C.—MADAGASCAR
CHAPTER VI
Tananarive—“A City Set on a Hill”
Earth has not anything to show more fair;
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning.
Wordsworth.
We travelled from Kawimbe in Northern Rhodesia to Madagascar by way of German East Africa and Zanzibar. Owing to unavoidable delays at the ports the journey occupied ten weeks. For the first three we travelled by chair and bicycle and on foot, northward to Tabora, along a road almost parallel with the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. On the first night we encamped at a village near the Kalambo river, the boundary between Northern Rhodesia and German East Africa, close to the wonderful Kalambo Falls. The river, which is deep and about thirty yards wide, plunges over a perpendicular wall of rock 900 feet high into an awful chasm in one sheer drop. The rocky walls on each side of the gorge are vertical. Looking westward one has a lovely view of Lake Tanganyika, vignetted between cloudless blue sky and the purple-breasted mountains in which the gorge terminates, lying calm and peaceful in the “splendour shadowless and broad.”
A week-end was spent at Kasanga, now known as Bismarckburg, the administrative centre of the southern part of German East Africa, where we met some educated and courteous German officials, who have always done what they could to facilitate the missionary work of the Society in the small section of their territory in which it is being carried on, and gave us some interesting information with regard to native customs and superstitions. We learnt that the natives offer sacrifices of goats, sheep and fowls at the Kalambo Falls to propitiate the gods who are supposed to dwell in the chasm, and to bring them luck. They have a superstition that the land at the bottom of the Falls would belong to the posterity of any person who threw himself over. A woman recently sacrificed herself in this way, and the Chief gave the land at the foot of the Falls to her family. When twins are born it is the custom to do away with one of them. Children who cut the upper teeth first are killed. Cannibalism amongst the natives is by no means extinct, and as late as six years ago a European was killed and eaten. There are well authenticated recent cases of the widow of a Chief being buried alive in the grave of her dead husband. This part of German East Africa is certainly a land that is dark.
But I must not linger over the journey. Towards the end of June we reached Tabora, a large native town of some 30,000 inhabitants, whence we took train to Dar-es-Salaam on the east coast of the Continent—the capital of the German colony. This place is beautifully situated on the shores of a land-locked harbour, and the streets are bordered with stately cocoanut palms and shady acacias. It was formerly the centre of the Arab slave trade, but, to-day, except for the tropical vegetation, it reminds one of a modern European town. A few hours on a steamer brought us to Zanzibar, one of the most fascinating places we visited in our travels. After a stay of some days there we embarked on the Messageries Maritimes boat for Tamatave, on the east coast of Madagascar. On the boat we joined our colleague in the Deputation work in Madagascar, Mr. Talbot Wilson, and with him were the three members of the Deputation from the Friends’ Foreign Mission Association, and one of the Deputation from the Paris Missionary Society. A voyage of seven days, calling on the way at ports on the north-west and northern coast of Madagascar, brought us to the Port of Tamatave, some 1,500 miles south of Zanzibar. From Tamatave we travelled by the splendidly engineered new French railway to Tananarive, a distance of 239 miles, passing on the way great lagoons near the sea coast, crossing picturesque rivers, traversing belts of beautiful forest, and rising by circular curves on the railway up the mountain side to the Central Plateau of Madagascar, some 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. As the train neared the capital it was joined by various missionaries who had come part way to meet us. At the terminus—a great modern station lit with arc lamps—nearly all the missionaries at work in the city and around it, and thousands of Malagasy Native Christians in their straw hats and white lambas, met us, and gave us a great welcome.
Map of Madagascar, showing L. M. S. Stations.
Madagascar is nearly 1,000 miles in length. Its area exceeds that of France, Belgium and Holland put together, but its population is less than one-fourteenth of that of these countries.
