VISITS TO MADAGASCAR frc. CHAPTER I. Brief historical Introduction. — Treaty between the English and Malagasy for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. — Introduction of useful Arts, Letters, and the Knowledge of the Christian Religion. — Death of Radama. — Prohibi tion of Religious Teaching. — Departure of the Missionaries.— French and English Attack on Taraatave. — Severe Persecution of the Christians Conversion of the Princes. — Departure of the Author from England for Madagascar Voyage to St. Vincent’s. — Ascension. — The Cape of Good Hope. — Public Rejoicings at Capo Town.— The School Children’s Feast.— Last Sunday on board the “Indiana.” — Arrival at Port Louis. — Reports of the continued Sufferings of the Christians in Madagascar. Tiie Island of Madagascar, extending over an area larger than that of Great Britain and Ireland combined, and inhabited by more than three millions of people, has at different periods attracted the notice of the chief maritime nations of Europe; but, with the exception of a short period in the early part of the seventeenth century, it is only since our possession of Mauritius, and the subsequent treaty of friendship' and alliance entered into between the late king Radama and the Governor of Mauritius in 1817, that our own countrymen have given much attention to the island or its inhabitants. 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 com pensate the king and his chiefs for the loss which this mea sure would entail upon them, and to secure their co-operation