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7 In their treaty with Radama, whom the English chose to regard as the supreme ruler of the country, they sought chiefly the abolition of the slave-trade, and in order to compensate the king and his chiefs for the loss which this measure would entail upon them, and to secure their co-operation in rendering it effectual, an annual payment was made by the British government to the king... This payment consisted partly of ammunition and arms, and men were sent to Madagascar to instruct the native soldiers in the use of fire-arms and in military tactics. To the arms and discipline thus supplied, and used with a wanton disregard of human life and human suffering, happily unknown in warfare among civilized nations, are to be ascribed much of Radama's success in extending the dominion of the Hovas far beyond the central province of Ankova, its original boundary. The strange and somewhat complex language of the people was acquired by the missionaries, who introduced an alphabet into the language, arranged its grammar, prepared elementary books, and translated the Holy Scriptures into the native tongue. My palanquin was very much like a sailor's cot fixed to a strong wooden frame and furnished with poles projecting four or five feet at each end, like the poles of a sedan chair. About a foot above the upper edges of the cot, a sort of roof or covering was formed with rofia cloth, and curtains of the same material were fixed along the sides. These were turned over the top in fine weather, but could be let down so as effectually to exclude the rain. Four bearers carried the palanquin, a relay of four more walked by the side, and four others carried my cooking-apparatus and personal luggage... My bearers hung up my palanquin, by means of cords, to the rafters of the house in which we were to sleep; so that it answered the double purpose of a carriage by day and a bed by night. Great part of the way was through a thick forest, over steep and slippery paths and through narrow passes, along which it seemed impossible to carry a palanquin; while the heavy rain which fell great part of the time, rendered our progress still more difficult. During this afternoon's journey, we crossed four rivers swollen with the rain; The road here was frightful -- the soil stiff with clay, with deep holes of mud and water. Our way was sometimes covered with water, but more frequently up and down steep slippery ravines, requiring detours on account of the gigantic trees which had fallen across the track. The clayey sides and rocky portions of the ravines were sometimes so steep that my position was almost upright, and it frequently required ten or twelve men to get the palanquin up and down. Regarding Sumatra or the Malayan peninsula as a centre, this language has extended to the eastward across the Pacific Ocean to Easter Island, a distance of 150 degrees; and, on the other hand, it has stretched over the Indian Ocean to Madagascar, 50 degrees to the westward, thus reaching, chiefly within the tropics, over 200 degrees of longitude, or 20 degrees more than half the circumference of the globe. This same language also prevails from the Sandwich Islands, in latitude 23° 30' N., to New Zealand, in latitude 46° S., thus spreading in a direction north and south over 70 degrees. ... a language copious, precise, and in some respects highly philosophical... A lower civilization would not have required, and could scarcely have admitted, the use of a language of such precision of structure and harmony of combination as that of Madagascar exhibits.
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