Tananarive is built upon a very narrow lofty ridge in the middle of far-spreading rice fields, bordered by ranges of hills and mountains. The ridge, which rises rapidly from the north, runs due south, and is crowned at its highest point by the Palace of the former kings and queens of the Island, which can be seen from a great distance around. The crest consists of a steeply-rising thoroughfare, from many points of which both horizons, east and west, can be seen. In the northern portion, known as Faravohitra, are several of the Society’s mission houses, and at the top is the Faravohitra Memorial Church. Continuing southward, and still rising for the greater part of the way, the British Consulate is passed on the right, and a short way beyond this on the left is the massive building, now known as the Palais de Justice, which was formerly the L. M. S. Theological College. After a slight depression the road winds steeply upwards, until, leaving the Palace of the Prime Minister on the left, and catching sight of the Memorial Church of Ampamarinana on the right, we arrive at the Queen’s Palace. The ridge then falls and rises again until its southern extremity is reached at Ambohipotsy, where stand another of the Memorial Churches and the present United Theological College of the L. M. S. and F. F. M. A., and some Mission houses. The view is one of great grandeur, especially looking to the west and to the south-west towards the rugged ridges of the Ankaratra mountains. Looking northwards one sees the wooded slopes of Ambohimanga, the ancient capital of Imerina, like a crouching lion dark against the distant hills. On the west, at the foot of the northern part of the ridge, is the great Analakely market, which on Fridays is visited by thousands of people, and adjoining the market is our handsome Analakely Church, while beyond are the Residency, the railway station and the shops and offices of the modern French town. A little above this the spire of the Ambatonakanga Memorial Church and the two large school buildings adjoining can be seen standing at the junction of two main roads, where the traffic is at its busiest. One of the features of the landscape in Tananarive is the large number of Church spires and towers which can be seen on the plains below. It is said that there are some 150 of them in sight, by far the greater number of them being now, or formerly, Churches connected with the London Missionary Society.
We had come to Madagascar from Central Africa, where missionary work was in its earliest stages. In the “great African Island” the contrast was very striking. There is only one brick Church in the Central Africa Mission, the rest being wattle-and-daub. In Madagascar there are many hundreds of spacious well-built brick Churches, and some handsome stone ones. In Central Africa the Church is in its infancy, and comprises less than 150 Church members. In Madagascar there are over 30,000 Church members, and nearly five times as many other native adherents. The magnificent results which have followed the work of the Society’s missionaries, under the blessing of God, are everywhere apparent. Wherever we went great crowds of Christian people gathered together to meet us as the representatives of the L. M. S. The Churches were nearly always full and often crowded to overflowing.
The congregations find great enjoyment in the singing of hymns, and very large numbers read their Bibles, while Sunday School work is splendidly organized. A considerable proportion of the Church members take part in Christian work. There are more than seven times as many ordained native agents at work in connection with the Society in Madagascar as in all the other Mission fields of the Society combined, except Polynesia. In addition, there are over 2,500 preachers, a number largely in excess of the number of preachers in all the other fields of the Society put together. Moreover, the number of Church members and of other native adherents in Madagascar connected with the Society is far more than those in any other Mission field, and the same remark applies to the number of Sunday Schools and Sunday School scholars.
One cannot fail to be much impressed by the great capacity of the Native leaders of the Christian Church in Madagascar. It would be difficult to find a more capable set of men in any Mission field. They are doing splendid work, and if this “apostolic succession” can be maintained, the Malagasy Church of the coming days will not lack for competent native leadership.
Moreover, as the work of our Missionaries in Madagascar is examined, it becomes clear that the Mission is admirably organized. The men and women who have served the Society in Madagascar in the past have, under the guidance of God, laid the foundations of the work wisely and well. Their successors are worthy of their great heritage. It was a cause for rejoicing to find that the Native Church built upon those foundations is a strong and living Church—full of promise for the future. If the present Missionary work can be continued, and possibly slightly increased, for a few more years, there is every reason to hope that the Native Church will, in the not distant future, become a self-supporting, self-governing, as it is already, to a limited extent, a self-propagating Church, and strong enough to carry on its own work of evangelizing the whole island.
This growing Native Church is largely composed of Hovas, the most advanced tribe among the Malagasy, and is to a great extent concentrated in the Central Province of Imerina round Tananarive. This is not an accident. It is believed that the best way to bring about the coming of the Kingdom in the Island is to build up a strong Church in the centre. As that Church increases in numbers and in spiritual power it will be able to extend its own Missionary efforts, which are already not inconsiderable, and to dispense, as time goes on, with the help of the white Missionary to an ever-increasing degree, thus freeing him for any work that remains to be done in the outlying parts, and ultimately making it possible for him to withdraw altogether—having finished his work. To weaken our efforts at the present time would be to delay and imperil this consummation. To maintain them will be the surest and most speedy way of hastening on the day when the Missionary force can be withdrawn and the Native Church left to bring each successive generation into the Kingdom.
