² No potentially large draught animal other than the bullock existed in Madagascar. The animal's hide was generally consumed with the meat until the arrival of the first artisan missionaries, especially Canham (L.M.S.) who in 1827, under contract to Radama I, commenced the treating of hides and the manufacture of boots and shoes on a large scale. Although hides were in use prior to the nineteenth century, as filanjana (palanquin) seats, it was not until the 1820s that hides became important, growing to become one of the island's most important export commodities, particularly to America. The bullock, however, never became widely utilized as a draught animal. Ranavalona I when travelling to Manerinerina in 1845 took 300 bullocks to carry goods, many being shackled to fiarakodia (carts), and some traders also used them to carry merchandis e. Callet, R. P., Histoire des Rois (1908 translation Chapus, G. S. & Ratsimba, E. (Tananarive, 1974), 281, 693–4Google Scholar; Griffiths, D., Hanes Madagascar (Machynlleth, 1843), 38Google Scholar; ‘Commercial Reports’ US; Grandidier, G., Histoire Physique, Naturelle et Politique de Madagascar (Paris, 1928), iv, 355–56.Google Scholar

³ Farquhar, to Radama, I, Port Louis, 29 September 1821Google Scholar, in Raombana, ‘Histoires’ 1853Google Scholar (MSS ed. Ayache, S. – Archives of the Académie Malgache, Antananarivo), 15.Google Scholar

⁴ Raombana, ‘Histoires’, pt. 1, 14–15Google Scholar, pt. 11, 161, 178, 403, 406, 456.

⁵ In relation to the labour problem, it is interesting to note that the Malagasy court interpreted the 1829 attack as a sign of mounting French frustration at the Merina ban on slave exports. Queen Ranavalona, I, who succeeded in seizing the throne on the death of Radama I in 1828Google Scholar, initially contemplated trying to placate the French by offering them slaves at one fifth of the former selling price. Raombana, , ‘Annales’ 1853Google Scholar (MSS Ayache, S. ed., Archives of the Académie Malgache), 221–8.Google Scholar

⁶ Jones, W. Gore, Report (London, 1881), 11Google Scholar; Knight, E. F., Madagascar in War Time (London, 1896), 228–230.Google Scholar

⁷ It is generally accepted that Lambros manufactured the first wheeled carts in Madagascar, for the transport of sugar cane along the banks of the river Mananjary in the 1820s. The intermittent interest the Merina regime showed in transport schemes on land and on sea never materialized in reality. Grandidier, Alfred, ‘Souvenirs de voyages, 1865–1870Google Scholar ’, MSS 1916 (in ‘Documents anciens sur Madagascar’, Association d'Archologie, Antananarivo), 40; Birkefi, F., ‘Sur les projets maritimes de l'ancien gouvernement hova‘, BAM xxvii (1946), 147–56Google Scholar; Fontoynont et Nicol, ’Les traitants français de la côte est de Madagascar de Ranavalona lère à Radama II’, Malgache, Mémoire de l'Académie (Tananarive, 1940) 27Google Scholar; Raombana, , ‘ Histoires’, 10Google Scholar; Cousins, W. E., Madagascar of Today (London, 1895), 46Google Scholar; Pickersgill, to Mojanga, Briggs, 20 April 1882Google Scholar (FJKM – L.M.S. Local D & E, Folder T. & F).

⁸ A. & Grandidier, G. (eds.), Collection des ouvrages anciens concernant Madagascar (Paris, 1903), 15Google Scholar; Filliot, J. M., La traite des esclaves vers les Mascareignes au XVIIIme siècle (Tananarive, 1970).Google Scholar

⁹ Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’, 10Google Scholar; ‘Rapport’ de M. Alph. Samat (AHVP, C.28, Correspondance – Baie de Baly et de St Augustin, 1845–59).

¹⁰ ‘The principle of kidnapping slaves for commercial purposes is deeply rooted in the Arabo-Malagasy mind. It has been handed down from father to son as the natural mode of amassing wealth and will never, I apprehend, be abandoned until the purchase sale orpossession of a Mozambique in Madagascar be rendered impossible’, Pakenham, to Earl, of Derby, British Consul, Tamatave, 30 January 1877Google Scholar. (F.O. 84/1474, ERD/2270 PRO.)

