Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/820

 814 MADAGASCAR tion, had much weight with Radama, who was strongly imbued with love of truth and justice, and was humane and gentle in character. The king gave all the encouragement in his power to the missionaries, and great advances were made in civilizing the kingdom. Infanticide and other cruel customs were abolished, and rapid progress was made in the useful arts and in education. The premature death of Radama in 1828 put a stop to the advance of Madagas- car. He was succeeded by his widow, Rana- valona, who exerted herself to undo his work. The schools were closed and the missionaries driven from the island in 1835. The influence of the idol-keepers and of the supporters of divination and other superstitions was restored to its former supremacy. The profession of Christianity by any of the natives was pro- hibited, and violent persecution of the native Christians commenced, in which many suf- fered martyrdom with heroic fortitude. The French were expelled from their settlements on the E. coast by Radania in 1825, and again by the queen's troops in 1831. In 1845 the English and French cruisers in those seas un- dertook to humble the Hovas, and, after fruit- less conferences and attempts at negotiation, bombarded and burned Tamatave, and landed to attack the fort, but were repulsed with con- siderable loss. From this period all amicable intercourse between the French and English and the Madagascans ceased for eight years, till in 1853 commercial relations were renewed by the payment of an indemnity to the queen of the island. In 1846 the queen's son, then 17 years of age, embraced Christianity, and through his influence Christian doctrines were more widely spread than ever; but in 1849 a fresh persecution broke out, and more than 2,000 persons were arrested and punished for their faith, some of them with death. In 1857 a conspiracy organized by French emissaries for the overthrow of the queen's government led to another persecution of the Christians, in which 2,000 persons were put to death. In 1861 Ranavalona died, and was succeeded by her son Radama II., who proclaimed liberty to all religions, released the Christian captives, and forbade sorcery and the ordeal by poison. The English missionaries returned, and Chris- tianity made rapid progress. On May 12, 1863, he was murdered and his widow Raso- herina made sovereign. She was a heathen, and the patron of the idols, but preserved lib- erty of worship. In 1867 a large church was erected in memory of the Christian martyrs. Rasoherina died April 1, 1868, and was suc- ceeded by her sister, who took the name of Rasoherina II. She publicly professed Chris- tianity on Feb. 20, 1869, and has exerted her influence for the advancement of education. Three printing presses are established at her capital, and during 1869 36,243 books were issued, and in the first six months of 1870 81,000 tracts, Bibles, Testaments, and other books. In 1871 about 150 schools were in operation, attended by more than 6,000 pu- pils. The number of nominal Christians in Madagascar is estimated at 300,000, and with the favor of the sovereign and the higher classes it is rapidly increasing. About 60,- 000 are church members, most of them in connection with the London missionary soci- ety, and adopting congregational principles. In 1874 the church of England placed a bishop at the head of its mission there. The Wes- leyans and Friends also support missionaries in the island. The number of Roman Catho- lics is estimated at 10,000. The Madagascan language, or Malagasy, belongs to the Malayo- Polynesian family. (See MALAYO-POLYNESIAN RACES AND LANGUAGES.) There are several dialects, of which the Ankova dialect, spoken by the Hovas of the interior, the Betsimisa- raka, spoken in the east, and the Sakalava, in the west and northwest of the island, are the most important and best known. The conso- nantal system is like that of the Malayan lan- guages, with the exception of, which is sounded somewhat like tr, and of <2, which is generally changed into ts or z. A Malayan & is commonly replaced by 7<, and y by z ; thus, Malay Tcayu, wood, is changed in Malagasy into hazo. There are no special case forms properly so called. The nominative is indicated by its position before the subject verb ; the genitive either by prefixing the particles na, ni to the possessor, or by placing the thing possessed before the possessor or in conjunction with a possessive pronoun; the accusative is deter- mined by its position only, and the other cases by placing before the noun certain particles mostly of an adverbial character. The con- struction of the singular and plural number is that peculiar to the Malayo-Polynesian family. The pure pronominal forms are aho, izano for the first person singular, plural inclusive isiMa, plural exclusive isahay ; hianao for the second person singular, plural hianareo ; and izy for the third person in both numbers. The pro- nominal suffixes are -ko for the first person singular, plural -nay; -nao for the second person singular, plural -nareo ; and -ny for the third person in both numbers. A verb with mem is transitive, with mi intransitive; as manresse, to conquer, miresse, to be con- quered ; mankind, to humble another, mihina, to humble oneself ; and intransitives may com- monly be used also in a passive sense. The particle malca gives to verbs a causative or po- tential meaning ; as mahateia, to be capable of loving, mahafaty, to make dead or kill. Verbs with mana suggest the continuance of an ac- tion; as dio, clean, mandio, to cleanse, mana- dio, to be cleaning. Haro, to mix, changes into manaro for the present, naharo for the preterite, and Jianaro for the future active; and into miJiaro for the present, niharo for the preterite, and hiharo for the future pas- sive. These tenses are formed by the addition of the particle na, which assimilates with the verb. See the Rev. William Ellis, "History of