The west coast of Madagascar may have been already peopled by negroes from East Africa who had crossed over by the route of the Comoro archipelago[13]. But, if so, these last must have been assisted or compelled to make the attempt by some superior seafaring race coming from the north, Arab or Phoenician, because there is no evidence that the East African negroes have ever been great navigators or have possessed in earlier times any means of embarkation better than dug-out canoes propelled by paddles; and it is difficult to believe that in such unstable vessels they could cross a broad strait of rough sea between East Africa and the Comoro Islands. It is easier to suppose that the large negro element of Bantu origin which exists in north-west Madagascar was brought there within the last 2000 years by Arab ships, before and after the days of Islam. The negro colonization of this large island could not have been helped by the persistence of some land-bridge, some Comoro isthmus which has since broken down; for along such an isthmus would have come many African beasts, birds, and snakes, which are totally absent from Madagascar[14]. With only a narrow strait to cross, negroes or Bushmen might have passed over to Madagascar in canoes or on rafts. The Comoro Islands, when first discovered by Europeans, were (as now) inhabited by Arabs and a race of Bantu negroes, speaking dialects related to the Swahili of Zanzibar. But these may have been brought there centuries before by the Arab ships. It is probable that there was no Malagasy settlement of the Comoro archipelago until the 19th century.