I 
 had only had as good teachers in all my Schools, I would have 
 had but little fear of their all doing as well. I was always 
 anxious that the Schools under my charge should do well in 
 reading and in Bible knowledge, 
 
110 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 Although our Schools had not made so much progress as I 
 would have liked, they had not stood still ; and we hope 
 they Avill do better every year. Six of my best lads I sent 
 to the Normal School for two years; and as that class of 
 teachers increased our Schools improved ; for that was the 
 great want of our country districts — good schoolmasters. 
 And for good schoolmasters the people were willing to pay, 
 when they would not pay for the services of trained evangelists, 
 because they could sooner see the results of the schoolmaster’s 
 labours in the improvement of their children ; while they 
 themselves were not in that condition as individuals, nor come 
 to that stage as a people, when they would either be very 
 much bettered, or would properly appreciate or value the 
 services of highly trained evangelists, and hence except here 
 and there at advanced central stations such men were not 
 needed, and the people would not pay for their services. The 
 pastors and preachers they had were about quite equal to 
 their congregations, and far enough above them to be able to 
 guide them into a deal of truth, and to do them much good, 
 and as they were improving in knowledge by their attendance 
 at the Bible Classes, and the reading of new books ; and as 
 they did in most cases, what they could for the good of the 
 people for nothing, we will have to get much more intelligent 
 congregations before they will be prepared to part with their 
 present pastors and preachers, Avho cost them little or nothing, 
 for others who will cost them a great deal. What we most 
 Avanted was a very large number of good, well-trained, godly 
 schoolmasters, for our hopes for the future and for the country 
 Avere in the Schovls, more than even in the Churches. For 
 in the Schools are the congregations of the future, and if they 
 are Avell grounded in the Word of God and the fundamentals 
 of the faith iioav, then there will be some ground for the 
 evangelistic pastors of the future to work upon. 
 
 At the examination in February, 1876, I picked out forty 
 of the best of the scholars from the various Schools in the 
 district, and got them set free from Government service, 
 by getting the Queen’s messengers, Avho Avere present at 
 the examination, to arrange that they should be set free to 
 come to Fihaonana to be prepared for the Normal School. 
 At the examination for the Normal School, fourteen of them 
 passed. At the examination in October I made up the 
 forty again, so that I had sixty lads under training for 
 schoolmasters during 1876, namely forty at Fihaonana and 
 twenty in the capita! ; and if Ave had only trained godly 
 
MISSION WORK IK YONIZONGO. 
 
 Ill 
 
 teachers, there will he hut little fear of the Schools progressing 
 in all that is sound, pure, and good. I was often at my wits’ 
 end to know what to do for teachers, and had to send men 
 who could do little more than teach the alphabet and keep 
 the children together, and thus keep the Schools agoing until 
 I could get better men to put in their places. Hardly a 
 month passed that I had not letters, sometimes several, 
 pleading with me to send them teachers for their School, and 
 1 had none to send. 
 
 Our School at Fihaonana, kept up well during the year 
 1876. Up to June of that year we used to have 210 and 220 
 present every day, exclusive of the forty lads being trained for 
 the Normal School, but the great excitement on the subject 
 of slavery caused many of the slave children to be removed by 
 their masters from the School, and we seldom got more than 
 180 for sometime after that, but we got up to the old numbers 
 again ; not by getting back many of those who had been taken 
 away, for I had never much hope of that, but by getting new 
 scholars; for as it cost 37s. a month for the five teachers we 
 had, we were most anxious that it should be a large and good 
 School. By the returns for 1876, we had 80 children at our 
 own station School who coidd read, 67 who had Testaments, 96 
 that had slates, 65 who could write upon them, and 57 who 
 coidd count, while two years before, when the Schools were 
 again placed under my care, there was only a School of 25 at 
 Fihaonana, not 20 of whom could either read or write, or had 
 slates, Testaments, or Bibles, so that we made some progress 
 during the two years, and we hope a good deal more will be 
 made during the years that are to come and that many may 
 be brought to God from among the scholars of that School. 
 
 The state of the Churches and Schools, and what affected 
 them also affected the sale of Bibles, Testaments, Catechisms, 
 Commentaries, School books, and School materials ; for we 
 had but a poor year in this direction compared with 1875. 
 That arose partly from the causes above mentioned, and partly 
 from other causes. The people said they were not bold 
 enough to buy any more Bibles, Testaments, or other books, 
 as they had heard that there was to be no more praying 
 allowed, and so they were to wait a little first to see if that 
 report was true or not. Still we disposed of some 300 
 Testaments, 50 Bibles, some 600 catechisms, about 1,000 
 school slates, many hundreds of lesson books, copy books, 
 arithmetics, &c., &c., besides 3,600 copies of our monthly 
 magazine, “Good Words,” namely 300 a month, 
 
112 
 
 MISSION AVOliK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 The medical was almost the only part of my work that was 
 not much affected by the commotions of the year 1876, in fact, 
 it seemed often rather on the increase, as I found it difficult to 
 get them to come always at the appointed times, they often 
 troubled me a deal more than there Avas any need for ; but as 
 many of them often came a long Avay, and could not always get 
 to our station by the appointed time, one had just to bear with 
 them a little. I had hoped after I put up my new School- 
 room to be able to put up a small hospital, for our old chapel 
 in the village had tumbled down during the rainy season, and 
 1 had noAvhere to put any patient whom I Avished to have 
 near me. The house I rented in the village, and which I 
 might have used for that purpose, I had to use as a dwelling 
 house for some of my lads avIio were being prepared for the 
 Normal School, and who came a long way and had no house 
 to live in. We lost one of our good old pastors, Ratsisetraina, 
 of Fiadanana, during the year 1876, a good old man, who was 
 a Christian in the days of darkness and persecution, and who 
 was among those who were tried at Analakely in the last 
 severe outbreak of persecution. He had been suffering for 
 some time from the effects of fever and enlarged spleen, &c., 
 and he got medicine for that, but as it did not cure him so 
 quickly as his sons thought it should have done, seeing that it 
 was Avhite man’s medicine, they had recourse to Malagasy 
 medicine and Malagasy doctors, and I am rather afraid that 
 they, by their idiotic treatment, helped the good old man to 
 his long home. I have got the idea that had I had him near 
 me, he might have been still alive. That was only one instance 
 among many that 1 might give to shew how much we are in 
 want of a small hospital. 
 
 I was a good deal disappointed at the treatment my two 
 nurses received from the people for some months after their 
 return to Yonizongo. No one would haA r e anything Avhatever 
 to do with them, because, of course, they followed the white 
 people’s mode of treatment as they had been instructed; but 
 as some of the cases under the old mode of treatment turned 
 out badly, and when they came to me I could liaA T e nothing 
 Avhatever to do with them, that brought a good many of them 
 to see things in the proper light. I am glad to be able to say 
 that the tide soon turned in favour of the nurses, and their 
 seiwices are noiv being appreciated, paid for, and greatly in 
 request. The old stupid heathen ideas AAuth regard to medicine, 
 nursing, and general treatment of the sick, are rapidly dying 
 out, and the white man’s are rapidly gaining ground. 
 
.MISSION WO UK IN VON1ZONGO. 
 
 113 
 
 With the exception of looking after the girls’ School, and 
 taking a sewing class with them for two hours twice a week, 
 my wife had neither time nor strength for doing much else 
 during the year 1876, hut 1 am glad to he able to say that her 
 labours in that direction were very much appreciated, and there 
 were always most girls at School on the days of the sewing class. 
 It will be seen from the list of subscriptions for the new Church, 
 that we got a very handsome subscription from the proceeds 
 of their work. We had the girls taught in the Schoolroom in 
 our own yard ; and the boys, together with forty lads being- 
 prepared for the Normal School, in the new Church, until 
 I got up my new Schoolroom. I put it up on our own 
 ground, so as to be near to me, that I might be able to 
 look in upon them pretty often without having very far 
 to go. 
 
 I was not able to get much done in the way of district Bible 
 classes during six months of the year 1876, nor was I able to 
 have any until all the government business was quite settled, 
 but after that they went on as before. 
 
 I got a student from the Institution to help me a little in 
 the work. I wanted to place him at Ambohijanakoloua, about 
 ten miles to the north of our station, as with all the good 
 men I had at Filiaonana, who were always ready and 
 willing to do whatever I might want done, I did not much 
 want him at Filiaonana, and they were very much in want of 
 some one there ; but he was not willing to go there, as he 
 wanted to be near the missionary for some time. As he was 
 but a very young man, it was thought that perhaps it would 
 be better that he should be with me for one year at least, until I 
 should see how he was likely to do. He took classes for 
 the preachers and teachers four mornings a week, and I 
 took them two afternoons. I could not take them in the 
 mornings ; for what -with seeing the sick, giving medicines, 
 visiting the Schools, and the time taken up in consultations 
 over Church and School business and difficulties, the mornings 
 I had at home were generally well filled up. 
 
 In the Spring of ’76, my friend Joseph Sewell, of the 
 Friends’ Foreign Mission Association, came out to our station 
 to see us, and spend a few days with us, previous to his return 
 to England. On the Saturday morning he took my usual 
 class for my pastor and preachers for me, and had a good long 
 talk with them on the subject of slavery, a subject on which 
 the Quakers are always sound. The next Saturday morning I 
 wished to have a talk with them on the same subject, and 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 I asked them what Mr. Sewell was talking to them about the 
 previous Saturday, and they said “Slavery.” “Well,” I 
 replied, “aud what did you think about what he said on that 
 subject?” “Well,” they said, “sir, we cannot see slavery in 
 the light that you white men see it at all.” “No,” I said, “I do 
 not suppose you can yet, or if you did, you would have done 
 ■with it at once.” And wanting to present the subject of 
 slavery in the strongest and most repulsive light I could, I 
 asked them “If Jesus Christ was in the market for sale as a 
 slave for forty dollars, ‘forty pieces of silver,’ would any of 
 you buy Him?” “No,” they said, “certainly not; how coidd 
 you ask such a question ? ” I replied I had a purpose in 
 asking it. I asked again, “Supposing He were in your 
 possession as a slave would you sell Him for forty dollars ? ” 
 They said, “No, most certainly not, that would be as bad as 
 Judas Iscariot.” “Well,” I said, “perhaps it would ; but I 
 just wanted to know.” “Then you would neither buy Him 
 nor sell him as a slave, even if you had the chance ? ” I asked, 
 and they all answered, “Most certainly not.” “Well,” I con- 
 tinued, “we have a good many members of the Church here 
 at Fihaonana, who are slaves, now if they are true members 
 of the Church, they are members of the mystical body of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and sons and daughters of the Lord 
 Almighty ! ” “Yes,” they said, “that is quite right.” “Well,” 
 I added, “do you remember reading that one day Jesus Christ’s 
 mother and His brethren wished to speak with Him while He 
 was teaching, and some one told Him, and He said, ‘Who is 
 my mother, and who are my brethren ? those who do the will 
 of my Father who is in heaven.’” They said they did. 
 “Well,” I said, ‘Svhile it is quite true, and never to be 
 forgotten or denied, that Jesus Christ Avas, and is the Son of 
 God, in a sense that no mere human being can be, still if these 
 slaves Avho are members with us here are true members, they 
 are sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, and if they are 
 doing His will, they are brethren and sisters of Jesus Christ 
 by His OAvn shoAving ; and so while you buy aud sell them, 
 you are really buying and selling the sons and daughters of 
 the Lord Almighty, and the brethren and sisters of the Son 
 of God, and as I see it, it is only one step more to sell the 
 Son of God Himself ! ” “Well,” they said, “sir, we certainly 
 never had it put to us in that wav before.” “But,” I argued, 
 “don’t you see it is a Avay in Avhich it may be presented ? ” 
 They said they did, and then there was silence for some time, 
 which Avas broken by one of them asking, “Well, sir, how 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 115 
 
 would this do, to set all the children of God free ; but the 
 children of the devil keep them in slavery as long as they 
 live ! ” “Well,” I said, “by that means you might get out of 
 one difficulty, and clear of the sin of buying and selling the 
 sons of God ; but don’t you see that you would not get clear 
 of all the difficulties even by that means, for you remember 
 God said, ‘Come let us make man in mu’ own image ’ &c., and 
 so you see you would still be buying and selling the image of 
 God in human flesh, and that humanity which has been 
 sanctified by the Son of God tabernacling in it.” “Well,” 
 they replied, “it is of no use to argue with you white men on 
 this subject of slavery ; for you have always an answer ready, 
 and we always get the worst of the argument in the end ; and 
 so we may just as well give in now, for we are sure to be 
 beaten in the end.” “Well,” I said, “does not that prove 
 that you have a bad cause to defend, and that although ‘good 
 men may be connected with a bad cause, yet good men can 
 never make a bad cause good.’ Your cause is bad from the 
 beginning, and rotten to the core, and the sooner you cut all 
 connection with it the better for yourselves and everybody 
 else, and you must do so some day.” They said, “Well, 
 perhaps so, sir, but it will require a deal of the grace of God 
 to help us to do so.” I said, “That may be very true ; but if 
 they asked for the help they woidd get it.” 
 
 All foreign slaves were set free by the Queen in 1877 ; but 
 there is still household slavery, but that also is going very 
 rapidly, and I do not think it will take nearly so long to 
 enlighten the Malagasy Christians as to their duty on that 
 point as it took to enlighten British Christians ! 
 
 I have now told all that is worth mentioning as to what was 
 done during the year 1876. I think our work is now on a far 
 firmer basis than it was then, and with God’s help and blessing 
 on it, it cannot fail to make a new people of that nation, and a 
 new land of that country ; for old things are rapidly passing 
 away, and all tilings, externally and internally, are becoming 
 new in Madagascar. For although there are many drawbacks 
 to our work, and lots of things it would be better without, and 
 although there are many things we would like to see going 
 along with our work ; among others more life and earnestness 
 among the people, and more tokens of God’s presence and 
 signs of His approval. ’While w-e firmly believe, and rejoice 
 in the belief, that all work is sacred that is done for God 
 and from right motives, that “Christianity touches everything 
 in life if it touches it at all,” still one cannot help longing 
 
116 
 
 MISSION WO I! lv IN VON1ZONGO. 
 
 sometimes for better things than ever we have seen vet. 
 Still, it is a glorious work, and has much about it to make 
 one thank God for, and for being allowed to take any 
 part in it. There are lots of things in the mission field as 
 everywhere else, to make one feel weary and down-hearted 
 at times, for even mission work cannot always be carried on 
 at a “white heat,” and with burning enthusiasm, but still, 
 there is also a deal to cheer and encourage one in the work. 
 “Heralds of the Cross have to do a deal of rough work, and 
 toil on; for the Gospel, which ought to be welcomed, is 
 rejected ; and as there was no room for Christ in the inn when 
 he became incarnate, so there is no room for Christ or Gospel 
 in the hearts of mankind. Yes, and this makes us weep, since 
 where there should be so much readiness to accept, there is 
 so much obstinacy and rebellion.” 
 
