Changes in Madagascar Under French Rule
REV. MR. SIBREE, in the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, speaks of the great changes which have taken place since the French occupation of Madagascar. The roads are being repaired, stone gutters are placed at the sides of the roads, and massive timber bridges are constructed in many places. Soldiers are met everywhere.—Frenchmen, Algerians, and negroes from the Kongo or Soudan. Miners are coming to prospect for gold, and French money is coming into use. There is great increase of drinking among the Malagasy, and much Sunday trade at the capital, a thing which has not been known there during the past twenty-five years. Mr. Sibree, however, can12say that the resident general has “already struck a blow at one of the chief blots on the Malagasy civilization, and has stopped the public selling of slaves in the markets.”—Missionary Herald.