¹¹ ‘The number of masters, of various grades, doing nothing, living without pay, and living on what they can squeeze out of slaves and clients below them, is countless’: Mullens, D., Twelve Months in Madagascar (London, 1875), 318.Google Scholar

¹² Robinson, to Hunter, , Tamatave, 11 August 1876Google Scholar (US).

¹³ See Mayeur, ‘Voyages, 1774–1776’, BAM x (1912), 93–156.Google Scholar

¹⁴ The Tankary were a pastoral people who in the dry season earned money as carriers of hide and calico between Ankay and Antananarivo (Cousins, , Madagascar, 40–1)Google Scholar. For the Antanosy and Antaimoro porters, see Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’, 14–20Google Scholar, and Besson, L., Voyage au pays des Tanala Indépendants de la region d'Ikongo (Paris, 1894)Google Scholar. For the East African comparison, see Harlow, V. and Chilver, E. M. (eds.), History of East Africa (Oxford, 1965), 168.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Harlow and Chilver, op. cit.; Gray, R. and Birmingham, D. (eds.), Pre-Colonial African Trade (Oxford, 1970), 61.Google Scholar

¹⁶ The first attack against the Bezanozano was launched in 1808 by Andrianampoinimerina, but they were not subdued until Radama I's expedition in 1810. Ellis, W., History of Madagascar (1833), pt. i, 194–8Google Scholar; Ratsivalaka, , ‘Les relations d'Andrianampoinimerina et des Français’ (MSS Académie Malgache-to appear in BAM) 4.Google Scholar

¹⁷ The Merina army was engaged throughout the 1820s in suppressing Betsimisaraka revolts against forced labour, and in favour of the French (1823–4, 1827, 1829–30); following the French retreat in 1830, many thousands fled to the offshore island of Ste Marie (Nosy Boraha). Raombana, , ‘Histoires’, 122, 137Google Scholar; and ‘Annales’, 235–6Google Scholar. As examples of royal, and state corvée, in November 1869Google Scholar, Grandidier found 1,000 Sihanaka grouped in the eastern forest to cut and carry timber for the construction of the queen's palace (Manjaka Miadana). Similarly the inhabitants of Mandrovia were made responsible for harvesting and carrying the silk of the region to Antananarivo on the prime minister's account. The system quickly became abused by all high-ranking Merina officials. (Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’, 40–1Google Scholar; US, ‘Robinson to Payson’, Tamatave, , 27 June 1881.)Google Scholar

¹⁸ ‘II y a beaucoup d'esclaves que leurs maîtres ne nourrissent pas et ne vêtissent pas et qui sont dès lors libres de s'occuper comme bon leur semble pourvu que chaque année à la fête du Fandroana, ils leur apportent soit un fagot de bois, soit un peu d'argent’ (Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’, 32)Google Scholar. Occasionally slaves became very wealthy, e.g. in June 1869 Hamadisimba, chief of Rafinenta, on the west coast, killed a former slave of his out of envy for his wealth. Few slaves ran away in Madagascar, but many tried to escape the harsher system prevailing on the planatation islands (Ibid. 26–7).

¹⁹ The Protestant missions generally refused slaves entry to their schools, but the Catholics accepted them. The latter, however, divided their pupils on caste lines, and, unlike the other pupils, the slaves were not taught to read and write. Ellis, , History pt. ii, 491Google Scholar; Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’, 32, 35Google Scholar; FJKM X52, Report to IDC by Pearse, , 1 July 1875Google Scholar to 30 June 1876; Cousins, W. E., ‘The abolition of slavery in Madagascar’, AAMM (1896), 448–9Google Scholar; Fontoynant, et Nicol, , ‘Les traitants’, 24.Google Scholar