 “The Christian worker weeps because, when lie does see 
 some signs of success, he is often disappointed. Blossoms 
 come not to fruit, or fruit half ripe drops from the tree. He 
 has to weep before God oftentimes, because be is afraid that 
 these failures may be the result of his own want of tact and 
 want of grace. 1 marvel not that the worker weeps, or that 
 any worker for Christ bedews the seed with his tears ; the 
 wonder is he does not lament far more than he does. Perhaps 
 we should all weep more if we were more Christ-like, more 
 what we should be ; and perhaps our working would have about 
 it more divine results if it came more out of our very sold, 
 if we played less at soul saving, and worked more at it ; if we 
 cast soul and strength, and every energy of our being into 
 the work, mayhap God would reward us more abundantly.” 
 
 [1877.] 
 
 In making a report of the state of my work during the year 
 1877, 1 had nothing to report of a startling nature, but simply 
 to tell of quiet growth in Christian character, and steady 
 progress in Christian knowledge. Our people, I believe, were 
 gradually growing in Christian character, and in strength of 
 moral principle ; and, as one proof of this, we had fewer 
 scandals during the year, and fewer suspensions from Church 
 membership, than during any former year. The congregations 
 
MISSION WORK IX VOXIZOXGO. 
 
 117 
 
 also kept up well during the twelve months, and I cannot but 
 think that there was much more good done than I am able to 
 tell of. We had a small increase in Church membership 
 during the year. At Fihaonana, we had rather an interesting 
 case in one of the new members, showing as it does, that the 
 truth was beginning to work its way to the hearts of the 
 people. The case was that of a young man called Andriantsoa, 
 who had worked for me in various ways from the time I went 
 to Fihaonana. At the first, he made bricks and carried wood 
 for me when I was building my house. Afterwards, I got 
 him to come to School, and such was the progress he made, 
 that several times I sent him out as a schoolmaster to some of 
 the more destitute villages. I had often observed him in 
 Church, paying very great attention while I was preaching, 
 and I hoped that the truth was finding its way to his heart. 
 In 1877 he came to me, asking for one of the little catechisms 
 which we usually give to all intending Church members, 
 and telling me that he wished to join the Church. He 
 learned the little catechism, and I myself examined him 
 on three different occasions. I also had some very serious 
 conversations with him, as to his reasons for washing to join 
 the Church ; and altogether I w'as very much pleased and 
 satisfied with him, and so recommended that he should be 
 received into Church membership, and he was admitted. 
 A few weeks after this, he called on me and told me that he 
 had been very much exercised in mind since he had joined 
 the Church, as to wdiat he could do to advance the kingdom 
 of God ; for now that he was a Church member he felt that it 
 was his duty to do something, and he had come to ask me 
 what 1 thought he could do. And also to ask if I w r ould 
 allow him to attend my classes for the pastors, preachers, and 
 teachers, and to visit some of the more destitute villages on 
 the Sabbath as a local preacher. Of couse I told him that I 
 was delighted to hear all he had told me, and that I w r ould 
 only lie too pleased to have him at all my classes, and to help 
 him in every way I could. After that, he w'as a most regular 
 attendant at all my classes, and he went out almost every 
 Sabbath to preach at some of the villages. I gave him a 
 copy of “Moody’s Addresses,' (in Malagasy), telling him to go 
 home and read and re-read them, and to study his Bible w r ell, 
 and with God’s help and blessing he might expect to be made 
 useful in helping to extend the kingdom of God in the land. 
 
 During the dry season of 1877, we were very busy putting 
 up our new Schoolroom. It is a fine handsome building, 60 
 
118 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 feet by 30, from plans by Mr. William Pool, late the Society’s 
 architect and superintendent of building for Madagascar, who 
 also helped us very much indeed with it, by getting the doors 
 and windows, &c., made for us in the capital. The glass for the 
 windows, as also for the windows of our new Church, and 
 three other Churches in the district, we got as a present from 
 R. Pilkington, Esq., of the Glass W orks, St. Helens, 
 Lancashire, to whom we return our most hearty and sincere 
 thanks for his most handsome present. The people made all 
 the bricks for the Schoolroom, (over 100,000), (and the School 
 children carried them to the place), gathered all the thatch for 
 the roof, and thatched it ; I undertaking to pay the wages of the 
 bricklayers and carpenters, to find the doors, the windows, 
 and the glass, and to buy the wood for the roof. We have 
 now a fine large handsome model School-room as a companion 
 building to our model Church. The people fulfilled their 
 part of the agreement very heartily ; in fact, after I was 
 asked to go to Mojanga, they were very diligent indeed, and 
 I had only to mention what I wanted done, and it was done 
 at once. 
 
 I was very glad indeed to be able to report in 1877, with 
 regard to the Churches under my charge, that they were 
 growing in numbers, knowledge, and liberality. The darkness 
 of their former benighted condition was gradually giving way 
 before “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
 face of Jesus Christ.” Hence there was a growing anxiety 
 among them for instruction, and they were getting more light as 
 to what being a member of a Christian Church means, and 
 gaining clearer views as to what obligations a profession of 
 Christianity entailed upon them. And I do believe that 
 there were not a few among them who were ideally making 
 most praiseworthy eflbrts to come up to what they ought to 
 be. Of course such things could only be said of some of the 
 members of our more advanced and intelligent congregations ; 
 for among the others, it must be confessed, there was, and 
 will be for years to come yet, I fear, a great want of reality 
 and thoroughness, not to say the positive presence of a vast 
 amount of sham. A deal of merely being “veneered with 
 virtue and gilded with godliness,” if even that. Many of 
 them, if they had ever tasted of the grace of God, it had done 
 them but little good ; for it had but small effect upon their 
 lives and morals. Their Christianity, at least a deal of it, was 
 of a very shallow and unsatisfactory nature, mainly consisting 
 in going to Church on Sundays. Notwithstanding all that, I 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 119 
 
 believe progress was and is being made even among such as 
 these. X ay, I know it was and is, and I am hoping for better 
 things by-and-by. The leaven has been, and is being put 
 into the meal, and it is already working, and their improve- 
 ment in morality and growth in true godliness is a mere 
 matter of time. And there were and are many signs of 
 improvement and progress, however, which cannot always 
 either be tabulated or put into a report. 
 
 X may mention, in passing, some of the minor improvements 
 that were going on, the great though gradual improvement in 
 the social condition of the people, and in their views of the 
 various relationships of life, and especially of the marriage 
 relationship. Their Churches and dwelling houses are greatly 
 improved. The attention being given to personal cleanli- 
 ness, comfort and neatness, and anxiety manifested for decent 
 clothing. In some few cases the female love for finery, and 
 the native love for gaudy ornaments were carried quite to the 
 borders of propriety, if not to excess. Many of their houses 
 that are now clean, tidy, decent, and comfortable, were little 
 better than filthy pigsties when we went there seven years 
 before. One result of this improvement in their homes is an 
 improvement in their lives and morals, as well as in their 
 health. For you cannot have dirty over-crowded homes and 
 good morals, any more than good health, in any part of the 
 world. Their health was much improved by the improvement 
 in their homes, and hence in our own village of Fihaonana, 
 and one or two others, with the exception of malaria fever, 
 diseases had decreased very much, even malaria fever had 
 decreased in those families who had clean, comfortable, airy 
 bedrooms on the upper floor of their houses, and I had not 
 one case of fever from such where I used to have ten. Then, 
 again, I had only one case of typhoid fever from Fihaonana 
 during the year 1877, and it used to be the plague of the 
 place ; and if they had but followed my advice to the full, I 
 believe we could have rooted it out altogether, or nearly so. 
 
 There was also a great improvement going on with regard 
 to Church building ; for as the old mud places were falling 
 down, they were being replaced by handsome brick buildings; 
 and if the smaller congregations had only joined together, and 
 made one good Church, they could have put up a nice brick 
 building, and thus we would very soon have had a number of 
 handsome buildings all over the district. But the people could 
 not see the advantages of such a plan, and there were “vested 
 interests” and fears which threw dust in their eyes. Still we 
 
Ambatonakanga Memorial Church, Antananari 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 121 
 
 were getting some of them to take that view of the matter, 
 and to join together two or three of the weaker Schools in 
 order to get a good teacher ; and I was not without hope but 
 that after a time I might be able to get a good many of the 
 Churches joined in that way. Many of the congregations 
 were very small and weak, and they never will be stronger so 
 long as they remain as they are, and the only way to make 
 anything of them is to make one good congregation by joining 
 three or four of the smaller ones together. The getting good 
 Churches in which to worship God, has more effect on the 
 people than many at home would believe in helping them to 
 higher views of God and of His worship. 
 
 Our congregation at Fihaonana kept up well during the 
 year 1877, and we had very good congregations indeed. 
 There was raised in the district during the year 1877, £134 
 4s. of which sum £28 was raised by the congregation at 
 Fihaonana. That is more than was raised the year before, 
 and yet we had no special collection for the School ; for as we 
 found we had over £10 of Church money in hand, we did not 
 require any collection. As I have already mentioned, the 
 people made all the bricks for our new Schoolroom, (and the 
 School children carried them to the place), gathered all the 
 thatch for the roof and thatched it, besides making an entire 
 set of new mats for the Church Hoor, to replace those that had 
 been spoiled by the children, while we had the School in the 
 Church, and seeing that they had a space of 70 feet by 40 to 
 cover with new mats, their doing so was no small matter. 
 
 During the first six months of the year, 1877, the Rev. 
 W. C. Pickersgill came over from Ambohibeloma, twenty-five 
 miles to the south of our station, once a month, to teach singing 
 at Fihaonana. He gave us a day in passing on his way to his 
 new station at Mojanga ; and at the close of the class, Razaka, 
 our pastor, stood up and in the name of the Church and School 
 presented him with £l “to buy food on his way to Mojanga,” 
 as an expression of their gratitude for what he had done for 
 them. I was very pleased with what they did, as it showed a 
 good spirit. They also gave £l to help the Union to send 
 teachers to the benighted tribes in the south during the 
 year, and I got from the other Churches of the district also 
 for the same noble purpose. 4Ye sent three of our best 
 men up to the Institution during the year. All three of them 
 were from our congregation at Fihaonana, where they had 
 been preachers. They were trustworthy, earnest, good men, 
 who had been well tried, and done good service through an 
 
122 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 apprenticeship of seven years as preachers. We also sent up 
 nine lads to the Normal School to be trained for schoolmasters, 
 and we had some forty who were being prepared to go up. 
 We were getting the missionary boxes introduced into the 
 Churches all over the district, and we hoped through them to 
 be able to put an end to the trouble we had at some few places, 
 to get the people’s share of the teacher’s salary. Thus, if we 
 were not doing all that as Churches of Christ we ought to 
 have done, nor the half some of us would have liked to have 
 seen done, we were not idle, and we hoped to do more and 
 better work as we grew old older and got stronger. 
 
 Our Quarterly Meeting of the pastors and preachers was a 
 source of great strength and usefulness to us during the year 
 1877. When the Ritualists tried to intrude themselves into 
 the district, it was only the prompt and manly measures 
 adopted by the Quarterly Meeting that saved one, at least, of 
 the best our Churches from being seduced from the truth, and 
 ruined for ever. They took up the matter very warmly, 
 appointed Razaka, our pastor at Filiaonana, and other two of 
 our leading pastors, to go to that Church on the following 
 Sabbath, and to suspend the pastor who had brought the 
 Ritualists there — and who is a man that had caused more 
 trouble for years than any other man in the district — from office 
 and membership, and appoint the man who was the second 
 pastor to be head pastor in his place. That was done on the 
 Sabbath, and on the following Tuesday, when the “successors 
 of the Apostles” arrived, to do what the Apostles themselves 
 were very careful never to do, “lest they should build upon 
 another man’s foundation,” they found that their quondam 
 friend was no longer even a member, and so quite unable to 
 hand over the congregation to them as he had promised, and 
 for which I more than strongly suspect he felt pretty certain 
 of a rather handsome reward. But happily the whole affair 
 was completely frustrated by the prompt action taken by the 
 Quarterly Meeting. 
 
 I was very glad indeed to be able to report with regard to 
 the Schools that they were never in a better condition, nor 
 ever in anything like so good a condition as they were during 
 the year 1877. They were very rapidly becoming popular, 
 and we had no longer lads saying that “they would rather 
 be flayed alive than learn,” nor little boys saying that “they 
 would rather have their heads cut off than come to School,” 
 both of which we had a few years before. Of course there were 
 some few most vexing exceptions — some few places where we 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 123 
 
 had a continual trouble to get the people’s share of the 
 teacher’s salary.' Places where, but for the well known and 
 often expressed wishes of the Queen and the Prime Minister, 
 that the children should learn, and but for the earnest support 
 given by them to the cause of education generally, and the 
 wise parental pressure which they bring to bear on the people 
 to cause them to send their children to School, we would have 
 had no Schools at all ; for many of the parents much prefer 
 that their children should spend their time in the fields feeding 
 the swine, rather than in the Schools learning to read the 
 Bible. 
 
 At our examinations for the year, I was glad to see that 
 our Schools had made so much progress from the time of our 
 former examinations. We had upwards of 1600 present at 
 the examinations, and I found from the returns that 70 had 
 been taught to read the word of God, in the School at 
 Fihaonana, during eight months, and 226 in the other Schools 
 of the district. I also saw that 65 had been taught to write 
 at Fihaonana, and 38 to count, while in the other Schools of 
 the district 184 had been taught to write and 201 to coimt. 
 So that we had over 150 children at Fihaonana who could 
 read their Bibles, and 826 in the district; and we had 179 at 
 Fihaonana who possessed either Bibles or Testaments, and 860 
 in the district. Our School at Fihaonana, along with two 
 others did remarkably well in the catechisms at the exam- 
 inations. They finished the only four little catechisms there 
 were, and then went through the four Gospels, and the adapta- 
 tion of the Shorter Catechism, with the proofs in full, an 
 edition of 3000 of which I had taken through the press. 
 
 The Schools occupied a great deal of my time and attention 
 during the year 1877 ; but the time and labour was most 
 willingly given, because of the conviction I had, and have had 
 for a long time, that in no other way could I so truly and 
 profitably serve the cause of Christ in Madagascar at the 
 time, or put mission work there on a solid and permanent 
 footing, and thus lay the foundation for something higher 
 and better than mere education, than by filling the minds 
 of those children with the great fundamental truths of 
 Christianity, and storing their memories with knowledge of 
 Him “Who came to seek and to save the lost,” and “Whom to 
 know is life eternal.” 
 