There were many indications that the Native Church is itself steadily keeping in view this ideal. I may quote a paragraph from the translation of an Address presented to us by the Pastors of the Commune of Tananarive the day after our arrival:
“We want you to know that we earnestly desire our Churches to become independent, i.e. self-supporting. It is natural for young people to want to set up housekeeping for themselves, and it is the same with the Church. The near approach of the hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Missionaries amongst us makes our hearts all aglow with the desire for the independence of our Churches. There is no day which we should more like to see than that on which we shall go with the last Missionary to the railway station. On that day we shall overflow with joy and sorrow, and our laughter will mingle with our tears.”
The inner circle of Churches in Imerina is associated with seven Churches in the capital known as “the Mother Churches.” Four of these are the Memorial Churches erected in the years following the re-opening of the Mission in 1862, after the twenty-five years of the great persecution. The oldest and most famous is the Church of Ambatonakanga, which was opened in 1867. It is the Mother Church of all Madagascar. On its site the Bible was first printed in Malagasy in the thirties of the nineteenth century, here the first converts made their public profession of Christianity, and here stood one of the two first places of Christian worship in the Island. The simple chapel erected in 1831 was afterwards turned into a gaol during the persecution, and here many Christians suffered imprisonment. Adjoining it is the grave-yard, where rest the remains of several British missionaries who have given their lives to the service of Christ in Madagascar. This Church, which has long been self-supporting, has associated with it twenty-seven country Churches, and for some years has been under the pastoral care of the Rev. William Evans, one of the noble succession of Welshmen who have done so much to advance the coming of the Kingdom in the Island.
Mr. Evans has also charge of the Martyr Memorial Church of Ampamarinana—“the place of Hurling”—which is situated on the south-west of the ridge on which the city is built. To the west of the Church is the top of a rocky precipice, where in earlier years sorcerers were executed by being hurled down the cliff to the plain, 400 feet below. During the persecution, as Christians were supposed to possess some powerful charms enabling them to defy their persecutors, fourteen of the noble army of martyrs were in 1849 thus put to death. The present Native pastor of the Church is Andriamifidy, who was at one time Foreign Secretary in the old Malagasy Government, and from this Church several of the present leading Native Pastors have come. Associated with it in the district to the west of the city are twenty-seven country Churches.
The third Martyr Memorial Church is that of Ambohipotsy, situated in a commanding position at the extreme south of the city ridge with a magnificent view on all sides. This beautiful stone building was erected to commemorate the first Christian martyrdom—that of the brave Christian woman Rasalama, who was speared to death near the spot in 1837, in a place where other Christians subsequently met their doom in like fashion. The work of this Church and district, comprising some forty-six country outstations to the south of the city, is now superintended by Mrs. Thorne, who is bravely and successfully carrying on the work of her late husband.
The fourth Memorial Church is that of Faravohitra, erected on the northern ridge of the capital by the contributions of the children of Great Britain to commemorate the burning alive of four martyrs in 1849. The work at Faravohitra and in its extensive district to the north, comprising fifty country Churches, is under the charge of the Rev. Robert Griffith, another of the Welsh missionaries who have devoted themselves to the service of Christ in Madagascar.
Not far from Ambatonakanga, at the western foot of the ridge, is the spacious Church of Amparibe, built of brick and stone. This is the third Church on the same site. The work there and amongst the twenty-four country Churches lying to the north-west of the capital, has during the last two years been under the care of the Rev. F. W. Dennis.
The sixth Mother Church is that of Analakely, a short distance to the north of Ambatonakanga, and adjoining the great market place. This Church also is the third building erected on the present site. It was opened in 1895, a few months before the French occupation, the ex-Queen Ranavalona III. and her Court being present on the occasion. For thirty years the veteran Missionary, Dr. Sibree, has been the missionary in charge, and has superintended the work there and at the fourteen country churches connected with it.
The remaining Mother Church is that of Isotry, another large building in the populous western district of the capital. It is only recently that the Church at Isotry has been reckoned as one of the Mother Churches of the capital. Mr. Stowell Ashwell has had charge of the work there for some years.
