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TWELVE MONTHS IN MADAGASCAR.
ANTANANARIVO.—MEMORIAL CHURCH AND ROCKS AT ÁMPAMARÍNANA.
PREFACE.
In adding another to the list of works written aboutMadagascar I have been anxious to confine its contentsto what was special to our visit. During that visit mycolleague and I enjoyed unusual opportunities of observingvarious matters relating to the country and the peoplein the principal portions of the island. Being deputed tovisit the Government and the Churches, by those who hadbefriended them for more than fifty years, we were cordiallywelcomed everywhere, and were permitted to seeand examine all we wished. The portion of the countrywhich we visited was very extensive. We saw in alltheir length and breadth the two Central Provinces of theisland, Imérina and the Betsileo: we visited the SihánakaProvince, and left the island by the north-west route andthe Port of Mojangá. Everywhere we came into closestcontact with the native Churches: to an extent that noEnglishman, missionary or traveller, had ever done before.
We saw the religious life of the people on the largescale; not merely in its details in a single locality: but asviit shows itself in all parts, the most advanced and themost ignorant. We can say much on the things we sawin various localities. We can also testify that the greatreligious revolution, which is said to have taken place inMadagascar, is a REAL THING: that it has affected andimproved the nation most powerfully at its heart, in theCapital and Imerina: and that its effects are also real andtruly beneficial far away in the interior, and even atextreme points on the coast.
We shared in most important consultations of the missionaries,respecting the actual position of things, and theform and extent to which Christian work should becarried on in the future. We were in constant communicationwith the members of the Norwegian, the Friends’,and the Medical Missions. We held most pleasant intercoursewith the Authorities, and were present at severalimportant public gatherings. We were honoured with aformal reception by the Queen and a forma