 There were some of our friends, both in Madagascar and 
 here at home, who thought that we in the country districts of 
 the island, paid too much attention to our Schools, and not 
 
124 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 quite enough to what they were pleased to call “the preaching 
 of the Gospel,” quite forgetting that preaching is not the only 
 means or medium by which a knowledge of the Gospel may 
 be imparted. But in answer to such a statement I could only 
 say, that I never preached the Gospel or taught it more than 
 I did at that time, if ever so much, and I certainly never had 
 more or better opportunities of doing so than 1 had then, 
 many of which I would not have had but for my Schools. 
 But the mistake that our good friends made arose from two 
 causes. First, from their ignorance of the kind of work we 
 had to do, and the means we had to do it with ; and also the 
 position in which we were placed, and their inability to under- 
 stand it. And, secondly, from their quite forgetting that WE, 
 and not they, were the best judges both of the work we had 
 to do, and the means we had at hand with which to do it, and 
 for bringing about what we all have at heart, namely, the 
 extension of the kingdom of Christ. The means we had at 
 hand were not always the best; but they were the only means 
 we had, and we had to take things as we found them, and try 
 to make the best of them. A' ben we could not suit our 
 circumstances to our mind we had just to suit our mind to our 
 circumstances. As a matter of fact I, for one, did not much 
 like School work ; for I never had any experience in it, or 
 preparation for it, and 1 very much preferred preaching and 
 teaching Bible Classes ; but then it is not what one liked, but 
 what one had to do. There was the work to be done, and no 
 one else to do it, and so there was nothing for it but to gird one’s 
 self to it, and get through it as best you could. The work 
 was there and had to be done, and one was stimulated to take 
 it up and do one’s best with it, by the conviction that the 
 Schools were the hope of the country, and of Christianity in 
 the island, for in them are the congregations of the future. 
 Of those who have been reared and have grown up in ignorance, 
 superstition, and sin — who have in fact been soaked in sin and 
 steeped in iniquity, and who have wallowed in wickedness and 
 wicked practices of all kinds from their childhood, and who 
 wallow still, many of them, in secret — 1 confess I had not 
 very much hojie of ever seeing very many of them decent 
 intelligent Christians, or “new' creatures in Christ .Jesus;” 
 but of the children on the other hand, I had great hope. For 
 in them we bad as near as virgin soil on which to sow “the 
 seed of the kingdom” as it is possible to get in Madagascar ; 
 while the soil of the souls of the grown up people has been 
 exhausted in the service of Satan and of sin, “Men must be 
 
MISSION WORK IX Y OXlZOX GO. 
 
 125 
 
 formed to the practice of the elementary virtues of Christianity, 
 before it is possible for them to recognise the beauty of 
 holiness, and the nobleness and eternal obligation of righteous- 
 ness.” 
 
 Then, again, in point of returns for labour, from whom do 
 we get the speediest and most satisfactory returns? For 
 more than two-thirds of all our congregations were heathens 
 at heart, and a very large number of them heathens in practice, 
 and it was the fear of the Queen, and not the fear of God, that 
 brought many of them to Church. The sight that gladdened 
 my heart most, when I preached at Fihaonana, was the sight 
 of the 200 children I had sitting there in front of the pulpit, 
 and who answered the questions put to them with a fervour 
 and a heartiness that did one’s soul good to hear. Who 
 turned up the chapters to be read as soon as they were 
 announced, and looked up all the proof passages as soon as 
 they are mentioned? The School children! Whose voices 
 lead the singing, making the Chapel to ring again with the 
 songs of salvation, and paid most attention to the sermon? 
 The School children ! Who sit gazing up at the preacher, 
 drinking in every word that he uttered, while their eyes 
 sparkled with an amount of intelligence such as their fathers 
 and mothers know nothing of, and never will know, partly 
 because many of them were too old to learn, but mainly 
 because many of then woidd not learn and did not want 
 to learn ? Again I answer, the School children ! Any 
 man who says we were paying too much attention to the 
 training of these children, who were the hope of the country, 
 is certainly making a very great mistake. Why, from the 
 Schools of former days have come some of the finest men we 
 now have in the country. Men such as Razaka, the pastor 
 of Fihaonana, and Rainisoa, the pastor of Sambaina, neither 
 of whom was ever a Church member in the days of the first 
 missionaries, but only scholars in their School. But, as 
 Razaka himself has told me, the truths they learned out of 
 the little catechism, while scholars, sank deep into their hearts, 
 and brought forth fruit even during the days of darkness and 
 persecution. 1 believe that some of the best, the highest, and 
 the holiest work being done in the island at the present time, 
 is being done in the Schools. For friends here at home must 
 remember that our Schools are not mere secular institutions, 
 where nothing but reading, writing, and arithmetic are taught, 
 but that the children have at least an hour, sometimes two, of 
 religious instruction every day. 
 
126 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 I got six of my lads, I sent np to the Normal School in 
 1874, to he trained for schoolmasters, hack in June, 1877, and 
 I saw the fruits of their work at our examinations. As the 
 number of such teachers increased, the work done in the 
 Schools became of a more systematic, thorough, and satisfactory 
 nature. The pastors and the evangelists see to the religious 
 instruction in the Schools, and thus our Schools become our 
 greatest sources of strength and the nurseries of our Churches. 
 
 We had some trouble in the early part of the year 1877, 
 with our Girls’ School at Fihaonana. The parents kept 
 taking aAvay their little girls from the School, little girls of 
 eight and ten years of age, and getting them married in order 
 to prevent their coming to School. I had to talk solemnly 
 and severely to some of the best of our people on this subject. 
 
 My wife had been doing what she could for the girls in the 
 School during the year ; but it was but very little that she 
 was able to do, partly from want of sewing materials, but 
 mainly from want of strength and want of time from the 
 pressure of other duties. She had been down with malaria 
 fever, the children had been down with it, with measles, 
 and with bronchitis, so that with nursing herself and the 
 children, she had but little time and less strength left to do much 
 at anything else. These seasons of sickness and anxiety, in 
 addition to all my other work and worry, were very wearing. 
 Our people were very kind to us during our times of sickness 
 and anxiety, and shewed their sympathy with us in a very 
 marked way. They were very grateful to us for all that we 
 tried to do for them in their times of sickness and sorrow, and 
 the longer we Avere with them the better we liked them, and 
 I hope the better we are liked by them ; for without love 
 and respect on both sides little real good can be done. 
 
 In the sale of Bibles, Testaments, catechisms, commentaries, 
 School books and materials, Ave had a very fair year in 1877, 
 when compared with former years, although nothing extra- 
 ordinary. We disposed of some 600 New Testaments, 20 
 Bibles, 800 catechisms, 3000 copies of our monthly magazine, 
 Good Words, 70 copies of our Malagasy Quarterly, besides 
 commentaries, hymn-books, slates, and School materials, and 
 500 copies of the Psalms, and 2000 four-page' tracts given 
 away gratuitously. In January, 1877, I settled up book 
 accounts for the previous two years, to the amount of over 
 £ 200 . 
 
 I was able in some measure to revive my District Bible 
 Classes during the year, and although they did not quite come 
 
MISSION WO ltK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 127 
 
 up to tlieir old numbers, yet they were quite as interesting as 
 ever. The places of those who had left us for the capital, and 
 other parts of the island, were mainly filled up by the elder 
 scholars of the Schools, and in them 1 had quite as attentive, 
 and much more intelligent auditors than I had in their 
 predecessors. 
 
 I got a native assistant, Andriamanisa, in 1876, who settled 
 at Amboliijanakolona, about ten miles to the north of our 
 own station, in June, 1877. He had classes there three days 
 a w T eek for the pastors, preachers, and Church members of the 
 twelve Churches under his charge. He also visited all 
 the Churches under his charge in rotation on the Sundays, 
 preaching to them, and catechising the children. The people 
 seemed to like him very much, and were very kind to him. 
 The raised their share of his salary for a year (£4 16s.) in 
 advance. They also provided him with an ox to ride on in 
 visiting the Churches, and put up a house of four rooms for 
 him. At the same place 1 had one of my district Schools, 
 under the charge of one of my trained schoolmasters, and I 
 myself went there once a fortnight to have a Bible Class. 
 My work in the way of giving medicine and attending to the 
 sick remained very much what it was, with the exception 
 that the demands made upon my little medical skill kept on 
 increasing, while my powers to cope with all the cases brought 
 to me were not anything like what I could have wished them 
 to be, which often lead me to wish I had opportunities of 
 getting some more instruction in medical matters. 
 
 My report of the year 1877 would neither lie quite correct 
 or complete, did I not mention our most marvellous preserva- 
 tion on the night of Sunday the 2nd of December, when our 
 house was struck by lightning. Me had had it very hot and 
 oppressive for the previous fortnight, especially so on that 
 Sunday. Towards sunset there were signs that we were 
 going to have rain. After dark there was thunder, and very 
 soon the lightning became very awful. At a little past nine, 
 there w r as a terrific explosion in our dining-room, the floor of 
 the bedroom above was torn up, and the kitchen door was 
 smashed, I had a lightning conductor twelve feet high on 
 the centre of my roof, but it did not seem to have been high 
 enough to protect the gables of the house. So the lightning 
 struck our south gable. The current came down the chimney 
 of the dining-room, where it exploded, tearing down the 
 ceiling at the south-west corner of the room, and blowdng up 
 the floor of the bedroom above, right under the baby’s cot, 
 
128 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 and between it and the bedside. It then ran np the Avail of 
 the bedroom to the copper bell Avire, ran along it, then along 
 the roof of the passage, and the nursery bedroom, then doAvn 
 the bell wire in the corner of the nursery bedroom to the bell 
 above the kitchen door, then doAvn the Avail, ploughing it as it 
 went as far as the kitchen door, which it smashed, and knocked 
 doAvn the man who Avas in the kitchen, burning his leg and 
 arm ; it also ran up the wall of the dining-room to the bell 
 Avire there ; then along the roof of my study, tearing the Avail 
 as it went. My wife, the baby, and the nurse Avere all in the 
 bedroom at the time, and it is Avonderful the Avay in Avhich 
 they escaped. The baby Avas very restless, so my wife took 
 her out of the cot and rang the bell for the servant to bring 
 its food ; and as she came Avith it, my Avife made a step forward 
 to take it out of her hands. This foiuvard movement, humanly 
 speaking, seems to have saved her life and that of the child, 
 for it Avas just at that moment that the house Avas struck ; and 
 the spot from which she had just moved Avas blown up and the 
 boards thrown over her head, striking the head of the nurse 
 in front of her and cutting it open. I Avas reading in another 
 room at the time of the explosion. Of course I at once 
 rushed to the bedroom, and met my Avife on her way to the 
 nursery to see after the other children, as she felt sure some 
 of them must be killed, although she and the baby had 
 escaped. But Ave found them all safe, and sleeping soundly ; 
 for although the current had gone down the wire within a few 
 feet of our eldest girl, not a hair of her head Avas hurt. My 
 Avife got a very severe fright, and I began to fear for her reason ; 
 but she afterAvards became quieter ; although she has never 
 got over it, for her nervous system got such a shock. The 
 baby’s cot, from which she had just been lifted, was bloAvn up, 
 so that if she had been in it she must have been killed ; or if 
 she had not kept on crying and obliged my Avife to rise and 
 take her up, they must both have been killed. Thus Ave see 
 Iioav much Ave OAve to the protecting care of God. But Avhat a 
 Avarning to be ahvays ready, and the loins girt about, and the 
 light burning ! A man is said to be immortal until his Avork is 
 done ; I trust Ave have been spared because Ave have still work 
 to do for Him Avho was so mindful of us and of ours. We 
 certainly got something very like a new lease of life, and I 
 hope by God’s help we may be able to spend it to the praise 
 of Him who has so mercifully protected us and ours, when the 
 shafts of death were flying ! 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 129 
 
 [1878.] 
 
 During the year 1878, the work in my district was steadily 
 advancing, and the people were making quiet progress in 
 Christian knowledge, and gradual growth in Christian char- 
 acter. The darkness was gradually yielding before the light 
 of the Gospel, and we were gladdened by seeing fair returns 
 for former labours. But our work was very much interrupted 
 during the year by a very severe epidemic of malaria fever, 
 by which a large part of the island was visited ; and by which 
 we had a most unprecedented amount of sickness, and a 
 number of deaths in our district, and by which we ourselves 
 suffered rather severely. 
 
 In consequence of this epidemic, not only was my work in 
 the way of dispensing medicine very much increased ; but my 
 ordinary labours among Churches, Schools, and Bible Classes 
 were broken up, and nearly all teaching was suspended for a 
 
 time. 
 
 For about four months every year — from February to 
 June — malaria fever is generally prevalent in the district of 
 Vonizongo, being a rice district, the months of May and June 
 are generally the worst for the fever ; but during the year 
 1878 it was worse than I had ever before known it. Although, 
 strange to say, those parts of the district which generally 
 suffered most from the fever, suffered the least from the epidemic, 
 and vice versa ; and hence in the neighbourhood of our own 
 station at Fihaonana the people suffered very severely. About 
 one in every four of those attacked died ; and about two 
 hundred of those who died were connected with our station 
 Church at Fihaonana. It must be borne in mind, however, 
 that most of those who were attacked by the epidemic received 
 no proper medical treatment. Of those who were willing to 
 receive advice and medicine, the great majority recovered, in 
 fact, hardly a fatal case occured ; whilst in the more distant, 
 and consequently less enlightened villages, hardly a sick 
 person was found who was willing to give up the native 
 “charms and incantations,” and accept of the proper remedies, 
 and hence the excessive mortality. For the epidemic, 
 although severe when at its worst, was, comparatively 
 speaking, easily treated when taken in time, as in most cases 
 quinine and salts, with proper nursing, were almost all the 
 medicinces that were needed ; and yet numbers of the poor 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 foolish people would not take them, even when ottered to them 
 for nothing. 
 
 I sent Razaka, the pastor of our station Church, and several 
 of the deacons, round among those villages where the fever 
 was worst, with bottles of prepared quinine and salts. They 
 found the people in a sad condition. They found five, six, 
 and in some cases eight, lying in a single hut all prostrated 
 with fever, and in several cases with the dead bodies of their 
 children lying with them, and no one able to bury them, and 
 yet hardly one in ten could be found willing to give up the 
 native nostrums, and accept of the proper remedies. In some 
 cases they even denied they were ill, or had fever at all, lest 
 they should give them quinine, while they were so ill with it 
 as to be hardly able to speak. I asked our good old pastor, 
 Razaka, the reason of such repugnance on their part to the 
 proper remedies, and he said, “Simply foolishness and super- 
 stition.” For while some few refused to take the quinine 
 because it was too bitter, they said, and some few more 
 because they were afraid it might bewitch them ! the vast 
 majority would not take it because it was too powerful! They 
 knew very well, they said, that the white man’s medicine was 
 very powerful, and would certainly cure them ; but then it was 
 too powerful for them, as it would not only cure them ; but 
 would also destroy all the power of their own “ ody' ’ — “ charms ,” 
 and thus if ever they were ill again, nothing but white man’s 
 medicine would ever cure them. And although they had a 
 white man and medicine, they did know how long they 
 might have them, and so they preferred keeping to their own 
 “ody” — “charms,” and risking it, to taking the white man’s 
 medicine and getting cured, but with the loss of all their old 
 associations. 
 
