Beneath the surface lay many proofs of the backwardness of the people. Life and property were insecure: there was much poverty: few incentives existed to active industry: the country was destitute of roads: systematic travelling and intercourse between the different parts of the country, was all but unknown. To me one of the most instructive illustrations of the state of the island and of the relation of its people to the world at large is furnished by an event which occurred at this time on the north-western coast. On more than one occasion at the end of last century the Sakalava tribes had taken advantage of small vessels, in calm weather, had seized them, brought them to land and burnt them for the sake of their copper and iron. Gathering together hundreds of men, they had undertaken occasional expeditions against the Comóro Islands and harried and robbed their people. But in 1816 they planned a great expedition against the fort of Ibo, near Mozambique, three hundred miles away. They gathered no less than two hundred and fifty canoes, containing 6250 men; and set out on their expedition. They were overtaken by a violent hurricane and only sixty-eight canoes reached the African shore. That was in 1816. Yet it reads like a page from Robinson Crusoe, or a story from the South Sea Islands. I need not pursue the history. With Radáma we have reached our own times; we have reached modern efforts, modern improvement, modern missions. Often has the later story been written: it is told by Mr. Sibree in his little book, and by Mr. Ellis in his “Martyr Church” effectively and with brevity. Let us look at the people as they are. At first sight my colleague and I thought them backward: but the more we reflected on the past; on their complete isolation from the great world around them; the simple frame-work and the small attainments of their national and social life, so late as sixty years ago; the more thoroughly we appreciated the great stride in progress which they have taken in that brief period. Many officers of Radáma’s day are still living, with their antiquated coats and antiquated notions; and till very recently they have much hindered change and trammelled advance. But solid progress has been made. It has been made in their outer life. But best of all, it has been secured in far greater degree in their religious character and in their moral and social habits. Indeed it is a matter for special congratulation and thankfulness, that it is that moral improvement which has come first; and that it is so deeply rooted and so widely spread. The external civilisation will follow quite rapidly enough.