I was perplexed for some time, by their always asking me, when medicine was given, if they ought to fast, until I discovered that the old idol priests and sorcerers were doctors, of a kind, and that their general prescription (and I am inclined to think their best) was fasting, especially from pork. The Malagasy often made themselves ill by overeating. It seemed as if the people reasoned somewhat in this way: If the old idol-keepers, priests, and sorcerers could cure some diseases, the teachers of the true religion must be able to cure all. Be that as it may, a small service to the body gave great influence over the minds of these people. The vast majority suffer from the effects of poisoned blood, due to hereditary taint or vicious habits. As a consequence, hundreds of innocent infants perish; precious lives ebb away before their time; disease is fostered; and deterioration--physical, mental, and moral--is spread throughout the entire community. Bookselling took up much time also, until a colporteur was found. I sold about £30 worth of books during our first year at Fìhàonana; but to the Malagasy that really represented what £150 does to us. [Illustration: THE PALACE CHURCH, ANTANANARIVO.] With regard to the state of the churches, as I found them in 1871, all I can say is, that if not quite all we could have wished them to be, they were a great deal better than we had any right under the circumstances to expect. While others had to tell of multitudes rushing to baptism and many to the Lord’s Table, in an altogether unfit state, I had nothing of the kind to complain of. On the whole things were done decently and in order in Vònizòngo. This was in a great measure, if not entirely, due to the fact that there was such a man as Razàka superintending the district and directing the other pastors. I attribute, under God, the very satisfactory state of the churches found in Vònizòngo, when compared with most other districts, to the wise conduct of Razàka, and Ràinisòa, the chief pastor of the Fìerènana district, and to the kind of men whom, as a rule, they led the churches to choose for pastors and preachers. The pastors as a body, although of necessity they did not possess much knowledge--in fact there were some few of them who could not even read--possessed a good deal of common sense. These men had done, and were then doing, noble work. Although I have heard much about it, I never saw an instance of people being thrashed to church. I did see, in 1883, in another district, people brought to church by Malagasy policemen, by order of the ‘Palace Church Evangelist,’ who did just as he liked, ruled the district with a rod of iron, and ruined it--so that to-day it is only the shadow of what it ought to have been. We had no such doings in Vònizòngo.