 In the minds of the poor ignorant Malagasy, all disease was 
 the result of bewitchment, and hence all medicines are “fana- 
 fody ,” namely, that which takes oif, or removes the “ody ” — 
 the “charm,” or bewitchment. Our medicines being regarded 
 as the strongest, most powerful “ody” or charm, which not 
 only cures the patient, but also kills all weaker “ody” and 
 destroys their power for ever, and hence the reluctance to 
 take our medicines that we often met with in the past, and 
 which we still met with among many of the more ignorant and 
 superstitious. The people call the quinine “ oditazo ,” i. e., the 
 charm for the fever. A wash for sore eyes is called “ odimaso ,” 
 i. e., a charm for the eyes, and a cough mixture is called “ odi - 
 kohaka” a charm for the cough. 
 
MISSION AVORK IN A r ONIZONGO. 
 
 131 
 
 During the time that the epidemic aa'rs at its worst, I used 
 some 12 ozs. of quinine in six Aveeks, and AA _ e only lost one by 
 death in our oavu village ; and thus a victory was gained for 
 our medicines and mode of treating the sick, Avhile at the same 
 time a heavy blow Avas dealt at the natrte treatment and 
 idiotic methods of using sick people. I had some of the 
 seA'erest cases I ever saAv in my life ; for they were brought to 
 me and laid at my study door in most heartrending conditions. 
 Some were so prostrated with fever as to be unable to speak, 
 and that you thought were at the point of death, and coidd not 
 possibly get better, and others quite out of their senses with 
 it, repeating every question, in their delirium, instead of 
 answering it. Others, again, in most emaciated conditions, 
 with the AA'hites of their eyes as green as grass, ghing them a 
 most hideous appearance, and Avith enlarged spleens, &c., in 
 fact, in all sorts of sad conditions which it was most painful to 
 see, and most embarassing for any man of my limited medical 
 knowledge and appliances to have to do with. Yet through 
 God’s blessing on quinine and common sense modes of treat- 
 ment, Ave only lost one by death. 
 
 Poor miserable slaves — more like walking skeletons incased 
 in leather than human beings — came to me to plead for a 
 little quinine, as they were very ill with fever, which Avas 
 plain to be seen, and they had no money to buy it, nor would 
 their masters give them money, and I could not refuse them, 
 and I think it would have been wrong to haye refused them, 
 and hence I got some £12 on the Avrong side of my medicine 
 account, and, of course, was censured for it. Still, there can 
 be no doubt, but that for the quinine we dealt out, there Avould 
 have been hundreds of more deaths. It was a great mercy 
 that I was moA'ed, as I Avas, about a year before, to send to 
 England for 100 ozs. of quinine ; for what we would haA’e 
 done without it I do not know ; there were only a very feAv 
 ozs. of quinine in the island when the epidemic began, and 
 just then my quinine arrhed from England. I had cries for 
 it from all quarters, and the 100 ozs. went in six weeks, and 
 if I had had 200 ozs. to dispose of, it would haA*e been a 
 blessing and would have all gone very speedily. 
 
 My wife and I both suffered rather severely from the fever, 
 which left us both weak and somewhat shattered in health ; but 
 we were very thankful that our children escaped as they did. 
 As soon as we were able, we had to go to the hills for rest and 
 change, and to get braced up again. 
 
 During our absence on the hills, the Ritualists made another 
 
132 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 Mission House, Analakely, Antananarivo. 
 
 disgraceful attempt to get a footing in the district, but they 
 failed ; for by throwing the whole responsibility of keeping such 
 “sheep stealers” out of the district upon the natives themselves, 
 I had so put them on their mettle, that they were more 
 anxious than I was to keep them out. After our return to 
 our station, I found I had to take things very quietly, as I 
 was not equal to my old amount of work ; but it w r as a most 
 difficult thing to do, surrounded as one was w'ith such an 
 amount of work of all kinds. 
 
 In addition to the epidemic, we had another visit of small- 
 pox in the district during ’78 ; but it Avas not at all severe, 
 and although many of the people were very foolish on the 
 subject of vaccination, and would neither be vaccinated them- 
 selves, nor allow their children to be, still we got a very large 
 number of the children vaccinated, and more of the adults 
 than formerly. 
 
 Our handsome new r School-house at Fihaonana w r as opened 
 in November, ’78 ; and perhaps the best and most impartial 
 account I can give of the opening services, is a free trans- 
 lation of the account of them ■which appeared in Teny Soa, 
 ( Good Words ), from the pen of my friend, the Rev. J. Peill, 
 of Ambohibeloma. 
 
 “On Sabbath and Monday, the 24th and 25th of November, 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 133 
 
 1878, the new School-house at Fihaonana, Vonizongo, Mada- 
 gascar, was opened. There were several of the missionaries 
 present on the occasion to rejoice with the people and with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. There was also a representative of 
 Royality present, with a message from Her Majesty Ranava- 
 lona II., the Queen of Madagascar. It was Rainizafirabako- 
 vato, 11 honours, Aide-de-camp to His Excellency the 
 Prime Minister, who was Her Majesty’s representative. On 
 Sabbath morning, the large handsome Chapel of Fihaonana 
 was filled to the doors, for the parents and children had all 
 come to Chapel, and were looking so pleased. 
 
 “The Rev. C. F. Moss, of Ambatonakanga, preached to the 
 children from Proverbs viii. 17. He gave a deal of good 
 advice to the young people, urging them to seek wisdom, ‘the 
 wisdom that is from above,’ and ‘the fear of the Lord which 
 is the beginning of wisdom.” In the afternoon the children 
 and their parents gathered in the new School-house, which 
 was filled to the doors, for the dedication services. The Rev. 
 J. Peill, of Ambohibeloma, preached first, and in his sermon 
 he thanked the people for their diligence in the building of 
 the new School-house, and in always helping the missionary 
 the way they did. He told them how glad he was to see such 
 a large, beautiful Schoolroom finished, and to see so many 
 children gathered there, so clean and tidy, to the dedication 
 service of their house of instruction. When he had finished, 
 the Rev. W. C. Pickersgill, of Mojanga, said some very 
 suitable things to the children, giving them a graphic and 
 lively account of what he had seen in travelling through the 
 country diming a year or more, and the many strange sights 
 he had witnessed on his journeys, tales which delighted the 
 children very much. The new School-house is a fine large 
 building, being sixty feet long inside by thirty feet wide. 
 It is all built of brick with stone foundations, and beautifully 
 plastered inside and out. Inside the walls have been very 
 beautifully ornamented by means of stencil-plates and colouring. 
 The windows are also all glazed. It is from plans by Mr. 
 William Pool, the Society’s architect and builder for Mada- 
 gascar, and cost upwards of £100. But what gladdened one 
 most about it was, that the people made all the bricks for it, 
 and carried them to the building, and also gathered all the 
 thatch for the roof, and thatched it. They are people, those 
 folks at Fihaonana, for it is only just lately that they built][a 
 fine large Church, yet they girded themselves to it again and 
 have built a beautiful large School-house. 
 
134 
 
 MISSION IVORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 “On the Monday morning, all the scholars of the Fihaonana 
 School, as also those from the other Schools in connection 
 with Fihaonana, were gathered in the Chapel to receive the 
 prizes that had been awarded at the examinations. There 
 were 366 scholars who had passed in reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic, and gained marks enough to entitle them to prizes, 
 and the missionary who called out the names was nearly 
 hoarse before he had got to the end of them, and Her 
 Majesty’s representative seemed very tired before he had 
 finished handing all the prizes to the scholars. 
 
 “After the giving of the prizes was over, Rainizafirabakovato, 
 in Her Majesty’s name, thanked Mr. and Mrs. Matthews for 
 what they were doing for the good of the people. He then 
 delivered Her Majesty’s message to the children and their 
 parents. The Royal message, as delivered at Fihaonana, was 
 such as was calculated to do a deal of good, to gladden all 
 hearts, and to stimulate the people ; and all who heard it, 
 both the missionaries and the people, were much pleased. 
 
 “When Her Majesty’s message had been delivered, and the 
 representatives of the people had replied to it, the meeting 
 broke up, and the children went off to a feast that had been 
 provided for them by Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. After they 
 had eaten their fill, they played about until sunset, when all 
 entered the Chapel again, big and little, for there was a magic 
 lantern to be shown. And it certainly was a most wonder- 
 working affair that lantern ! The joy of the children at 
 seeing it ! There were a large number of slides showing the 
 Pilgrim’s Progress, which very much delighted the people, 
 especially the old Christians ; for they brought back to their 
 minds former times in a way that moved their hearts. The 
 laughable slides made the children shout again ; though they 
 shrunk back when they saw the huge lion coming along the 
 walls of the Chapel towards them. 
 
 “It really can be said that the people at Fihaonana are 
 making very great progress, both the grown-up people and 
 the children. They are most diligent to learn, and they have 
 many teachers, and such being the case they must make pro- 
 gress. They have long been a sensible set of people, and ‘It 
 having been long since they had their hair cut they have long 
 hair,’ as the native proverb says, when compared with the 
 majority of country villages. The patriarch Razaka, the 
 pastor of the Church at Fihaonana, is there, a man who is 
 famous in Vonizongo, and all the country over, as the patriarch 
 of all the Churches. Andriamparany (the second pastor, and 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 135 
 
 brother of Ramitraho the martyr who was burned at Faravo- 
 hitra during the days of persecution) and his companions are 
 also there, men who are most diligent, and do everything in 
 their power for the progress of the people in all that is right. 
 The proverb is applicable to the folks at Fihaonana, which 
 says ‘If the elders be good the people in the town will be 
 good,’ (like priest like people). 
 
 “On Sabbath, the 1st of December, a large number of people 
 gathered in the Chapel of Fihaonana, for Mr. Matthews 
 intended to preach, but he was accidentally prevented, and 
 hence the following is the message which the elders, parents, 
 and children wished to be conveyed to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, 
 and to be sent to be printed in Good Words. 
 
 “On Sabbath, the 1st of December, the parents and children 
 asked us elders of the Church of Fihaonana, saying: ‘Who 
 bought the ox that was killed to make a feast for us at the 
 dedication of the School-house ? ’ Then we said : ‘Mr and Mrs 
 Matthews gave it.’ And when the children heard that then 
 they said : ‘Then we sincerely thank Mr. and Mrs. Matthews 
 on account of the good they have done to us in the building 
 of that beautiful School-house for us to learn in, and in the 
 sumptuous and satisfying feast they provided for us, where 
 there was enough and to spare, and some to take home even! ’ 
 
 “And then the parents who were present in the Chapel also 
 spoke and said: ‘We also thank Mr. and Mrs. Matthews on 
 account of the good they have done to our children, and the 
 wisdom they have taught them. And no small amount of 
 money could have provided the feast they made them, and 
 built that School-house ; for we know very well that a very 
 large amount of money must have been spent on them ! ’ 
 And the parents and children wished their words to be put 
 upon paper and printed, in order that the white people, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Matthews’ companions, and all the other people 
 might see them. We, also, the elders of the Church, were 
 very glad when we heard their words that they knew how to 
 thank those who had done them good in that way, because 
 that is the right thing to be done.” 
 
 I am very sorry I have no picture of our beautiful School- 
 house, and more so, as I have but two such poor ones of our 
 Manse and Church. 
 
 During the year ’78, the congregations kept up well all 
 over my district, most of the Chapels being quite full on the 
 Sabbaths — except during the time of the epidemic — and 
 although in some cases such a state of things might have been 
 
13G 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 The Queen’s Private Residence, Antananarivo. 
 
 quite as much the result of outward influence as inward piety 
 on the part of many, and of an anxiety to please local 
 authority, as any anxiety to hear the word of God, or to please 
 Him. Even then, and in such cases, it was by no means an 
 unmixed evil ; for while they were there in the house of God 
 they were out of evil, and they at least heard the {word of 
 God read and preached, and we trust it was blessed to some, 
 leading them to see sin in its true light, and to seek the 
 Saviour and “the things that make for peace.” 
 
 The congregations made decided progress during the year, 
 especially so with regard to giving to the cause of God, and 
 for the support of the teachers to teach their children. In 
 ’77, the 12 Churches under the charge of the evangelist 
 Andreamanisa at Ambohijanakolona, raised £4 16s., their 
 share of salary for a year in advance ; the first time that any 
 thing of the kind had been done in the island ; but during the 
 year ’78, the people raised the unprecedented sum of £20 8s. 
 in the district in advance , to pay their share of the salaries of 
 four evangelists, who were to be settled amongst them and the 
 schoolmasters. It was also agreed to raise the people’s share 
 of the salaries of the six trained schoolmasters then settled 
 amongst them, a year in advance, and so save all the trouble 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 137 
 
 of having to collect it every month, which was done, and thus 
 a sum of some £30 was raised a year in advance to pay the 
 salaries of the evangelists and schoolmasters settled in the 
 district, a thing that had never been done before in the history 
 of the island. I was both pleased and thankful for the 
 amount of money thus raised by the people, and more so as I 
 had the satisfaction of knowing that I was not only the first, 
 but then, at least, the only missionary in the island, who had 
 been able to persuade the Malagasy to raise such an amount 
 of money a year in advance to pay the salaries of their 
 teachers. 
 
 While we had many things during the year, which plainly 
 pointed to the progress our people were making, and to the 
 great change which had come over them during the few years 
 we had known them, still now and then things would come up, 
 which showed that that there was a large amount of ignorance 
 and superstition below the surface in certain quarters. We 
 saw a good deal of ignorance and superstition displayed 
 during the time of the epidemic, when many of the people 
 were perfectly panic struck. We had also a sample of it in the 
 case of the death of a young woman, the wife of one of my 
 Normal School students. Her parents, who were heathens 
 at heart, though they went to the Church now and then, made 
 a grand feast at her funeral, and great numbers of oxen and 
 pigs were killed. The corpse of the poor girl was rolled in 
 34 silk lambas (plaids) ! while all the clothes and ornaments, 
 &c., belonging to herself and her mother were buried with 
 her. Some £2 4s. were put into the pockets of the clothes in 
 which she was buried, while some £3 were paid to the 
 musicians who had played for several nights and days between 
 the death and the funeral. Altogether the sum of £83 2s. 9d., 
 was worse than wasted, over the funeral of that poor girl by 
 her heathen parents. ! Such was the custom of the country in 
 former times, and is so still among the ignorant and super- 
 stitious portion of the people, and in those parts of the island 
 to which the light of the Gospel has not reached, which is still, 
 I am sorry to say, by far the larger portion of the island, so 
 that by far the largest number of the people of Madagascar 
 are still dwelling in darkness and in the shadow of death, 
 notwithstanding all that has been done. The island is an 
 immense island, almost four times the size of England and 
 Wales, or about eight times the size of Scotland, and we have 
 only reached about a third of its inhabitants. The rest of 
 the people are still dwelling in those “dark places of the 
 
138 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 earth which are still the habitations of cruelty ; ” where 
 polygamy, infanticide, drinking, uncleanness, war, and all the 
 horrors of heathenism and degradation reign supreme ; and 
 from which those poor people are going down daily, as fast as 
 the revolutions of time can carry them, to a blighted and a 
 blasted immortality, without the shadow of a hope ! 
 