²⁰ This was especially true of the L.M.S. (London Missionary Society), the most strongly represented mission body in Madagascar. Their transport problems were mainly handled by Bros, Procter, the main British firm on the island, established since 1862Google Scholar. An important aspect of mission business was the transport of specie, which missionaries handled in large amounts. When maromita, or porters, were unavailable on the coast, the missionaries stationed in the capital were obliged to recruit them there and send them down, considerably increasing their transport costs. FJKM, File, Commercial Correspondence from Procter; Letter Book IDC. 2, 1875–86 – Wills, to Aitken, et al., 3 February 1876Google Scholar; File – Local, Commercial, Transport – Cowan, Livingstone, Noble & Livingstone to L.M.S., Mahanoro, , 23 November 1883Google Scholar; Clark, H. E., ‘How we travel in Madagascar’, AAMM, viii (1884), 342.Google Scholar

²¹ Rainimaharavo, Merina Chief Secretary of State, was considered the head of this syndicate, which hired slaves as porters to missionary societies and other groups. It was to them that the prime minister turned in 1885 for the necessary labour to transport guns landed on the west coast, to be used against the French. Pakenham, to Russell, Lord, Consul, H.M., Tamatave, 30 July 1863Google Scholar (F.O. 84/1205); Pakenham, to Granville, Earl, Consul, H.M., Tamatave, 3 January 1874Google Scholar (F.O. 84/1397); Richardson, to Mullens, , 21 June 1877Google Scholar – extr. BAM, n.s. T.18, 1935, pp. 12–15Google Scholar; Wills, to Thompson, , Antananarivo, 29 January 1885Google Scholar(FJKM, Letter Book, IDC.2).

²² Some of the top Merina officials possessed from 2,000 to 3,000 slaves, and it was with their connivance that such a large traffic in slaves existed within the Merina empire: ‘…newly, and consequently, illegally introduced Mozambiques are being constantly conveyed to and sold as Slaves at Tananarivo, under the very eyes of the Hova Government and… at least five of the Bearers of Mr John Parrett, a British Subject, who lately arrived at Tamatave from the Capital, were Mozambiques of this class, who had been landed so short a time as to be unable to converse at all fluently in Malagasy’. Pakenham, to Minister, Prime of Madagascar, Tamatave, 7 June 1873Google Scholar (F.O. 84/1369 ERD/1142 PRO). See also Ellis, , History pt. 1, 194Google Scholar; and Mullens, , Twelve Months, 323–34Google Scholar. For the demand for slaves established by European and créole settlers on the east coast, see Xaver, to Pakenham, , Mahanoro, 6 January 1865Google Scholar, and succeeding correspondence relating to the same subject in F.O. 84/1249 ERD/1142 P.R.O.

²³ ‘Though it is the ostensible policy of the Malagasy Government to conciliate and facilitate the foreigners on the island, much capital will not be invested, until clause 2nd of Am treaty will have been repealed, or coolies be brought here, inasmuch as the Queen reserves to herself the right thereby to withdraw at any time labourers engaged without giving due notice, endangering thereby the Capital invested by the withdrawal of the requisite labour’ Finkelmeier, Charles, US deputy consul, to Hunter, Tamatave, 30 December 1874Google Scholar. US; Clark, , ‘How we travel’, 342.Google Scholar

²⁴ See Robinson, to Hunter, , Tamatave, 21 July 1879Google Scholar, US. By 1888 the risk of transporting dollars from the coast had become so great that the L.M.S paid a premium to have them delivered to them in Antananarivo, rather than to their couriers in Toamasina. Wills, to Aitken, , Antananarivo, 24 March 1888Google Scholar. (FJKM Letter Book IDC 2.)

²⁵ Robinson, to Hunter, , US Consul, Tamatave, 21 July 1879Google Scholar, US. The sovereign sometimes took up to 500 bearers on state visits (Grandidier, G., Histoire, p. 351).Google Scholar

²⁶ See note 24; and Grandidier, G., Histoire, 351–3.Google Scholar

²⁷ Cousins, , Madagascar of Today, 471Google Scholar; Ibid., ‘The abolition of slavery…’, 371Google Scholar; Catat, Louis, Voyage à Madagascar (Paris, 1895), 21Google Scholar; Wilkinson, to IDC, Antananarivo, 12 February 1867Google Scholar (FJKM File – ‘Local, Commercial Transport’ M); Grandidier, , Souvenirs, 44Google Scholar; Grandidier, G., History;Google ScholarLittle, H. W., Madagascar, Its History and People (London, 1884), 131Google Scholar; Juvenile Missionary Magazine, June 1886, 63Google Scholar; Knight, E. F., ‘From Fort Dauphin to Fianarantsoa’, AAMM, xix (1895), 363Google Scholar; Jones, W. Gore, Report 9Google Scholar; Oliver, S. P., Madagascar and the Malagasy (London, 1866), 4, 12.Google Scholar