The Institutional work of the Imerina Mission is centred in Tananarive. Of these Institutions the most important is the United Theological College, where pastors and evangelists for the work of the Mission receive their training. For upwards of forty years the L. M. S. Theological College in Tananarive has rendered great service by preparing hundreds of young men for their work as evangelists and pastors. After the French conquest the conspicuous College building on the northern part of the ridge was appropriated by the French Government and, as already mentioned, converted into Law Courts. The work of the College was removed to a smaller building a little further to the north, adjoining the Faravohitra Church. In 1910 a union in Theological training was entered into with the F. F. M. A., and the College was removed to a large house at Ambohipotsy and became a residential Institution. A notable feature of the present work is the training of the students’ wives.
A number of cottages, named after Missionary Tutors of past days, have been erected on land adjoining the College, and this department has been superintended with great energy and devotion by Mrs. Sharman, the wife of the present Principal, the Rev. James Sharman. The College course extends over four years. Upon the staff are missionaries of both Societies and four competent Native teachers, Pastors Rabary, Rabetageka, Rakotovao, and Ravelo. The College at present contains thirty-two students, and is doing a great work in making more adequate provision for a well-trained and consecrated native ministry. In a very true sense the College is the key to the missionary situation in Imerina. If the Native Church is to maintain and extend its position, it is necessary that a constant succession of well-educated and devoted Christian men should go forth from the College to act as pastors of the Churches and to be the leaders of the people in all their Christian activities.
Reference has already been made to the two conspicuous buildings in the centre of the city, adjoining the Ambatonakanga Memorial Church, in which are carried on the Boys’ High School and a Girls’ School. After the French occupation, Mr. Sharman started the Boys’ School in 1897. It grew rapidly, and the present building was erected and opened in 1901 by Governor-General Galieni, when there were 500 pupils on the books. This number increased to 720, but was subsequently reduced to 530 owing to Government regulations. It is at present conducted by our Missionary, M. Henri Noyer, with the help of a staff of Malagasy Assistant Masters. The average attendance at the School is 91 per cent. of the number upon the books. In addition to the ordinary curriculum of a school of this character, which directs great attention to the French language, there are industrial departments for carpentry, woodwork, and metal work in which a high standard of efficiency is reached.
Adjoining the Boys’ High School is the Girls’ School, founded by Dr. T. T. Matthews, where for many years some of the brightest girls from the Churches of Imerina have received a good education. The Missionary in charge of it is Miss Ysabel Du Commun, who, however, at the time of our visit, was absent on furlough, Miss Craven taking her place as Superintendent. The Government regulations only allow 230 girls in the School, although there is ample accommodation for a much larger number, and there are many girls now waiting admission when there are vacancies. There are seven classes, with three men and four women teachers and two sewing mistresses. In addition to the ordinary curriculum for such a School, training is given in hygiene, cookery, dressmaking and fancy work.
In another part of the town, at Andohalo, stands the Girls’ Central School, where for upwards of forty years a fine educational work has been carried on. There are now 400 girls on the books, and many more are waiting for admission. The average attendance is 380. Amongst the special subjects taught in the School are straw-plaiting, hatmaking, lacemaking, first-aid and ambulance work. The staff consists of Miss Elsie Sibree, the devoted head-mistress, two masters and eight women teachers. The French Government regulations do not at present admit of the employment of women teachers, except those who were appointed before the present rules came into force. The present buildings, which were erected twenty years ago, comprise a large and lofty central hall, with a spacious gallery and six class-rooms. The sight of the crowded school at morning prayers is a most impressive one. The girls, bare-footed, dressed in their white lambas, with “shining morning face,” and with that happy, placid expression, which is so characteristic of the Christian girls and women of Madagascar, file into the central hall and take their places with order and reverence and join with heartiness and devotion in the singing and in the prayers. It is a very rare thing for more than one or two to be late. The tone of the school is of the highest, and the head-mistress always strives, by prayer-meetings for the staff and in many other ways, to impress the teachers with the missionary character of their work.
Malagasy Girls at Miss Craven’s Girls’ Home.