 In former times they used not only to have great feasts and 
 di’inking at the funerals, and the corpse rolled in ever so many 
 silk lambas, while all the clothes, ornaments, and jewellery, &c. 
 belonging to the deceased were buried along with them. It 
 was also the custom to cram the mouth of the corpse full of 
 cut money, and if the deceased had been at all fond of drink, 
 they put two or three water pots filled with rum into the 
 tomb ! 
 
 As against the above, and to show that the progress that 
 was being made was affecting not only the views the people 
 took of death, but also of funeral ceremonies, I may mention 
 that during the year ’78 we had our first legacy, left to the 
 church by the wife of one of our pastors, and at her funeral I 
 was asked to preach, and every thing was done in a quiet, decent, 
 and orderly way. No drinking, no feasting, no music, and the 
 money left to the Church instead of being buried with her. 
 
 During the year 1877, our congregation at Fihaonana began 
 giving a salary of some £5 a-year to their good old pastor 
 Razaka, and during ’78 they agreed to give £2 8s. a-year to 
 Andriamparana, the second pastor, and £2 8s. a-year to 
 Andrianaly, who used to be one of the pastors, to act as 
 evangelist and missionary for the congregation. While at 
 the same time, they paid the congregational schoolmasters 
 £7 4s. a-year, besides all the other congregational expenses, 
 and £2 a-year for the native Missionary Society, and other 
 grants. And all that was from a poor village congregation of 
 some 90 members, about a third of whom are household 
 slaves ! 
 
 During the earlier months of the year 1878, my Schools 
 were very much broken up through the epidemic; and for 
 nearly six months we had but little teaching in many of them ; 
 but matters improved, and before the end of the year they 
 were again in as good condition as ever, and at the annual 
 examination we were a good deal surprised to find the amount 
 of good work that had been done. Our station school had 
 kept up well all the year through, and we had generally pres- 
 ent upwards of 200 a-day ; and we had 243 present at the 
 annual examination. Our station School was a source of the 
 
MISSION WORK IN VOXIZONGO. 
 
 139 
 
 greatest satisfaction to us. At the examination they did 
 remarkably well, on the whole, notwithstanding all the inter- 
 ruptions there had been, and extremely well in Bible know- 
 ledge. For after answering all the questions of the three 
 smaller catechisms, containing 417 answers, the two first classes 
 answered 36 in the adaptation of the Shorter Catechism, 
 giving all the proofs, and then as many as were asked at them 
 out of two hundred questions on the Gospels ! Mr. Thorne, 
 the Society’s inspector for education, told them at the close, 
 that they were the best up in Bible knowledge of any School 
 he had ever seen in his life, and that he had never heard 
 anything equal to what they had done. They were, he said, 
 undoubtedly the first School in the island in Bible know- 
 ledge, and if they made the same progress in other subjects, 
 they would certainly be the first School in the island. This, 
 of course pleased the children very much, and, I need hardly 
 say, was very satisfactory to me also, as Bible knowledge 
 was, and had always been made by me, the subject above 
 all others that must have the first place in all Schools under 
 my charge. 
 
 During the year ’78 we got four lads back from the Normal 
 School at the capital, after having completed their courses 
 there. We sent up four lads to the Normal School during ’77, 
 and had thus 1 6 there in training for schoolmasters, 8 of whom 
 went from distances of from 30 to 50 miles to the capital and 
 supported themselves, while at the same time I had 40 lads 
 under training in the district for the Normal School. Thus we 
 were gradually getting a staff of native teachers trained, who 
 would be able to do all that could be done by natives at this 
 period in the history of the mission, and by God’s blessing on 
 the labours of those men, much may be expected in the future. 
 
 Diming the earlier months of the year, Bible Class work 
 was very much interrupted by the epidemic ; but during the 
 latter part of the year they went on as usual, and some 
 profitable meetings we had, when teacher and taught got 
 great good. Our people liked Bible Classes even better than 
 sermons ; because they said they got a very great deal more 
 instruction from a Bible Class than from a sermon, and if 
 they did not they ought ; for a Bible Class generally meant, 
 giving an exposition of any number of verses, or parts of 
 Scripture for which you might be asked, in addition to the 
 part you had chosen for the occasion. 
 
 My work in the way of doing what I could for my poor 
 people during their times of sickness, was very much increased 
 
140 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO, 
 
 by the epidemic, and for many weeks I could get little else 
 done than see after the sick. At such times one generally 
 sees the best and the worst side of the people ; both how much 
 light and religion they had, and also how little, and how dark 
 and superstitious the minds of many still were ; but the light 
 is overcoming the darkness very rapidly, and trust in “charms,” 
 is giving place to trust in God and proper means. 
 
 [1879.] 
 
 I am sorry to have to say that during the year 1879 we 
 had a most disastrous time of it. All departments of work 
 under my charge were more or less interrupted, and in a far 
 less satisfactory state than I could have wished them to be. 
 W e were visited again that year by an epidemic of malarial 
 fever, which was much more severe than the epidemic of the 
 previous year, and interrupted our work much more than even 
 that did. F or although the epidemic of the previous year was 
 certainly severe, carrying off' some 20,000 of the people, still it 
 was mild when compared with what we had during the year ’79. 
 We ourselves also suffered far more severely from the fever 
 that year than ever we did before, partly, pei’haps, from the 
 fact of our being so worn out by eight years hard work in a 
 fever district ; for, notwithstanding all precautions and all the 
 care we took to prevent our having fever, between the months 
 of J anuary and July ’79, 1 myself was fourteen times prostrated 
 by fever, my wife nine times, and several of our children over 
 a dozen times, although during that time we used nearly three 
 ounces of quinine in our own family alone, to which, under God, 
 I believe we owe it that we are not in our graves to-day, as 
 so many of our poor people are. We have had many severe 
 attacks of fever since July ’79, but rest, change of work, the 
 pure air of home, and heavy doses of quinine modified the 
 fever, and helped us to get rid of it at last. 
 
 During the time of the epidemic in ’78, I gave away a great 
 deal of quinine, and also sold a large quantity at much less 
 than it cost me, in order to get it introduced more among the 
 people ; and the l’esult Avas that I found myself some twelve 
 pounds on the wrong side of my medicine account ; but the 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 141 
 
 epidemic of ’79 proved that I did the right thing in doing as I 
 did, for dozens — not to say hundreds — came that year and 
 bought quinine for themselves, who could hardly be persuaded 
 to take it the year before, even when it was given to them for 
 nothing. I sold eleven pounds' worth of quinine during four 
 months ! (and I could have disposed of twenty pounds’ worth 
 if I had had quinine all the time), a thing that had probably 
 never been done in any part of the island before ; and I ques- 
 tion very much if the people would have spent ten pounds on 
 medicine a few years ago, if it had been to save the entire 
 population of the country. 
 
 In October ’78, I again brought under the notice of our 
 Churches, the subject of teaching our adherents to read the 
 word of God, and the matter was taken up very heartily by 
 our congregation at our own station, at Fihaonana, and after- 
 wards by the various congregations in the district, which were 
 more immediately under the charge of our several evangelists, 
 who also entered very heartily into the work ; and to their do- 
 ing so we owe it that so much good was done during the very 
 short time the Churches were at work. We set all the Church 
 members who could read to teach our adherents to read. They 
 were assisted in many of the villages, by the children from the 
 village schools who were able to read ; and in the course of a 
 few weeks we got over 4000 grown up people gathered into 
 classes to learn to read, and they spent some seven pounds on 
 first lesson-books for themselves ! The subject having been 
 brought under the notice of all the Churches at the Union 
 meetings in January ’79, our people were again stimulated, 
 and they kept at work in a very hearty and praise-worthy 
 manner until first the fever, and then the conscription for the 
 army, interrupted the good work, and broke up nearly all the 
 classes, and there has been very little done since ; although it 
 is really astonishing the amount of progress that was made in 
 some of the congregations, during the very short time they 
 were at work. I was very sorry at such a good work being 
 interrupted, and sincerely hope that long before this they 
 have been able to get all the classes set agoing again ; for they 
 were really doing a splendid work. I was also disappointed, 
 because 1 had hoped and expected, that I would be able to sell 
 at least a thousand Bibles among the people during the year. 
 
 The causes which affected the classes for the grown up 
 people, also affected the other branches of our work, and hence, 
 during the eight months of ’79 that we were with them, things 
 wei’e not in a very satisfactory state. The congregations 
 
142 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 were smaller than I had ever seen them before, from the fact 
 of so very many being ill with fever, and so many more having 
 to remain at home to nurse those who were ill, while at the 
 same time, a number ceased altogether, (for the time being, at 
 least), to attend the Chapels, some of them saying, that they 
 were no longer worshippers, (mpivavaka ), but soldiers, and that 
 their fanompoana (government service) was now soldiering 
 and not worshipping ; although their worshipping never had 
 been called by any one, or recognised by any body (that ever 
 I heard of) as their fanompoana, although it seems that 
 some of them, in their ignorance, thought it was, or at least 
 pretended to regal’d it in that light. 
 
 The Schools also were in a rather unsatisfactory state 
 during the last six months of the year, many of them having 
 been broken up, some of them from want of scholars, but most 
 of them from want of teachers, or rather from the want of 
 money to pay the teachers. Many of those who used to con- 
 tribute towards the salary of the village schoolmasters having 
 become soldiers, they refused to contribute any longer, and as 
 many of the village Churches had few members, and those 
 few too poor to be able to raise the Church’s share of the 
 schoolmaster’s salai’y themselves, it was not in many cases 
 forthcoming, and hence the Schools were stopped. When the 
 new government regulations with regard to elementary educa- 
 tion are carried into effect, and all children are compelled to 
 attend some School, the number of our scholars will very 
 likely increase ; but how the salaries of all the teachers are to 
 be got I hardly see as yet, unless the children contribute 
 something monthly. 
 
 Our station School at Fihaonana was cpiite an exception to 
 the others ; for there we had a good School with 150, some- 
 times over 200 a day present, notwithstanding the severe way 
 in which many of the children suffered from fever ; although, 
 strange to say, very few of them died from it, when compared 
 with the number of grown up people who died. I believe 
 their very attendance at School did them good in that respect, 
 keeping them as it did, out of the malaria of the rice fields 
 and swamps, among which much of their time would have 
 been spent if they had not been at School ; while at the same 
 time the atmosphere of the Schools, (physically and morally), 
 is much purer than that of many of their homes. Still, poor 
 things, it was most saddening to see ’ Iioav they suffered 
 from the fever ; for there was hardly a day that I visited the 
 Schools during five months, that I did not find 10, 15, or 20, 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 143 
 
 and sometimes even 30 children, lying outside the School-house 
 in the sun, and shaking with fever as if they would come to 
 pieces. 
 
 We had our school examinations in October ’78, and the 
 following is Mr. Thorne’s report : — 
 
 “It was in June, 1875, that I first had the pleasure of examining 
 the Schools in the district of East Yonizongo. 
 
 “ Owing to the expressed wish of the Queen of Madagascar that her 
 people should send their children to be taught, and to Mr. Matthews’s 
 prompt action in getting the names of the children entered as scholars 
 in the mission Schools, as many as 1266, out of the 2627 then 
 registered, attended the examinations. The Schools, however, were 
 then still in their infancy, as was indicated by the following results of 
 the examinations : No. of slates, 147 ; No of Testaments, 100 ; Passes 
 in Reading, 212; Passes in Writing, 55; Passes in Arithmetic, 12. 
 Grammar and Geography had not been attempted, and in Scripture 
 knowledge there was a general failure. 
 
 “Since that time the whole of the Schools have been four times 
 examined ; and each time have shown, even for this country of quick 
 growths, most satisfactory and rapid progress. The results of the last 
 examinations held in October and November, 1878, are briefly sum- 
 marized for comparison with those given above: No of Schools 
 examined, 42 ; No. present, 1419 ; No. of slates, 827 ; No. of Testaments, 
 741; Passes in Reading, 733; Passes in Writing, 569 ; Passes in 
 Arithmetic, 421. 
 
 “Several Schools passed an elementary examination in Grammar 
 and Geography, and 38 Schools passed in Scriptural knowledge, of 
 which 30 passed very fairly, or well. 
 
 “The standards followed at the last examinations were somewhat 
 higher than at previous ones ; and a much larger number of passes 
 proportionally were secured in the higher standards. 
 
 “There still remains, however, very much work to be done to bring 
 the Schools up to the average efficiency of those in the neighbourhood 
 of the capital. In most places more competent teachers . is the great 
 desideratum. No effort should be relaxed to secure a great number of 
 passes in the higher standards in reading and writing, as otherwise we 
 have no security that the elder scholars on leaving School will not soon 
 forget the greater part of what they have learnt. We find constantly 
 that children who leave School before they can read with ease and 
 pleasure to themselves are very apt to neglect reading altogether, and 
 so fall back into their prestine state of ignorance. 
 
 “The station School at Fihaonana is one of our largest Schools. At 
 the last examination 243 were present, of whom 137 passed in Reading, 
 152 in Writing, and 128 in Arithmetic. 
 
144 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 “The School passed a fair examination in Grammar, very fair in 
 Geography, and very good indeed in Scriptural knowledge. 
 
 “March 17th, 1879. (Signed) J. C. Thorne.” 
 
 The epidemic of fever and the conscription for the army 
 also interrupted the work carried on in the district Bible- 
 classes, and hence little was done in that way except at Filiao- 
 nana during the last twelve months we were with them. The 
 same may he said of the circulation of the Scriptures, and of 
 the sale of catechisms, commentaries, hymn books, School 
 books, and School materials ; still, we disposed of 2400 copies 
 of Tent Soa ( Good Words), and 140 copies of our Malagasy 
 Quarterly ; but the exact number of Bibles, Testaments, com- 
 mentaries, &c., disposed of I cannot say, as I have not the 
 means here of knowing. In fact, all departments of the work 
 were interrupted, in a way that they had never been before, 
 except that of medicine ; and the work in that department was 
 increased full fifty fold, and was often far beyond my ability 
 to overtake, or to cope with ; still I was able to do a good deal 
 for the people, and was, I believe, instrumental in saving a 
 large number of lives. By way of example, I may state that 
 in the village of Fihaonana, where my advice with regard to 
 those ill with fever, and instructions with regard to the use of 
 quinine and salts, were carried out, there was one death from 
 fever during twelve months, that of a child during the time I 
 had no quinine ; while in another village about the same 
 distance from our house, where the people could not be per- 
 suaded to take quinine, even when given to them for nothing, 
 preferring to keep to a decoction made from a nasty bitter 
 native shrub, which only brought on dysentery, and carried 
 them off in a few hours, some eighty died during four months. 
 I have no returns as to the number who died from fever during 
 twelve months ; but I know it must have been very large. 
 
