It was

it any

I had

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In most houses, especially in those of the Creoles, people made all kinds of protestations, and promised all manner of things; but the promises remained unperformed. Not the smallest service was rendered, not one of those attentions offered which are much more gratifying to a stranger than the board and lodging which every one can procure by paying for them. Still less did any among them think of making excursions to the more beautiful points. The people themselves have no idea that the beauties of Nature are pleasant things to see, and wonder that strangers should expose themselves to the slightest fatigue merely to see a waterfall, a mountain, or a fine view.

The men are solely and exclusively engaged in the business of acquiring wealth as quickly as possible: sugar is a sort of golden calf to them, and whatever has no reference to sugar is to them worthless. The women are not much

better. They have too little education, and too much of the indolence so frequently found in hot countries to take an interest in any serious subject. With the exception of the care of their own valuable selves, the only thing that can rouse them into life is the agreeable occupation of inventing or disseminating slanderous gossip; and I have even found gentlemen who, in this charitable and exciting amusement, would for a few moments forget the claims of sugar. I did not escape the common fate. The amiable inhabitants, male and female, of Port Louis, have absolutely done me the honor to represent me as a poisoner; they absolutely asserted that I had been hired by the English government to poison Mr. Lambert!

That gentleman had brought from Paris some very valuable presents for the Queen of Madagascar, and had been so wanting in proper consideration for the feelings of people generally as to neglect to tell every one what the object of these presents really was. Of course, said Mauritian goodnature, it must be some secret political movement of the

French cabinet, which the English government had found out, and had commissioned me accordingly to put this dangerous man out of the way.

Stupid as this fiction was, it obtained credence among the Creoles, and even among the French, and prevented me from undertaking an interesting little journey. Before setting out on his journey to Madagascar, Mr. Lambert went to Zanzibar and Mozambique, commissioned by the French government to hire negroes and bring them to the Ile de Bourbon. This is a new kind of mitigated slave-trade, discovered by France and countenanced by England. The negro is only in servitude for five years, and receives two dollars per month from his master, besides board and lodging. After five years he has leave to continue toiling, or he may die of hunger if he does not choose to work. He may buy himself this privilege earlier for fifty dollars (between seven and eight pounds), and may even return to his own country if he has money enough to take him home.

Mr. Lambert, knowing my fondness for traveling, and my eagerness to avail myself of every opportunity of seeing new lands, offered to take me with him. The French agent heard of this, and immediately went to Mr. Lambert to request him not to take me, alleging that I was employed as a spy by the English government. Whence this hatred of Creoles and French toward me, poor insignificant being that I was? The only reason I can suggest is that I associated almost exclusively with English families. But it was surely not my fault that English families sought me out, and always treated me with great kindness when I accepted their invitations? Why did not the French do likewise? All the favors and all the kindness I received came from English people: among the French residents, only Mr. Lambert and Mr. Genève showed me hearty friendship. The rest, like the Creoles, contented themselves with empty promises. I must confess that I contracted such a dislike

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to the French population of this part of the world, that I could not make up my mind to visit the neighboring island of Bourbon, gladly as I would, under other circumstances, have done so.

I am glad indeed that, when the desire to travel awoke so strongly in me fourteen years ago, I did not begin with the Mauritius. My zeal would soon have grown cold. Well-perhaps my readers would have been saved many a wearisome hour.

But then, on the other hand, I should not have visited Russia, and learned the notable fact that, in this muchabused despotic empire, there are many institutions more liberal in character than those of a colony of England, the country especially proud of its progress.

And yet it is so-notably as regards the passport system. If a traveler wishes to leave St. Petersburg, or any of the great towns in Russia, to start on a journey, he has to give notice of his intention a week before he departs. The traveler's name is published three times in the newspaper, so that, if he has debts, his creditors may take the requisite steps. Here, on this vast and extensive island, a week is considered far too short a notice. Three weeks are required, or, as in Russia, a surety must be provided.

I was so little prepared to find such an old-world regulation in force in an English colony, that I did not take any trouble about my passport. A few days before my departure, however, I asked the French consul for his visa, more, as I thought, as an attention than from necessity.

By chance, I heard at dinner the same day that this was not enough, and that the permission of the police to depart was also necessary. I was dining at Mr. O- -'s, a partner of Mr. Lambert; and as several gentlemen were present, I asked if any of them would have the kindness to go through what appeared to me a mere formality on my behalf, and be bail for me. To my great astonishment, the

1

gallant, refined Frenchmen exhausted themselves in empty excuses; not one would do me the service I required. Next morning I went to Mr. Kerr, an Englishman, and in a few hours I had my passport.

To my sorrow, I must confess that at last I was treated with lack of courtesy by an Englishman, and that Englishman was the governor.

When I first arrived in the Mauritius, this gentleman had received me very courteously; he even asked me to. his country house, and had, unasked, offered me a letter to the Queen of Madagascar. On my going to him, a short time before my departure, for the promised letter, he likewise put me off with an excuse. I was going to visit the Queen of Madagascar in company with Mr. Lambert, and he pronounced my companion to be politically a dangerous man. Verily great honor was mine in the Mauritius; the French took me for an English spy, and the English gov: ernor for a spy of the French government!

After all these pleasant experiences, no one will wonder when I say that I looked forward with longing expectation to the moment when I might leave this little island, with its still more little-minded inhabitants. I will try to keep no other remembrance of it than the memory of its natural beauty, and of the friendship and kindness I received from the good people whose names I have mentioned, and from some others. I have not had an opportunity of naming them all; for others, Messrs. Fernyhough, Beke, Gonnet, etc., rendered me many a good service. To one and all I return my heartiest thanks.

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CHAPTER VIII.

A Geographical and Historical Account of the Island of Madagascar. WITH the exception of certain strips on the coast, the island of Madagascar is almost an unknown land; only here and there has a traveler been able to penetrate into the interior, and none have had an opportunity of studying the country at their leisure. So far as I am concerned, I have unfortunately not sufficient knowledge to describe the country in a scientific way. The most I can do is to give a simple but truthful account of what I have seen; beyond this my powers do not extend. It would, perhaps, be not uninteresting to my readers, therefore, if, before I relate my own experiences in Madagascar, I give an historical and geographical summary, compiled from the various works that have appeared concerning this island.

Madagascar is said to have been known to the ancients. In the thirteenth century Marco Polo makes mention of the island. The Portuguese visited it in 1506, and the first European nation that attempted to form settlements thereon were the French, in the year 1642.

Madagascar lies to the northeast of Africa, from which it is separated by the Mozambique Channel, seventy-five miles in breadth. It stretches from latitude 12° to 25° south, and from 40° to 48° east longitude. After Borneo, it is the largest island in the world: Its area is about 10,000 geographical square miles. Estimates of its population differ greatly, some writers giving from a million and a half to two millions, others raising the numbers to six millions,

The island contains woods of immense extent, far-stretch