TWELVE MONTHS IN MADAGASCAR. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: ANTANANARIVO.—MEMORIAL CHURCH AND ROCKS AT ÁMPAMARÍNANA. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _TWELVE MONTHS_ IN _MADAGASCAR_. BY JOSEPH MULLENS, D.D., FOREIGN SECRETARY OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. _NEW YORK_: _ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS_, _535 BROADWAY_. 1875. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. IN adding another to the list of works written about Madagascar I have been anxious to confine its contents to what was special to our visit. During that visit my colleague and I enjoyed unusual opportunities of observing various matters relating to the country and the people in the principal portions of the island. Being deputed to visit the Government and the Churches, by those who had befriended them for more than fifty years, we were cordially welcomed everywhere, and were permitted to see and examine all we wished. The portion of the country which we visited was very extensive. We saw in all their length and breadth the two Central Provinces of the island, Imérina and the Betsileo: we visited the Sihánaka Province, and left the island by the north-west route and the Port of Mojangá. Everywhere we came into closest contact with the native Churches: to an extent that no Englishman, missionary or traveller, had ever done before. We saw the religious life of the people on the large scale; not merely in its details in a single locality: but as it shows itself in all parts, the most advanced and the most ignorant. We can say much on the things we saw in various localities. We can also testify that the great religious revolution, which is said to have taken place in Madagascar, is a REAL THING: that it has affected and improved the nation most powerfully at its heart, in the Capital and Imerina: and that its effects are also real and truly beneficial far away in the interior, and even at extreme points on the coast. We shared in most important consultations of the missionaries, respecting the actual position of things, and the form and extent to which Christian work should be carried on in the future. We were in constant communication with the members of the Norwegian, the Friends’, and the Medical Missions. We held most pleasant intercourse with the Authorities, and were present at several important public gatherings. We were honoured with a formal reception by the Queen and a formal farewell.