THIRTY YEARS IN MADAGASCAR
OXFORD
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
THE REV. T. T. MATTHEWS.
THIRTY YEARS IN
MADAGASCAR
BY THE REV. T. T. MATTHEWS
OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY
WITH
SIXTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
AND SKETCHES
SECOND EDITION
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET AND 65 ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD
1904
[3]
PREFACE
For the facts of the historical introduction I am mainly indebted tothe writings of earlier writers and missionaries, and to unpublishednative accounts of the earlier years of the mission and of thepersecutions; for mine would have been almost impossible had it notbeen for the labours of those other workers in the same field, and forthe native sources I have mentioned. Without such knowledge as thisintroduction gives no correct conception can be formed of Madagascarand the Malagasy, of the work done for and among them, the presentcondition and future prospects of the people, and of the future ofChristian work in the island.
I have been also indebted to a long course of reading on mission workat large, and on the work in Madagascar in particular. Much of this hasbecome so mingled with my own thoughts that I cannot now possibly traceall the sources of it; but I have tried, as far as I could, to makeacknowledgement of all the sources of information to which I have beenindebted, and special acknowledgement of those more recent sources ofinformation not alluded to in any other book on Madagascar. There aremany things in this book derived from native sources that have not beenutilized before.
Believing that ‘a plain tale speeds best being plainly told,’ I havetried to tell my story in plain and pointed language, and I hope I havealso been able to tell it graphically enough to make it interesting. Mygreat difficulty has been condensation; very often paragraphs have hadto be reduced to sentences, and chapters to paragraphs.
One who has spent thirty years in the hard, and often very weary, workof a missionary in Central Madagascar—not to mention the arduous andexhausting duties of deputation work while on furlough—with all theduties, difficulties, and anxieties involved in the superintendence oflarge districts, with their numerous village congregations and schools,could hardly be expected to have much spare time to devote to thecultivation of the graces of literature or an elegant style. I havetried to tell my story in a warm-hearted way, being anxious only thatmy meaning should be clearly expressed, whatever might be its verbalguise. I have never been able to understand why, without flippancyor irreverence, religious topics may not be treated at times ‘withinnocent playfulness and lightsome kindly humour.’ Why, too, shouldthe humorous side, and even humorous examples, be almost entirely leftout of records of foreign mission work? Such incidents sometimes helpto relieve the shadows by the glints of sunshine, and for this reasonI have ventured to describe the bright, and even humorous, as well asthe dark side of missionary work. I have tried to set forth the joy andhumour as well as the care, the sunshine as wel