²⁸ Little, Madagascar, 30–31.Google Scholar

²⁹ Knight, , ‘From Fort Dauphin’, 365.Google Scholar

³⁰ Besson, L., Voyage, 314Google Scholar; Smith, J. A. to Richardson, , Fenoarivo, 26 August 1884Google Scholar (FJKM File – ‘Local, Commercial, Transport’ M); prime minister to W. E. Cousins. Antananarivo, , 13 Adimizana 1871Google Scholar (FJKM Correspondence of prime minister of Madag ascar to IDC, 1867–1888)Google Scholar; Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’, 34, 49Google Scholar; Catat, , Voyage, 24Google Scholar; Xaver, to Pakenham, , Mahanoro, 6 January 1865Google Scholar (F.O. 84/1249 ERD/1142 P.R.O.). For the ‘Street’ Affair, , see correspondence from August to October 1876Google Scholar in US.

³¹ One such song ran as follows: ‘We are people going back home – And see how we go! – Hey there! have us brought a glass of rum, good sirs! – But is there any? – No. – Oh, then let us hurry! – And beef, pork – shall we have any? – And good fatted birds? – And good rice? – But is there any? – No. – Then what's the use of talking so much and of making so much noise. – Because there is none, – We must work hard, my gay companions, – Until we arrive! – For we shall have a good meal, – When we are at the end of our journey’ (Grandidier, G., Histoire, 352).Google Scholar

³² Catat, , Voyage, 20, 21Google Scholar; see also Mayeur, , ‘Voyages’ 1777Google Scholar, BAM, xii, pt. 1 (1913), 145Google Scholar; Little, Madagascar, 131Google Scholar; Ellis, , History, pt. 1, 193Google Scholar; Ransome, L. H., ‘The River Antanambalana’, AAMM, xiv (1890), 231.Google Scholar

³³ J. G., to Houlder, , Mahanoro, 11 December 1886Google Scholar (FJKM File – ‘Local, Commercial, Transport’M); Procter, to Pearse, and Parrett, , Tamatave, 9 April 1872Google Scholar (FJKM Commercial Correspondence from Procter); Thorne, to Whitehouse, , 4 December 1879Google Scholar, and Lord, to Pearse, , 30 March 1882Google Scholar (FJKM Letter Book, IDC 2); Mullens, , Twelve Months, 134Google Scholar; Knight, , ‘From Fort Dauphin’.Google Scholar

³⁴ Oliver, , Madagascar, 7Google Scholar; Richardson, to Cousins, , Fianarantosoa, 1 May 1871Google Scholar (FJKM BDC Correspondence, 1890–1880)Google Scholar; Mullens, , Twelve Months, 24–9Google Scholar; Cousins, , ‘Abolition of Slavery’, 371Google Scholar; Pickersgill, S. Clayton, ‘North Sakalava-Land’, AAMM, viii (1893), 41.Google Scholar

³⁵ Mullens, J. to Briggs, , Ambositra, 22 September 1873Google Scholar (FJKM – LMS Local, T & F, D & E); Bros, Procter to Briggs, , Tananarive, 13 August 1873Google Scholar, and Procter, to Houlder, J. A., Tananarive, 27 November 1886Google Scholar (FJKM, Commercial Correspondence from Procter); Porter, to Baron, , Analakely, 7 January 1887Google Scholar (FJKM File – “Local, Commercial, Transport”M); Colin, RR.PP. & Suau, , ‘Album Malagache – Les borizanos’, Les Missions Catholiques, 1896, 10–12.Google Scholar

