When the Malagasy found that they had been betrayed they were greatly enraged, and said: ‘Well, the French may rule in Antanànarìvo, but they shall not rule here,’ and thousands rose against the new _régime_. This was a grave mistake, after things had gone so far; for what could they do with their spears, knives, and old flint-locks against French guns and rifles? If they had possessed arms, ammunition, and leaders, or any means of getting them, they might easily have wiped out the few French who were then in the island. Though it will scarcely be believed, yet there were some French credulous enough to think and say that the London Missionary Society supplied the natives with arms! When the rising took place the French had not troops enough to cope with the situation, and reinforcements had to be sent for from Europe. In a very short time most parts of the central provinces were in a state of open rebellion, the backbone of the rising being the old heathen party, and the more disorderly masses of the population. For a time they were spoken of as _fàhavàlo_ (enemies), but afterwards they were called _mènalàmba_ (red plaids), because they coloured their cotton plaids with the red soil of the country, in order that they might not easily be recognized at a distance. The rising really began within a few weeks after the French occupation of the capital, and had its origin in the rising of the Zànakàntitra tribe at Àmboànana in West Imèrina, after the murder of the Hova soldiers and officers, and the massacre of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and child. The authorities had due warning of what was brewing, and if prompt measures had been taken, as they ought to have been, in the interests of all parties, the rising might have been put down very easily at the cost of a few lives; and thousands of lives--French and Malagasy--would thus have been saved. As the warnings came from the then hated British missionaries, who better knew the people and their feelings, they were only sneered at, and no attention paid to them. The French also had warning of the state of things in the south of Imèrina, but nothing was done, with the result that three French gentlemen, who went south then, were murdered on the road. They had slept at the London Missionary Society’s mission house at Tsìafàhy the previous night, had been warned of their danger, and of the great risk they were running, but they only laughed. Next day they were murdered.