 From the accompanying returns from the Churches (which 
 are for the year ending December, 1878), it will be found that 
 the sum of £89 11s. 9d. was raised in the district during that 
 year for Church purposes, and £41 18s. 2d. for Schools. 
 
 In June, ’79, we got eight trained schoolmasters back from 
 the Normal School, five of whom were set to work at once. 
 We have thus left seventeen schoolmasters, who had been 
 trained at the Normal School, at work in the district ; while 
 ive had four in training at the Normal School, and some forty 
 lads in the district being prepared for it. W e had also three 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 145 
 
 trained evangelists, and a really good and noble work they 
 are doing. 
 
 I hope all departments of the work are in a satisfactory 
 state again. The Schools, I think, will have quite as many 
 scholars as at any former period, if not a great many more, 
 and the work in the Schools is a most important branch of our 
 work in Madagascar at the present time, for in our Schools 
 now are the Church members of the future.* 
 
 Judging from my own district, Madagascar seems, to some 
 extent, in a state of transition at the present time. An 
 advancement has been made which seems almost to necessitate 
 further progress on a more advanced scale, and in a more 
 decided manner. One step has been taken out of darkness into 
 partial light ; and now another step out of partial into clearer 
 light seems to be made absolutely necessary by all the present 
 surroundings of our mission, and the circumstances of the 
 people. The people cannot remain where they now are, they 
 must either go forward to more light, and to higher and purer 
 views of God and truth — forward to a deeper and more vital 
 godliness than the great majority of them have ever yet known, 
 and to a higher appreciation of that Gospel of Christ which is 
 able to make them wise unto salvation — or sink into a dead 
 formality, and a mere name to live while they are dead, if not 
 back into their former state of darkness and degradation. 
 
 What need then for the prayer, “O send out Thy light and 
 Thy truth" ; and what need for an out-pouring of the Holy 
 Spirit, to quicken the life of God in the hearts of all who 
 have it, and to plant it in the liearis of those who have 
 never known it, that they may know the Truth, and that the 
 Truth may make them free. “If the Son, therefore, shall 
 make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” And religion be 
 raised to a higher and a holier, a purer and more spiritual 
 atmosphere than it ever has been yet even in Madagascar. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, for a few words of comparison, and 
 as to some of the results, so far as results can be tabulated. 
 
 By returns appended to this, supplied by my esteemed friend 
 the Rev. W. E. Cousins, it will be seen, that in 1861 there 
 were 25 congregations, after a sort , 26 so-called pastors, 351 
 Church members, 1400 adherents, no Schools, and only the 
 sum of £2 8s. 6d. raised over the entire district of Vonizongo ! 
 In 1869 the idols were burned in Imerina by the Queen’s 
 orders, and in the end of that year and the early part of ’70, 
 
 * The Queen has now said, that all children must go to School from the 
 age of eight to sixteen. 
 
 L 
 
The Fords of the Mandr&ka, Madagascar, 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 147 
 
 a number of new congregations were raised in the Vonizongo 
 district. In the latter part of 1870, the district of Vonizongo 
 was placed under my charge, although 1 was able to do but 
 little for it, until we went to reside in the district in the early 
 part of the year 1871, which we continued to do until com- 
 pelled to leave it for home in the end of ’79, after being 
 all prostrated for months with malaria fever. 
 
 During our nine years’ stay in the district, I built a nice 
 comfortable Mission House, a Church which holds 800 people, 
 a large School-house and Lecture Hall which holds 600, and 
 a small girls’ Schoolroom which holds 200, and found £310 out 
 of the £400 they cost, while at the same time I was able to help 
 with the building of a number of new Churches in the district, 
 several of them being fine commodious brick buildings, with 
 proper platforms, doors, and glazed windows. I raised 40 new 
 Schools and gathered upwards of 2400 children into them ! 
 Conducted upwards of 500 Bible and other classes, preached 
 some 700 times, in the doing of which I travelled, or rather 
 was jolted on the shoulders of four men, upwards of 12,000 
 miles in wanderings over my district, besides some 3000 to 
 attend the meetings of the Imerina District Committee at the 
 capital, and, of course, being a good deal worn out with all that 
 work, I was a fit victim for the fever when the epidemic came 
 in ’78, and then again in ’79. I saw, and did my best for 
 between 8000 and 10,000 sick people, and dispensed about a 
 hundred pounds’ worth of medicine ! 
 
 1 had printed, published, and circulated 4500 of my own 
 sermons, on some of the principal texts of Scripture ; two 
 editions of an adaptation of the Shorter Catechism into 
 Malagasy, one of 5000 with the references simply to the texts, 
 and another of 3000 with the proofs in full, at a cost of over 
 £20, the most of which was furnished through the kindness of 
 friends in Scotland, from sales, and other sources. A small 
 Commentary, of about 200 pages, on the sermon on the mount, 
 is being taken through the press for me at the present time, 
 by niy friend, the Dev. W. E. Cousins, and also a small 
 volume of Anecdotes and Stories, collected from our monthly 
 and quarterly magazines, to which I had furnished them at 
 intervals during nine years. This small volume was intended 
 as a kind of companion volume to that of my nine sermons, 
 fifty volumes of which I had bound up with a sixteen-page 
 tract on the Atonement, which was the collection of texts 
 given at the end of “Dale on the Atonement,” and taken 
 from “Crawford on the Atonement,” and, which, strange to 
 
148 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONlZONGO, 
 
 say, is the only thing directly on the subject of the Atonement 
 there is in the language yet ! 
 
 I have mentioned the returns for 1868, and I will now give 
 those for 1878 : — 
 
 
 
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MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 149 
 
 The local contributions for 1868 only reached the very modest 
 sum of £2 8s. 6d., whereas those of the year 1878 reached 
 £131 9s. lid.! 
 
 When I settled in the district in 1871, Razaka, the pastor 
 of the station Church at Fihaonana, handed me the sum of 
 30s., to keep for the congregation, being what remained of the 
 Church-door collections for the previous nine years, after 
 paying for the monthly sacramental wine, which generally 
 costs about 3d. a month, and other trifling expenses. For the 
 year 1878 our station congregation at Fihaonana alone raised 
 upwards of £20, while £131 9s. lid. was raised for that year 
 over the district ; and during the nine years, that small congre- 
 gation of some 90 members, a third of whom were slaves, 
 raised upwards of £150, while upwards of £700 was raised in 
 the district during the same time, and seeing that money is 
 about five times the value to the Malagasy that it is to us, 
 the above sums represent about £750 and £3500 respectively ! 
 
 During our nine years’ work among them, I sold upwards of 
 £600 worth of Bibles, Testaments, Catechisms, Commentaries, 
 Text-books, School books, &c. And all that from a people 
 who divide their money down to the fifteenth part of a penny ! 
 And from a country where twopence a day is the wages of a 
 labouring man, and from a land where twenty years ago, no 
 man dared to have said he was a Christian; for it was more 
 than his life was worth. Then there were only three Bibles 
 in the island, and they had to be hidden, or they would have 
 been burned. And yet, notwithstanding all the foregoing, 
 some have the boldness to assert that, “modern missions 
 are a failure ! ” May God in His goodness grant many 
 such failures ? to His Church as the missions to Madagascar 
 and the South Sea Islands have been ! 
 
 When we went to our district in 1871 probably there were 
 not more than 150 old and young together in the district who 
 could read, and we left some 2500 who could do so, and so 
 that if we had been the means of doing nothing beyond that 
 of getting 3000 taught, so as to be able to read the word of 
 God, it was a work worth going to Madagascar for ten years 
 to do, and we would go back to-morrow to do the same work. 
 But that was but a very small portion of the work, connected 
 with the charge of forty-four village congregations, and forty 
 Schools with 2600 in them. 
 
 I was often asked by friends at home to send them a few 
 “Interesting facts and cases.” Now with regard to the facts, 
 here they are and plenty of them. With regard to the cases, 
 
150 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 if it is cases of conversion that are meant, I am very sorry 
 to be compelled to say, that I was cheered by seeing but 
 few cases of conversion such as I have seen at home. But 
 notwithstanding that, I have the firmest conviction that 
 the kingdom of God is making progress in Madagascar, even 
 if it is only in the way of educating and preparing the 
 minds and hearts of the people for the reception of God’s 
 truth. Friends at home are very apt to forget that a deal of 
 the soil has yet to be prepared for the seed, then it has to be 
 sown, and considering the very limited number of the sowers 
 — the old story, the harvest great but the labourers few — it 
 takes a long time to get over all the ground, and it ought to 
 have some time given it to grow, and then there need be but 
 little fear about the harvest, it will come in the proper time. 
 We all know that it is not when the fresh green coals are 
 cracking and roaring under the boiler, and great volumes of 
 black smoke are curling out of the chimney, that the greatest 
 heat is being raised, or the most steam is being made ; but 
 when the fire is at a quiet white heat, and all the black smoke 
 and noisy gases have gone. And just so, it is not always 
 when there is the most excitement and noise, and even lots of 
 “cases” being reported, that most real and lasting good is being 
 done ; but rather when the work is at a quiet white heat. 
 The rains which refresh the earth generally descend in Mada- 
 gascar amid the roaring of thunder and the flashing of light- 
 ning ; but these latter do little good to the soil or the growth 
 of things, it is the rain which comes along with them that 
 does all the good, and not the noisy elements. 
 
 We are quietly preparing the soil and sowing the seed now, 
 and we will have the harvest by and bye without fail. Mada- 
 gascar has not proved a barren soil as to results in the past, 
 and I do not think it is at all likely to do so in the future ; 
 only we must have a little patience. If we missionaries, with 
 all the drawbacks and difficulties with which we have to con- 
 tend, for there are some, even in Madagascar, although Ave 
 neither wish to enlarge on them or to magnify them, are not 
 growing faint-hearted or fearful as to results, feeling quite 
 certain that, although Ave are not able to tell all the interesting 
 facts and cases we could wish to be able to tell, the kingdom 
 of God is advancing in that land, and that we are being per- 
 mitted to do a great and a gloi’ious work, even if we are only 
 preparing the soil for the seed, or soAving Avhat others shall 
 reap. For in so doing we are giving a kno\Adedge of salvation 
 to this people ; gi\ T ing light to them who sit in darkness and 
 
MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 151 
 
 in the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of 
 peace, and thus making ready a people prepared for the Lord. 
 
 If we who go down into the pit amid all the noxious 
 erases and darkness are not "'rowing' faint-hearted, those who 
 are holding the rope at the top amid the pure free air of the 
 Gospel privileges and social advantages, amid “society, friend- 
 ship, and love,” ought not to be growing faint-hearted. Of 
 course there is always some little danger of leaning too much 
 on the past, and going on from the effects of impulses drawn 
 from the facts of former times. Just as we have all seen the 
 engine driver shut off the steam long before he got to the 
 station, but from the impulses the engine had got before that 
 was done it carried the train to its destination. Now I think 
 we in Madagascar might be in some little danger of over- 
 drawing on the past, and might be excused a little even if we 
 did, considering the glorious history that the Church of Christ 
 has had in that island, were it not for the fact that the present 
 is so forced upon us by the amount of every-day work of all kinds 
 that we have to do, that the past is almost altogether lost sight 
 of and forgotten. There is very little danger I think of our 
 being allowed, even if we wished, to adopt a “rest-and-be- 
 thankful” policy ; the cry is for progress, and good, honest, 
 earnest work is being done in all directions, and the people are 
 being raised as a nation from the lowest depths of sin to purity 
 and peace, and from darkness and superstition to light and love 
 to God ; even although we have very little of the marvellous or 
 the startling to report. The Malagasy people are not at all 
 a demonstrative people, in matters either of affection or 
 religion, and their feelings on both subjects are often much 
 deeper and stronger than many would give them credit for. 
 
 There are a few “ enemies " among us “ sowing tares"; but they 
 are as nothing compared with the sowers of the good seed, and 
 all they are doing is hardly worth naming when compared 
 with the work being done by some 25 missionaries and their 
 wives belonging to the London Missionary Society, besides 
 what is being done by those in connection with the “Friends,” 
 and the Norwegians. The fact of some 6000 Bibles being 
 sold in six weeks, besides hundreds of New Testaments every 
 year, ot some 20,000 of our little magazine, “Good Words,” 
 being disposed of yearly, and 160,000 lesson books, besides 
 thousands of catechisms, and hundreds of commentaries, ex- 
 positions, and concordances. The few enemies “ sowing tares," 
 who tell us we are only “misguided men and unathorised 
 
152 
 
 MISSION WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 teachers.” because, forsooth, a Bishop has never laid his hands 
 on us, we can afford to laugh at, and leave such bigotry to the 
 fate which growing enlightenment and the desire to have done 
 with all falsehood, and mere fossiled forms of religion, have 
 decreed, namely, to be “consigned to the dust heap of etei’nal 
 nonentities” ; and point to the work we are doing as the best 
 and most satisfactory “credentials” to “ our Apostolic Succes- 
 sion.” Such poor fellows are more to be pitied and prayed 
 for than envied. What they are doing pleases them seemingly, 
 and those who support them, and they are doing but little 
 harm to us or ours or to the cause of God in general, although 
 that is not their fault. And if they are determined to do such 
 dirty work, as propagating the teaching of the “Mother of 
 Abominations,” a Gospel that’s no Gospel, and trying to sow 
 discord among the Churches of God, let them do it, it is to be 
 hoped they know what they are doing. None of these things 
 move us, because greater is He that is for us, and for the 
 truth, than all who are against us. 
 
 I do not think I can tell anything more convincing than 
 just to state the facts I have stated, and allow them to speak 
 for themselves. The man who thinks that anything but a 
 most glorious work of God has been going on in Madagascar, 
 must know but little about it. And then, again, it is not a 
 thing of the past. No, the work is going on now; the Gospel 
 is spreading, and vital godliness is deepening. The past is of 
 the most marvellous nature ; but I think that the prospects for 
 the future are also of the most cheering — in fact the brightest 
 and most encouraging that any mission could have. For the 
 prospects for the future are, I think, quite in keeping with 
 the history of the past — a history at once grand and glorious ; 
 for a work has been carried on of such a nature, that I dare to 
 question if ever such a work graced God’s earth with its 
 presence in the history of the Church since the conversion of 
 the Roman Empire. I affirai that it is my opinion the 
 prospects for the future are quite in keeping with the ex- 
 perience of the past, and, if possible, of even a brighter, and 
 more hopeful nature. How pleasant it is to turn from the 
 wars that have of late been desolating the earth, or at least a 
 part of it, to the peaceful progress of the Redeemer’s kingdom ; 
 and to meditate on the fact, that this glorious work is still 
 going on. Directors may die, and missionaries may be called to 
 their rest, but the Great Director lives ; and while He lives, 
 the work must and will go on. For “He shall not fall nor be 
 
MISSION 'WORK IN VONIZONGO. 
 