³⁶ Procter, to Pearse, and Parrett, , 9 April 1872Google Scholar (FJKM Commercial Correspondence from Procter). The rise in wages was aided by the fluctuations in the money supply, e.g. when in 1872 there was a temporary flood in specie imports, prices and wages shot up, and remained high even after the inflation had slowed. Report of the Buildings Sub-Committee on L.M.S. Houses at Ambohibeloma and Isoavana (FJKM – Letter Book IDC 2); Richardson, to Cousins, , Fianarantosoa, 1 May 1871Google Scholar (FJKM – BDC Correspondence, 1870–1880); Oliver, , Madagascar, 7.Google Scholar

³⁷ Richardson, J., Lights and Shadows (Antananarivo, 1877), 6–7Google Scholar; see also Procter, to Briggs, , Antananarivo, 16 April 1874Google Scholar (FJKMCommercial Correspondence from Procter);

³⁸ See Robinson, to Hunter, , US, Consul Tamatave, 28 June 1877Google Scholar – US.

³⁹ Knight, , ‘From Fort Dauphin’, 31–3, 77Google Scholar; Richardson, , Lights and Shadows.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Knight, , ‘From Fort Dauphin’, 396Google Scholar; Mullens, , Twelve Months, 245–6Google Scholar; Little, Madagascar, 356.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Colin, et Suau, , ‘Album Malagache’, 11Google Scholar; Grandidier, G., Histoire, 354.Google Scholar

⁴² Little, Madagascar, 100Google Scholar; Wills, to Aitken, et al., 3 February 1876Google Scholar (FJKM); The ‘maromita kept to a strict timetable, starting out at daybreak, and stopping for a morning break two hours later. This generally lasted some 10–15 minutes, after which they would continue until 11 o'clock, when they would attempt to find a village where they might obtain a meal. At 12.30 the caravan would restart, continuing until sundown, when another village would be sought where the porters and ‘passengers’ might rest the night (Colin, et Suau, , ‘Album Malagache’, 11).Google Scholar

⁴³ Some porters were even sold as slaves by their hirers on reaching their destination. Larsen, L., Livet for Doden (Christiania, 1894)Google Scholar; McMahon, , ‘First visit of a European to the Betsiriry Tribe’, AAMM, xv (1891), 280Google Scholar; Ellis, , History, pt. 1, 10–13, 35Google Scholar. and Pt. 11, 387–8; Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’, 30Google Scholar; Knight, , ‘From Fort Dauphin’, 399.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Procter, to Briggs, , Tamatave, 13 August 1873Google Scholar (FJKM – Commercial Correspondence from Procter); Levy, James to LMS, Tamatave, 17 November 1886Google Scholar (FJKM – File, ‘Local, Commercial, Transport’ M); Taix, P., Tamatave: notes historiquesGoogle Scholar (AHVP, Section IV. 1).

⁴⁵ See note 19. Also, Grandidier, G., Histoire, 354Google Scholar; Oliver, S. P., Madagascar (London, 1886), vol. 11, 75–78Google Scholar; AAMM, vols. 5, 90, and xxii, 1898, 247.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ See note 36.

⁴⁷ Grandidier, , ‘Souvenirs’ 14, 20Google Scholar; Grandidier, , Histoire, 351Google Scholar; 353–7; Suau, Colin et, ‘Album Malagache’, 10–12Google Scholar; Catat, , Voyage, 22–3Google Scholar; Clark, , AAMM (1884), 342.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Grandidier, , Histoire, 352.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Ibid.

⁵⁰ ‘The Hova [i.e. Merina] wholesale traders who come to this port and purchase of the foreign importers are frightened for the safety of their capital, at the least noise about political difficulties: and prefer to bury their money to risking it in goods at such times’ (Robinson, to Third Asst. Sec. of State, US Consul, Tamatave, 22 May 1882Google Scholar – US).

⁵¹ These raids, intermittent throughout the nineteenth century, became constant from the 1880s. (Dahle, L. to PM, Antananarivo, 11 November 1881Google Scholar, and Borchgrevink, to PM, 4 December 1888 and 14 March 1894Google Scholar (Boks 270, E. & G NMS Archives, Isoraka, Madagascar).)

⁵² This ‘fanompoana’ was highly abused by all ranks of officials, especially those in the provinces who seized property, or people as slaves, on any pretext. (LMS and FFMA Resolution to PM, 1894 (FJKM – Folder 1.7)).

⁵³ Grandidier, , Histoire, 353–7.Google Scholar