Another branch of the work amongst girls is the Girls’ Home, successfully carried on by Miss Craven for twenty years. Here is a home provided for the daughters of evangelists and pastors and other Christian workers who come to Tananarive for their education. The girls attend the Central School and live in Miss Craven’s house, where they are taught domestic duties, lacemaking, embroidery, and other needlework at very small expense to the Society. Thirty girls are in residence, and there are always more waiting for admission. Miss Craven describes the work being carried on as follows:
“Now for a picture of the Home itself. There are one sitting and two bed rooms, all large and airy; the former has tables and benches, but, except for meals and preparation, the matted floor is just as much used. Books and small possessions are kept in covered baskets, one to each girl, and their clothes are in a cupboard or tin boxes. The girls sleep on mattresses laid on the floor, besides which there is no other furniture in the dormitories. They bring their own clothes, plates, spoons, mattresses and coverings, but as there is more ventilation than in their rooms at home, I keep a supply of blankets to lend to them when the nights are cold; an outside building provides kitchen, rice-house, bath-house, etc.
“The days’ occupations vary little; the girls are up at daylight, say 5.30 in the summer and 6.0 in winter, and, after a wash in the bath-house, come back to their household duties, sweeping and dusting their own rooms and some of ours, and preparing their breakfast of rice and milk, which is ready before seven o’clock. After that all the household assembles for morning prayers, and then there is the bustle of final preparation for school before they form in line and march off, two by two, looking a clean, tidy, and intelligent family, of which we may well feel proud. They all go to the Girls’ Central School, under the care of Miss Sibree, school hours being from 8 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. One hour every afternoon is given to school preparation, the remainder of the time being filled up with different kinds of needlework, while the little ones divide their time between work and play. One afternoon most of them are away at the C. E. weekly meeting at Analakely. The evening meal is ready at 6.30, we have prayers at 7 o’clock, and then they say ‘good-night,’ and troop off to bed, a few of the elder ones staying a little longer to do more lessons, or finish some piece of needlework. Saturday brings a change of work, for most of the girls go to do their weekly washing, not getting home until about 3 p.m. After dinner they are busy until bedtime ironing their clothes and getting ready for Sunday.
“At different times they have attended Faravohitra, Ampamarinana, Ambohipotsy, and Analakely Churches, and the Sunday Schools connected with them. Sunday evening is spent with me singing hymns, discussing Sunday School lessons and sermons, and other matters of interest. It is a happy time, and one to which we all look forward. The Sunday School has a great attraction for them, especially the yearly examination, for which they prepare several weeks beforehand, and from which they carry off some of the best prizes.
“Quarrels and troubles have not been frequent, and during the last two or three years have been increasingly rare. Severe discipline has been needed in very few cases, one being that of a girl who was sent away for continuing a clandestine correspondence; she has been carefully watched at home, and is turning out well. About three years ago we were very grieved when one, who had been with us for many years, took the law into her own hands and ran away to be married. We do not, however, give up hope that she will become a Christian woman and train her children well. The health of the girls has always been a great responsibility, and malarial fever has been very much more frequent during the latter half of the decade. We have not lost any by death, except one who died at home during holidays. We generally find that the girls improve in health while under our care, and we do not often need to call for the help of a doctor. Occasionally we have to regret that girls are removed by their parents while still young, but as a rule they remain with us until about to be married, or get married soon after leaving.
“As to the spiritual results, we may speak with some confidence. Three have joined the Church, and one has been baptised on profession of faith while still in the Home, and others have become Church members soon after marriage. The Spirit of Christ is clearly working in the hearts and lives of many who are still with us. Of one dear girl, who died very happily after the birth of her first child, her husband said to me: ‘I rejoice over the months we have lived together; she has done me good.’”
Another department of Institutional work is the L. M. S. Printing Press in Tananarive, which stands for much more than its name implies. It is true that a prosperous business in printing and book-binding is carried on, seventy men being constantly employed. But the Printing Press is a kind of “Universal Provider,” and anything, from a harmonium to a needle, can be purchased there. Under the able superintendence of Mr. Ashwell, a considerable annual profit is made. The magnitude of its operations is surprising. In the ten years ending in 1910, 1,833,243 books and pamphlets were issued from the office, including over 40,000 Bibles, 60,000 New Testaments (printed in England), nearly 350,000 lesson books, over 131,000 hymn books, and a large number of commentaries and other religious works.