 153 
 
 discouraged, until He hath set judgment on the earth, and 
 the isles shall wait for His law.” * Yes ! Amid the wreck of 
 thrones and the falling of dynasties, the revolutions of empires, 
 and the death of princes, the onward rush of successive genera- 
 tions, and the march of sweeping centuries, God’s work is 
 to go on. And the work all are now doing for Christ, and the 
 extension of His kingdom will not die with us, even as regards 
 this life, hut will live long after the grass has grown green 
 over our graves. “To live in heai-ts we leave behind, is not 
 to die.” Yes, His work will and must go on until the time 
 comes when they shall hang upon Him whom our soul loveth 
 all the glory of His Father’s house. A glorious and blood- 
 bought Church shall vet arise from the ruins of this sin- 
 benighted world, and shall come forth “fair as the moon, clear 
 as the sun, and tenable as an amiv with banners.” 
 
 * “ He shall not bum dimly, neither shall His Spirit be crushed, till He 
 hath set law on the earth, and for His teaching the nations wait.” — Cheyne. 
 
' 
 
 ' 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Churches formed in 1862, for early in 1863 .y 
 They were included in a list given me by preachers in the town, early 
 in 1863. 
 
 Fihaonana, Andranga, Fiarenana, Tsimatahodaza, Ankazobe. 
 
 Statistics of 3 Mother Churches , Sep. 1863. 
 
 
 Members. 
 
 Candidates. 
 
 Adherents 
 
 Fihaonana, 
 
 Fiarenana, 
 
 39 
 
 11 
 
 246 
 
 46 
 
 5 
 
 251 
 
 Ankazobe, 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 118 
 
 
 122 
 
 18 
 
 615 
 
 Additional Churches formed prior to June , 1866. 
 Miaramanjaka, Manjaka, Miadampahonony, Amoranikopa, Mahar- 
 avoravo, Ihasy, Ambotromby, Miadana, Anstampandrano. Tisan- 
 gaina, Ainbohijato, Ihazy. 
 
 W. E. Cousins. 
 
 Statistics of the Churches in all Vonizongo , obtained in June , 1866 
 Churches. 
 
 Fihaonana, 
 
 Fiarenana, 
 
 Ankazobe, 
 
 Other branch Churches, 15 
 
 Church Members, 
 
 Totals, 
 
 230 
 
 Candidates, 
 
 48 
 
 Adherents, 
 
 913 
 
 W. E. Cousins. 
 
156 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 CHURCHES UNDER THE CARE OF 
 
 Stations and 
 Out-stations. 
 
 When begun. 
 
 Native Pastors. 
 
 Native 
 
 Preachers. 
 
 Church 
 
 Members. 
 
 Native 
 
 Adherents. 
 
 Adults able 
 to read. 
 
 Fihaoxaxa 
 
 1837 
 
 Razaka 
 
 4 
 
 92 
 
 1000 
 
 250 
 
 Miantso 
 
 1862 
 
 Andriantavy 
 
 4 
 
 35 
 
 200 
 
 86 
 
 Tsimatahodaza 
 
 1863 
 
 Rakotovao 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 130 
 
 19 
 
 Tsitakondaza 
 
 Ramanintra 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 120 
 
 36 
 
 Ambohiboahangy 
 
 1864 
 
 Ralehindrano 
 
 4 
 
 34 
 
 200 
 
 37 
 
 Fiadanana 
 
 
 Andriamanalina 
 
 3 
 
 67 
 
 300 
 
 83 
 
 Miadampahoniny 
 
 I860 
 
 
 6 
 
 60 
 
 200 
 
 84 
 
 Ambohitrazo 
 
 Rainisoa 
 
 
 
 
 
 Antsampandrano 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ambohitromby 
 
 
 Ratiamahoaka 
 
 4 
 
 21 
 
 100 
 
 30 
 
 Andrambazina 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 21 
 
 200 
 
 43 
 
 Miadanandriana 
 
 1866 
 
 
 3 
 
 33 
 
 250 
 
 37 
 
 Miaramanjaka 
 
 1865 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Isovimbahoaka 
 
 1868 
 
 Andriandahisaha 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 160 
 
 29 
 
 Nanjakana 
 
 1869 
 
 Ratsimandranto 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 150 
 
 11 
 
 Ambohitriniandriana. . . 
 
 Rabelalana 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 70 
 
 23 
 
 Ambohitromby (ats.) 
 
 1865 
 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 200 
 
 35 
 
 Ambohijanakolona 
 
 Ravelo 
 
 6 
 
 29 
 
 200 
 
 111 
 
 Ambohitronv 
 
 
 Andriamparana 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 200 
 
 15 
 
 Ambohipiainana 
 
 1869 
 
 Rakotoramena 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 200 
 
 30 
 
 Ankazotsara 
 
 
 Rakoto 
 
 6 
 
 27 
 
 300 
 
 36 
 
 Ambohimiandry 
 
 ,, 
 
 Rahaga 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 100 
 
 17 
 
 Ambohibary 
 
 ,, 
 
 Ramananjanana 
 
 6 
 
 40 
 
 120 
 
 20 
 
 Andriamanjaka 
 
 ,, 
 
 Andriamparana 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 10O 
 
 20 
 
 Amparihy 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 39 
 
 200 
 
 16 
 
 Ambohitsimenaloha . . . 
 
 „ 
 
 Rabaosy 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 100 
 
 25 
 
 Ambatomanjaka 
 
 „ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Antanatibe 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 6 
 
 31 
 
 250 
 
 20 
 
 Ambohitrimbonana 
 
 
 Razaka 
 
 4 
 
 28 
 
 150 
 
 32 
 
 Andranomaitso 
 
 
 Rainihanta 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 200 
 
 45 
 
 Ambohitrinibe 
 
 ,, 
 
 Andrianaivonampy 
 
 4 
 
 43 
 
 200 
 
 45 
 
 Ambohitsimanompo . . . 
 
 ,, 
 
 Ravony 
 
 6 
 
 40 
 
 300 
 
 33 
 
 Ambohitrinimamba ... 
 
 
 Ramenalahy 
 
 
 
 
 
 Isoavina 
 
 
 Rainitanimanga 
 
 4 
 
 40 
 
 150 
 
 22 
 
 Isarobaratra 
 
 
 Andriamahery 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 100 
 
 8 
 
 Itsaroana 
 
 „ 
 
 Rajosepha 
 
 4 
 
 26 
 
 100 
 
 27 
 
 Manazary 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 100 
 
 8 
 
 Mandrosoa 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 150 
 
 20 
 
 Mangarano 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Manjaka 
 
 1870 
 
 Andrianambo 
 
 
 23 
 
 100 
 
 20 
 
 Ambohitrazaka 
 
 Rainiketabao 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fefinarivo 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Fihoarana 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fiadanana 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 100 
 
 10 
 
 Ikanja 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 
 200 
 
 11 
 
 Isahapetraka 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 4 
 
 19 
 
 120 
 
 14 
 
 Manerinerina 
 
 ,, 
 
 Andriantavy 
 
 
 
 
 
 Masindray 
 
 1871 
 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 180 
 
 10 
 
 Mandrosoa 
 
 1875 
 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 130 
 
 10 
 
 Ifaravazo 
 
 .. 
 
 Rainiramarahon a 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 100 
 
 9 
 
 Totals, 
 
 
 
 158 
 
 1130 
 
 7430 
 
 1441 
 
 Totals, 1878, Congregations, 47 Pastors, 60 
 
 144 
 
 1217 
 
 8912 
 
 1542 
 
 „ 1876, 
 
 ,, 
 
 61 „ 33 
 
 119 
 
 1020 
 
 5550 
 
 1161 
 
 „ 1875, 
 
 
 55 „ 32 
 
 155 
 
 1009 
 
 5574 
 
 1078 
 
 „ 1874, 
 
 
 52 „ 25 
 
 120 
 
 800 
 
 6000 
 
 580 
 
 „ 1873, 
 
 
 52 „ 27 
 
 130 
 
 700 
 
 5000 
 
 300 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 157 
 
 THE REV. T. T. MATTHEWS. 1877. 
 
 1 
 
 Bibles and i 
 Testaments. 
 
 
 Schools. 
 
 
 Contributions for 
 General Purposes. 
 
 £ a. d, 
 
 Schools. 
 
 Scholars 
 (Boys and 
 Girls). 
 
 Children 
 able to read. 
 
 Contributions for 
 School Purposes. 
 £ *. d. 
 
 500 
 
 1 
 
 265 
 
 150 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 51 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 34 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 70 
 
 1 
 
 50 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 78 
 
 1 
 
 90 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 80 
 
 1 
 
 70 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 56 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 58 
 
 1 
 
 50 
 
 20 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 62 
 
 1 
 
 55 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 47 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 41 
 
 22 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 31 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 111 
 
 1 
 
 64 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 44 
 
 4 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 55 
 
 25 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 106 
 
 1 
 
 132 
 
 59 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 38 
 
 15 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 45 
 
 27 
 
 i 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 52 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 42 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 45 
 
 28 
 
 i 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 62 
 
 1 
 
 69 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 0 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 58 
 
 1 
 
 56 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 62 
 
 1 
 
 40 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 37 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 32 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 54 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 35 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 44 
 
 20 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 2001 
 
 40 
 
 1956 
 
 823 
 
 46 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 88 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 £135 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 2114 
 
 44 
 
 2531 
 
 863 . 
 
 41 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 742 
 
 50 
 
 2526 
 
 600 
 
 
 
 
 41 
 
 
 2 
 
 541 
 
 50 
 
 2666 
 
 320 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 350 
 
 16 
 
 200 
 
 102 
 
 
 
 
 £131 
 
 9 
 
 n 
 
 250 
 
 31 
 
 800 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
158 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 SCHOOLS UNDER THE CARE OF 
 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ] a g 
 5.2 
 
 Slates. 
 
 75 73 
 CD £ 
 
 ~ d 
 rd o 
 
 pq 2 
 
 Able to Read. 
 
 
 Able to 
 
 Name of School. 
 
 
 
 fco 
 
 tcH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 | 
 
 d 
 
 ■r N 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 £ 
 
 c " 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 Totals 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 hi r 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fihaonana 
 
 265 
 
 224 
 
 191 
 
 1/0 
 
 00 
 
 47 3 
 
 149 
 
 41 
 
 46 
 
 37 
 
 Ankazofcsara 
 
 no 
 
 02 
 
 61 
 
 63 
 
 11 
 
 15 
 
 59 
 
 
 28 
 
 4 
 
 Tsitakondaza .. 
 
 100 
 
 55 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 17 
 
 11 
 
 28 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 Amboliibary 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 21 
 
 23 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 27 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 Anbohiboanangy . . 
 
 1*6 
 
 70 
 
 33 
 
 27 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 And ram baz in a 
 
 55 
 
 38 
 
 27 
 
 26 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 i 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 A mbohitsimanompo 
 
 52 
 
 28 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 
 1.3 
 
 
 3 
 
 Ambohitrmimamba 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 Antanetibe 
 
 53 
 
 36 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 Andraimanjaka 
 
 50 
 
 38 
 
 22 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 Ambohitrony ... 
 
 60 
 
 42 
 
 23 
 
 33 
 
 16 
 
 9 
 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 Isarobarata 
 
 2.4 
 
 1 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Fiadanana 
 
 66 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 Ifaravazo 
 
 55 
 
 32 
 
 26 
 
 13 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Ambohipiainnana ... 
 
 57 
 
 21 
 
 n 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 Andraoinaitso 
 
 ;'6 
 
 43 
 
 28 
 
 16 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 
 i 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 Isabapetraka 
 
 54 
 
 45 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 
 n 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 ltiadanana 
 
 105 
 
 
 23 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 Araboliijanakolona . . . 
 
 66 
 
 44 
 
 40 
 
 41 
 
 30 
 
 4 
 
 
 34 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 M 1 adanandn ana ... . 
 
 70 
 
 52 
 
 29 
 
 26 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 i 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Nanjakana... . 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 34 
 
 30 
 
 21 
 
 i 
 
 
 22 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 Ambohitromby (avar.) ... 
 
 36 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 i 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Tsimatahodaza 
 
 35 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 
 Isoavimbalioiika 
 
 •12 
 
 36 
 
 10 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 
 Ambohitrazo 
 
 60 
 
 45 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 24 
 
 i 
 
 
 25 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Masindray 
 
 33 
 
 21 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 
 Ikanja 
 
 40 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 
 ii 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 Atabohitromby (atsin.)... 
 
 32 
 
 2/ 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Auiboliitrinibe . . . 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 i 
 
 Fcfinarivo 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Manermerina 
 
 18 
 
 1 l 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 i 
 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 Ambohitriniandriana 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 n 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Miadampalionina ... 
 
 60 
 
 76 
 
 26 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 Manazary ... . 
 
 32 
 
 30 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 Auibohitrimbonana 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Miaramanjaka 
 
 46 
 
 26 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 Jlandrosoa (avarat.) 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Morarano 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ambokiiniandry ... . 
 
 57 
 
 37 | 
 
 19 
 
 17 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 Amboliitsimcnalolia 
 
 53 
 
 26 I 
 
 21 
 
 21 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 
 28 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
 Isoavina 
 
 37 
 
 25 ' 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 14 
 
 2 
 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 Miantso 
 
 110 
 
 66 
 
 37 
 
 30 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 
 Miandrosoa 
 
 35 
 
 22 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Ampariky 
 
 45 
 
 20 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *Antsampandrano .. 
 
 52 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ♦Ambatomanjaka ... . 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •Ifilioarana 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *Ambokitrazaka 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *H'onuhasina 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals ... 1677 
 
 2558 
 
 1640 
 
 980 
 
 860 
 
 675 
 
 154 
 
 7 
 
 860 
 
 180 
 
 189 
 
 77 
 
 „ ... 1878 
 
 2531 
 
 1419 
 
 827 
 
 741 
 
 
 
 
 733 
 
 
 
 
 „ ... 1876 
 
 2526 
 
 1580 
 
 6( 
 
 386 
 
 484 
 
 102 
 
 0 
 
 600 
 
 163 
 
 150 
 
 80 
 
 ,, ... 1675 
 
 2666 
 
 1693 
 
 21 
 
 261 
 
 320 
 
 117 
 
 -1 
 
 501 
 
 38 
 
 fo 
 
 13 
 
 „ ... 1874 
 
 200 
 
 
 bo 
 
 40 
 
 80 
 
 29 
 
 - 
 
 102 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 * Did not come to the Examination, 1 Completed the catechism, f Did well, 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 150 
 
 THE REV. T. T. MATTHEWS. 1877. 
 
