A Narrative of the Persecution of the Christians in Madagascar

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 24 STATE OP THE COUNTRY. CHAPTER II. GENERAL STATE OP THE COUNTRY SINCE THE ACCESSION OF RANAVALONA. Proportion of the country under the Queen's government?Stand ing army?Bourgeois?Extermination of the male population ? Expeditions? Hova troops self-destroyed at Ikongona?Crucifixion?Carnage?Near escape of two boys?Sale of captive children ?Native letter describing a campaign?American whalers? Embassy to England?Barbarous cruelty?Civil service to the government?Practice of district betting?Villages deserted? Modes of capital punishment ? Queen's amusements ? Power abused?Provisions scarce?Service to the government by the women. It is difficult to say what proportion of Madagascar is actually under the government of Ranavalona. Ra- dama's father, it is well known, commenced his career on a very limited scale, and at the time of his death, his dominions probably did not comprise above a sixth part of the island. Radama, as already intimated, enlarged his kingdom by conquest, till he obtained, it may be, more than half of the island. To secure these additions, and ultimately obtain the whole, have been the principal objects of the queen's reign hitherto. No claim to this universal sovereignty over the island, can be established on the ground of any former rights. The people claiming it on the behalf of the queen are called Hovas, ?the race or tribe of natives inhabiting the province of Ankova. They assume to themselves the right of being MILITARY EXPEDITIONS. 25 the masters of the island, and are attempting to establish their claim by all the means they can command. Hence the attention of the Hovas has been chiefly directed to annual predatory excursions, or as they themselves loftily designate them, military expeditions; and while these have devastated and depop...