No sketch of the Institutional work in Tananarive would be complete without a reference to the Medical Mission, which for many years has been carried on jointly by the F. F. M. A. and the L. M. S., the doctor being a missionary of the former Society. For the last sixteen years Dr. Moss has been the medical missionary in charge, and in his own person illustrates the close union between the two Societies in this work. He has been a missionary of the F. F. M. A., and is the son of an L. M. S. missionary, and his wife, a trained nurse, is the daughter of an L. M. S. missionary, the saintly Joseph Pearse. No department of missionary work in the capital suffered more from the advent of the French than the Medical Mission. A fine commodious hospital, opened in 1891 by the ex-Queen, was appropriated by the French Government in 1896, and since then the hospital work has been on a much smaller scale, and in fact there was no hospital at all between 1897 and 1903, although a large out-patient work was carried on. In the latter year a small Cottage Hospital was erected, round which the work has since centred under the devoted superintendence of Dr. and Mrs. Moss.
In barest outline some account has been given of the Institutional work of the Imerina Mission, which is centred in Tananarive. In this work the European missionary and the Native agent, working together side by side and in closest co-operation, are contributing to the building up of a strong Native Church, which in the future is to be God’s instrument in spreading the light into the dark places of the Island. This Church is as “a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.”
CHAPTER VII
Imerina Country Districts—“Fields White Unto Harvest”
Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain;
Far back, through creeks, and inlets making,
Comes, silent, flooding in the main.
Clough.
It was not until 1870 that the L. M. S. established its first country station in Madagascar. In that year Dr. Sibree founded a residential station at Ambohimanga, the ancient capital of the Hovas, and one of the three towns in Madagascar which, until the French occupation, no European was permitted to enter. Ambohimanga lies about eleven miles north of Tananarive, whence its wooded heights can be clearly seen.
At the top of the hill is the old royal palace, built for King Andrianampoinimerina, who reigned from 1788 to 1810, and was the first king who had any claim to be regarded as monarch of the whole Island. He was the father of Radama I., who moved the capital to Tananarive. After its removal the old royal palace was visited by the sovereign at least once a year. The building is at all sorts of levels, and there are great trees growing in most unexpected places. When the walls which supported the wooden palace were last plastered the white of eggs was used to make the plaster, so as to give it a glazed appearance. It is said that millions of eggs were used in the process. At the very top of the hill are some rocks, from which there is a most magnificent view nearly all round the horizon. On these rocks superstitious practices are still observed, indications of which were very apparent to us at the time of our visit. To the north is a precipice, and at its foot rice fields stretch away into the distance to the hills and mountains which bound the horizon. The present Native Governor of the town is an old L. M. S. boy from Betsileo, trained by Mr. Rowlands. He showed to us with great pride a silver watch which his former missionary had given to him.
Ambohimanga is reached by pousse-pousse (rickshaw), the journey occupying two hours. Its first three missionaries were Dr. Sibree, Mr. Wills, and Mr. Peill, all of whom have had the honour of giving children to the Mission field in Madagascar and in other parts of the world. The Ambohimanga Mission house must be the centre of happy memories for missionaries now at work in China, India, and Samoa. The contribution which the Madagascar missionaries have made to the Society’s staff, especially in China, is remarkable. Dr. Sibree has given a daughter to the Medical Mission at Hong Kong, and a son to the South Sea Mission, in addition to two daughters to the Madagascar Mission. Mr. Wills was the father of a medical missionary carrying on work in Central China, and another son is at work in India. Mr. Peill has given four sons to the North China Mission, three of them being doctors. A son of Mr. Peake’s is also a medical missionary in North China. Mr. Rowlands has two sons and a daughter missionaries in China. A daughter of Mr. Pearse is the wife of a medical missionary in North China; and a second daughter is the wife of a medical missionary in Madagascar. A son of Mr. Huckett was for a short time a medical missionary in India. Three children of Mr. George Cousins have become missionaries in China. And so the Apostolic succession is continued.
Since Mr. Peill left Ambohimanga the Mission there has been in charge of two Welshmen, Mr. Griffith, and the present missionary, Mr. Owen Jones, thus carrying on the tradition that Madagascar is pre-eminently the Mission Field of the Welsh Churches.