 Write. 
 
 Aide to Count. 
 
 U 
 
 ZD i 
 ’> 
 
 a X 
 ^ .2 
 
 > £ 
 £ tc 
 
 C 
 
 bC 
 
 O 
 
 Catechisms. 
 
 5 
 
 Totals 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 Totals 
 
 « 
 
 130 
 
 27 
 
 41 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 fi 
 
 95 
 
 35 
 
 33 
 
 t 
 
 f 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 
 37 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 
 30 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 i 
 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 
 IS 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 •> 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 — 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 — 
 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 — 
 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 — 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 1 
 
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 Did faimh. Did a little, 42 Lads nut essoined, 
 
LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
 
 Statistics of all the Vonizongo District for the year 1868. W. E. Cousins. 
 
 Local 
 
 Contributions. 
 
 CD 
 
 00 
 
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APPENDIX. 
 
 161 
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR NEW CHURCH AT FIHAONANA. 
 
 Raised in this Country. 
 
 £ 
 
 London Missionary Society, 60 
 Bale, &c., from Fanworth, 17 
 Glasgow, per Mr W. Riddell, 17 
 Box from Mrs Thorp, Grove 
 House, Ashton-on-Ribble, 
 near Preston, . . . 7 
 
 Elgin Free High Church, ... 1 
 
 J. A. Bisset, Legacy, 0 
 
 W. F. Bisset, . . . . 0 
 
 Henderson, William, Esq.’s 
 Bible Class, Aberdeen, . . 1 
 
 Mr G. Carruthers, ... 1 
 
 Henderson, William, Esq., 
 Devanha House, Aberdeen, 5 
 Leslie, Lord Provost, „ 3 
 
 Knox, Mrs, New Deer, in 
 memory of her sister, the 
 late Miss Leslie, ... ... 3 
 
 Rutherford Sabbath School, 6 
 Belmont Cong. ,, „ 4 
 
 Melville Free Ch. „ „ 3 
 
 Do. Bible Class, ... 1 
 
 Free East Mission Sabbath 
 School, St. Andrew St., 
 per J. M. Garden, Esq., 2 
 Free St. Clements Sabbath 
 School, per Mr Skinner, 1 
 Abernethy, James, . . 1 
 
 Abernethy, Robert, 1 
 
 Murray, James, (bookseller), 1 
 Bisset, George, 1 
 
 Rose, William, Hazlehead, 1 
 Fiddes, Alex., . 1 
 
 Collected by Miss Fiddes, 
 and Mrs Leslie, . . .0 
 
 Bisset’s, James A., Mission- 
 ary Box, 1873, 0 
 
 Do., 1874, 0 
 
 Alexander, William, ... 0 
 
 Neilson, George, ... ... 0 
 
 Rose, George, ... 0 
 
 Matthews, James, . . ... 0 
 
 Gray, A. R., ... . . 0 
 
 Yule, Rev. Mr, ... 0 
 
 Hector, Thomas, ... ... 0 
 
 Lumsden, Rev. Princ., D.D., 0 
 
 Garden, J. Murray, ... 0 
 
 s. d. 
 0 0 
 8 4 
 0 0 
 
 5 10 
 0 0 
 10 2 
 9 10 
 
 0 0 
 1 0 
 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 8 8 
 15 5 
 3 6 
 
 3 6 
 
 15 3 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 
 16 0 
 
 13 0 
 12 6 
 10 0 
 10 0 
 10 0 
 10 0 
 10 0 
 5 0 
 5 0 
 5 0 
 5 0 
 
 Raised in this Country — Continued. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Rettie, M. W., ... .050 
 
 Easton, David, ... ... 0 5 0 
 
 Smith, Charles, ... .050 
 
 Rattray, William, ... .050 
 
 Garden, James, .050 
 
 Brand, Alex., . . 0 5 0 
 
 Greig, George, 0 2 6 
 
 Gill, John, 0 2 6 
 
 Friend, A, ... . 026 
 
 McPherson, Mr, ... . 0 1 6 
 
 McCondach, Mrs, ... 0 10 
 
 Raised in Madagascar. 
 
 The Queen of Madagascar, 10 
 The Church at Fihaonana, 
 (money), ... ... ... 37 
 
 Do. „ „ (labour, &c.), 20 
 
 Mr and Mrs Matthews and 
 family, ... ... 6 
 
 Collection at Opening Ser- 
 vices, ... ... ... 4 
 
 Churches in the Fihaonana 
 District, . . . . . 3 
 
 Mrs Matthews’s Sewing 
 Class, . . .3 
 
 Miss Dawson, 2 
 
 Rev. J. Peill, L. M. S., 2 
 
 „ W. C. Pickersgill, „ 2 
 
 „ J. Sibree, „ 1 
 
 „ C. Jukes, „ 1 
 
 „ P. G. Peake, „ 1 
 
 ,, J. A. Houlder, „ 1 
 
 „ H. W. Grainge, „ 1 
 
 „ J. Wills, „ 0 
 
 „ R. Toy, „ 0 
 
 „ T. Rogers, „ 0 
 
 „ W. Montgomery, „ 0 
 
 „ B. Briggs, „ 0 
 
 ., J. T. Wesley, „ 0 
 
 ,, T. G. Beveridge, „ 0 
 
 Mr J. C. Thorne, „ 0 
 
 „ T. Lord, „ 1 
 
 „ J. Sewell, F.F.M. A., ... 1 
 
 „ Henry E. Clark, „ ... 0 
 
 „ A. Kingdon, „ ... 0 
 
 0 0 
 
 1 2 
 0 0 
 
 0 0 
 
 13 0 
 
 15 6 
 
 4 0 
 
 4 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 8 0 
 8 3 
 8 0 
 8 0 
 8 0 
 8 0 
 
 5 0 
 
 16 0 
 0 0 
 0 0 
 
 13 0 
 8 0 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 BIBLES, TESTAMENTS, CATECHISMS, COMMENTARIES, TEXT-BOOKS, 
 MAGAZINES, SCHOOL BOOKS, AND SCHOOL MATERIALS SOLD 
 FROM 1871-79. 
 
 22,550 le. = (| of Id.) Good Words, (Malagasy Monthly), 
 20,160 le. = ,, Malagasy First Lesson Book, ... 
 
 637 Id. Malagasy Second Lesson Book, 
 
 1000 id. The Child’s Catechism, 
 
 4331 Id. Catechism of the Word of God, 
 
 2983 „ Watts’ Biographical Scripture Catechism, 
 
 4000 „ The Shorter Catechism, (Malagasy), 
 
 9 4s. Bibles, 
 
 11 Is. 6d. do. 
 
 44 2s. do. 
 
 912 Is. do. 
 
 6 5s. New Testaments, 
 
 40 2s. 6d. do. 
 
 25 2s. do. 
 
 141 Is. 6d. do. 
 
 196 Is. do. 
 
 144 8d. do. 
 
 2685 6d. do. 
 
 7 
 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 Hymn Books, 
 
 24 
 
 Is. 6d. 
 
 do. 
 
 60 
 
 Is. 4d. 
 
 do. 
 
 58 
 
 Is. 2d. 
 
 do. 
 
 50 
 
 Is. 
 
 do. 
 
 80 
 
 lOd. 
 
 do. 
 
 263 
 
 6d. 
 
 do. 
 
 36 
 
 5d. 
 
 do. 
 
 757 
 
 4d. 
 
 do. 
 
 17 
 
 3d. 
 
 do. 
 
 424 
 
 2d. 
 
 do. 
 
 1823 
 
 Id. 
 
 do. 
 
 2400 
 
 le. 
 
 do. 
 
 186 Id. Catechism of the Life of Paul, 
 
 64 Id. Catechism on the Four Gospels, 
 
 126 2d. do. do. 
 
 17 Is. 2d. Lessons on Luke, 
 
 63 Is. do. 
 
 15 Is. 4d. Introduction to the New Testament, 
 14 Is. do. do. 
 
 108 4d. Dr. Chalmer’s Text Book, 
 
 98 3d. do. do. 
 
 25 Is. 3d. Cameron’s Lesson from the Bible 
 49 Is. 2d. do. do. 
 
 26 Is. 4d. Commentary on Galations, 
 46 Is. 2d. do. 
 
 10 8d. The Pilgrim’s Progress, 
 
 102 4d. do. 
 
 42 Is. Good Words, (bound vols), 
 
 656 do. do. 
 
 11 Is. 2d. Life of Christ, 
 
 200 id. do. 
 
 36 5d. do. Questions on 
 
 £62 12 9 
 56 0 4 
 
 2 13 1 
 
 2 18 
 
 18 0 11 
 12 6 11 
 16 13 4 
 1 16 0 
 0 16 6 
 
 4 8 0 
 
 45 12 0 
 
 1 10 0 
 
 5 0 0 
 2 10 0 
 
 10 11 6 
 
 9 16 0 
 4 16 0 
 
 67 2 6 
 
 0 17 6 
 
 1 16 0 
 4 0 0 
 
 3 7 8 
 2 10 0 
 3 6 8 
 
 6 11 6 
 0 15 0 
 
 12 12 4 
 0 4 3 
 3 10 0 
 7 11 11 
 6 13 4 
 0 15 6 
 114 
 110 
 0 19 10 
 3 3 0 
 
 10 0 
 
 0 14 0 
 
 1 16 0 
 14 6 
 
 1 11 3 
 
 2 17 2 
 
 1 14 8 
 
 2 13 8 
 0 6 8 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 2 2 0 
 
 10 5 10 
 0 12 10 
 0 8 4 
 0 15 0 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 163 
 
 375 Id. Questions on Luke, 
 
 £1 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 100 Id. Questions on Exodus, 
 
 0 
 
 s 
 
 4 
 
 48 6d. Bible History, 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 14 9d. Malagasy Grammars, 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 21 Gd. do. 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 405 3d. do. 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 981 Id. do. 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 171 6d. Outlines of Simple Hermeneutics, ... 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 37 Is. Yols. of Sermons by the First Missionaries, ... 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 281 le. Sermons by Rev. J. Pearse, 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 4000 do. T. T. M. 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 26 2s. Commentary on Matthew, 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 27 Is. 6d. do. do. 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 40 6d. Moody’s Addresses, (in Malagasy), 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 35 1 s. 4d. H. E. Clark’s life of Paul, 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6 Is. do. The Patriarchs, ... 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 18 Is. 6d. Pearse’s Commentary on First Corinthians, 
 
 - 1 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 35 6d. Russell’s Catechism (Malagasy), 
 
 0 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 55 4d. do. do. 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 G 8d. Sermons on Fundamental Christian Truths, ... 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 80 3d. do. do. 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 58 8d. Vols. of Outlines of Sermons, 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 8 
 
 40 Is. 4d. Hymn and Tune Book, 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 32 Is. 2d. do. 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 4 
 
 42 Is. Bible Dictionary, Parts I. and II., (Is. each). 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 38 8d. Old Testament History, 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 10 6d. History of the Jews, 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 12 6d. The Pity of Christ, 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 1 od. The Great Salvation, 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 6 Is. The Tabernacle, ... 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 264 3d. The Counsellor, (Malagasy Quarterly), 
 
 3 
 
 G 
 
 0 
 
 15 2s. do. (bound vols.) 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 20 3d. Scripture Promises, 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 29 2d. Genesis, (New Translation), ... - 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 137 Id. Malagasy Workman, 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 129 3d. do. Diaries, 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 8 Is. do. Annuals, 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 12 6d. do. Vocabularies, 
 
 0 
 
 G 
 
 0 
 
 13 6d. do. Analysis, 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 12 6d. do. Fables, 
 
 0 
 
 G 
 
 0 
 
 6 Id. do. Almanac, 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 6 3d. do. Glossary of English Terms, 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 48 Id. Questions on Genesis, 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 2 Church Books, 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 12 2d. The Wisdom of God, 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 25 2d. Baptism Catechism, (with Scripture proofs in full), ... 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 2s. Gd. School Register, 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 181 6d. do. 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 15 Gd. Lessons in English, Part I., 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 13 lOd. do. Part II., 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 25 8d. Geographies, 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 911 Id. do. 
 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 11 
 
 1447 Id. Arithmetics, Parti. 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 248 Id. do. Part II., 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 10 3d. do. 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 12 4d. do. 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 242 2d. Answers, Part I. 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
164 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 110 2d. Answers Part II. 
 
 £0 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 1 Gd. do. Fractions 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 1 2s. 6d. Fractions, 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 90 Is. School Slates, 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 6 lOd. do. 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 231 8d. do. 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 1088 Gd. do. 
 
 27 
 
 4 
 
 O 
 
 599 5d. do. 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 412 3d. do. 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 108 Is. Gd. Slate Pencils, Boses of, 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 12 4d. Lerd Pencils, 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 1153 Id. do. 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 9 Is. Chalk, Boses of,... 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 O 
 
 10 Is. 4d. Ink, Gallons of, 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 200 Id. Ink, Bottles of, ... 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 84 Gd. Ink Powders, Packets of, ... 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 1 2s. 6d. Pens, Boses of, 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 37 Is. 6d. do. 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 4 Is. 3d. do. 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 5 4s. Penholders, Gross of, 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2119 2d. Copy Books, 
 
 17 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 300 Id. do. 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 35 4d. do. Slips, Sets of, 
 
 0 
 
 ii 
 
 8 
 
 34 8d. MS. Books, 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 36 Gd. do. 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 7 5s. Malagasy Dictionaries, 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 1 8d. do. Customs, 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 9 Books, Bound vols.. 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 13 Pocket Books, 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 12 Is. 6d. Tuning Forks, 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 0 
 
 School Materials ’72, Account for, 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 6 
 
 5 12s. Beams of Writing Paper, 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Total, 
 
 £601 18 
 
 1 
 
 Books, Tracts, Portions of the Scriptures, and Prizes 
 
 &e., GIVEN 
 
 
 AWAY GRATUITOUSLY. 
 
 
 
 
 2000 Baptism Catechisms, (L. M. S.) 
 
 £5 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 5000 Tracts, „ 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 2000 Gospel of Lnke, (B. F. B. S.) ... 
 
 16 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 400 1st., Corinthians, ,, 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 200 Acts of the Apostles, „ 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 600 The Psalms, „ 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 400 The Testimony of Scripture on the Atonement, ... 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 171 Wall Sheet Hymns, ... 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 1284 Large Type Alphabet Lesson Sheets, ... 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 
 298 Large Type Wall Sheet Multiplication Tables, 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 School Prizes, ( mainly L. M. S.) 
 
 25 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 School Apparatus, ,, 
 
 30 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Medicines, ,, 
 
 20 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Total, 
 
 £121 
 
 9 10