34

ST. AUGUSTINE'S BAY.

lieved, than 30,000, or 40,000 men. After advancing beyond Fianarantsoa, a large part of the troops and people, being without provisions, were permitted to seize and commit depredations on the property of the inhabitants, and hence all the rice, manioc, cattle, &c., belonging to parties who were the acknowledged peaceable subjects of the Hovas, were carried off by the army without remuneration, so that multitudes were actually left without any means of support, for the rest of the year, and perished with famine.

After proceeding by slow marches for nearly two months, they reached the district which they intended to plunder.

The following quotation from a letter sent by an officer, to a friend residing at the capital, will give some account of the proceedings of this expedition, and may be interesting as a native production, and among their earliest attempts at written narrative.

"With regard to our expedition, when we reached Mahafaly, we began to make our arrangements for the attack, and directed our steps towards Taboara, we did not, however, reach it in time to seize the enemy; they had fled on hearing of our approach, and there was not a single person to be found there. When we had thus

failed to overtake them, we went south-west, across the river Ionilahy; we then made towards part of Iberoroha and there encamped for a short time to explore the country all round. Two officers of the tenth rank of honour, Rainimarolahy and Rakodia, went with 2000 soldiers to the west; and two others of the same rank, Andriamaro and Rasoarivo, went with 2000 also to the east; Rama

zava with 1000 to the north, and Ramandranto with 1000 to the south. On the return of these parties we proceeded to the north of Ionilahy, and there encamped, constructing straw huts for our accommodation. Razakandrianaina, Ratsitohaina and Ravelo of the eleventh rank, were sent with 6000 troops to go southward to Andriampierenana and Andriamahaka. The morning after they had set out, Rainingory of the eleventh rank was sent westward, proceeding by the stream of Ionilahy till he should reach the coast, to examine the port in Isalary. On arriving there, and beginning to examine the villages of the enemy, there were found, to their astonishment and dismay, no less than twenty-one ships, all three-masted, in the port. The queen's officers asked them, 'Are you white people here messengers of your respective sovereigns or merchants for trade, or are you merely seeking supplies of water and fuel?' They replied, 'We are not messengers of our sovereign, but are merely seeking provisions and fuel.' They asked our people how many troops were here, and our people replied, that they did not know the exact number, but that the head officers knew, for they had the books where the account was kept. They inquired who was the principal officer in the expedition, and our people asked in reply who was the principal officer among them conducting their ships. Neither party gave any information. The white people asked, how long it was since we left Imerina, we replied three months; they asked what we ate, we replied, rice, which we brought with us. They then asked how many cannons we carried with us, we told them several.

How

many have you on the water? they told us 250. Whose

land is this, said they, in these parts? This island is Ranavalomanjaka's, we replied; the island does not belong to two sovereigns, but to Ranavalomanjaka alone. If it is hers alone, said they, how is it there is no flag hoisted here? for at Tamatave, Foul Point, Iharana, and Ifenoarivo, and all the eastern parts, there are flags; here there is none. We replied, Ranavalomanjaka has no dispute with foreigners, our friendship with them remains. as it was in the time of Radama; Ranavalomanjaka does not change it, so you white people retire, and do not mingle with the enemy, for we have some affairs to arrange with these rebels. The white people said, Yes, we will retire; nevertheless they did not, but remained with the enemy. Our soldiers then went forward to surround the town, and having got near it, the ships changed their position, so as to lie directly opposite the troops. The chief officer directed the soldiers to retreat, and withdraw them, lest they should suffer. We have never before seen so many ships, said the officers; even while Radama was living, there never were twenty-one ships together in one harbour like these; we have never fought with the white people, let us move our encampment a little further, out of the reach of their cannon. The officers remained there five days, waiting for a message from the foreigners. They at length sent to request to have some cattle, and we sent them eleven head, in the name of the queen; eleven of the ships accepted the present. The other detachments of our troops having returned to us, we commenced our journey back to Imerina, and so ends the account of our journey," saith R.

Most of these vessels were American whalers, and of

AMERICAN WHALERS.

37

course had no intention of making any attack on the queen's troops. They were glad, however, that it so occurred, that they had it in their power, simply by their appearance, to overawe the Hovas, and preserve from impending ruin the feeble and terrified inhabitants of that part of the country.

If so many American whalers find it worth while to visit these seas, might it not be worth the attention also of the merchants of this country? The English have been always courteously received by the chiefs and people of St. Augustine's; and at the present time might form any establishments among them they wished. The natives would consent to dispose of tracts of land for fair though moderate remuneration, and a considerable trade might soon be established with Port Natal and the Eastern coast of Africa. A settlement there might interpose some check also to the Portuguese slave traffic along the Mozambique country.

About the time the army just mentioned left the capital, a French trader residing there, proposed to the queen to take a cargo of rice from Mananjary to St. Augustine's Bay to meet her troops by the time they should reach there. The government, being pleased with the proposal, authorised the party to engage a French vessel for the purpose. It was reported that the real object was to take a cargo of slaves from St. Augustine's to Mananjary, to be employed on a large sugar plantation and arrack manufactory there. The governor of Mauritius having become acquainted with these arrangements, immediately despatched a frigate or sloop of war in search of the vessel, and to afford the means of escape to any Europeans who

might happen to be in the neighbourhood of St. Augustine's Bay, when the queen's troops should arrive there, especially as it was announced that there were Europeans residing there as traders, and that the Hovas would treat them as their enemies. The French trader arrived the day after the sloop had left the port, and having heard of her visit, became alarmed and put to sea again; he returned in about a month, and found that the queen's troops had been there and left, and that the sloop had not been there since. He then hoisted the English flag, pretended to have a cargo of merchandise on sale, such as muskets, powder, cloth, &c. and invited the chieftain on board. The latter refused to go himself, but sent seven of his people, some of them his near relations, and as soon as they were safely on board, the vessel made off with them; two jumped overboard, and were drowned. The remaining five were put on shore at Fort Dauphin, and brought up by land to the capital. Three only arrived there, and these were put to death at Antanjambato immediately on their arrival; what became of the other two is unknown. The troops returned home in October with about 1000 captives, being less than half the number they had taken prisoners. The troops suffered much from want of provisions, and lost upwards of 1100 men. A great mortality had also happened among the bourgeois.

Alarmed in some measure by the fact of there having been so many vessels at St. Augustine's Bay, and not understanding exactly how it had occurred, the queen's government determined on sending an embassy to England to assure the British government that the queen's friendship towards his Britannic Majesty had undergone