On the occasion of the visit of the Deputation a great gathering was held in the largest of the three L. M. S. Churches at Ambohimanga, all outside the city walls, on account of the old law, above referred to, excluding Europeans from the town itself. Thirty-five Churches were represented in the crowded congregation from the Ambohimanga district which gathered together to meet us. There were all the indications of a strong and growing Christian work, which was further evidenced by the efficient school work, and the work amongst women which is being carried on, and by the long and earnest discussion we had with the native pastors and preachers.
Twelve miles east of the capital is the country station of Isoavina, where for nearly forty years the Rev. P. G. Peake carried on his vigorous and varied missionary labours. The Mission house is beautifully situated in the hills amidst fine trees planted by Mr. Peake in a beautiful garden, intersected by two perennial streams of water. There are school buildings, workshops, and a row of cottages bearing testimony to the work of this earnest missionary. He established an industrial school at the station and taught carpentry, iron-work, tinsmith’s work, and other industrial pursuits. The industrial department was, however, suppressed by the French officials in 1896, but was afterwards resumed on a smaller scale in 1907. But perhaps the missionary activity by which Mr. Peake will be best remembered is the founding of the leper settlement at Imanankavaly, an hour’s walk away from Isoavina, which has since grown to such large proportions under the French Government. Mr. Peake has himself told the story of the genesis of this great work in the “Ten Years’ Review.”
In 1900 the French authorities purchased the Leper Settlement, and have since carried on and developed the work there to an amazing extent. There are now 1,500 lepers in residence. The Settlement is a large village, consisting for the most part of rows of detached huts in which the lepers live, and is a model of cleanliness and order. I visited the Institution and was greatly impressed with what I saw. Nearly all the inmates bear the awful marks of leprosy upon them. Many have bandages round their feet, legs and arms. Many have lost feet and hands and are horribly mutilated or deformed. Many have terribly distorted faces. Some hid themselves away as they saw visitors approaching. Others lay in the sunshine huddled up in dark blankets. Many, however, were able to work, and were engaged in building new huts or in agricultural pursuits. There were men and women, boys and girls, a most pathetic multitude. Yet smiling faces were quite common as the lepers saluted us as we passed along between the rows of cottages. It was Saturday, the weekly cleaning day, and all the meagre furniture, pots and pans, were turned out of doors. The staple article of food is rice, of which over five tons a week are consumed. Twice a week meat is supplied, and the Government also provide soap, candles and salt. The whole Institution is a wonderful example of method and organization. But the most remarkable fact in connection with the work is that it is entirely directed by a woman of sixty-five years of age, Mlle. Sapino. This lady came to Madagascar some eighteen years ago as a missionary of the Paris Missionary Society. On severing her connection with that Society she took up this work amongst the lepers. She controls the whole of the Institution down to the minutest details. She superintends the buildings. She buys all the stores, and I saw her weighing out the rice for distribution to the Lepers. She examines every case as it comes in, and puts all the particulars down on a chart. She personally dresses the wounds in the worst cases, and was engaged in doing this Christ-like work when we arrived. For all her services she receives the munificent stipend of £80 per annum and a house. Out of this at the present time she is keeping some forty untainted children of lepers born in the Institution. The Government will not make her any grant because these children are not lepers. Some months ago she sold her drawing-room furniture to get money to keep the children. She is a remarkable-looking woman—tall, with prominent features and iron grey hair. She reminded me more than any other woman I ever saw of the pictures of George Eliot. She told me that the Government respected her, but did not love her. They know she is indispensable. A week or two previous to my visit they sent her an unsatisfactory Frenchman to be an assistant. She objected and resigned. In a few hours a high official’s wife came out to tell her that the Government would do anything she asked with regard to the Frenchman. She demanded his immediate removal, and in twenty-four hours he was gone. She has no European assistant, but seven untainted Malagasy, including a doctor. All the rest of the work is done by lepers—except that the Government have sent recently five Malagasy soldiers as a guard. I was told that Mademoiselle always carries a loaded revolver about with her for fear of trouble. At the time of my visit she had no servant in her house, and did all her own cooking and housework. She is one of the most remarkable women I have ever met, and carries on a wonderful piece of work. She is a strong Protestant. There is a school and a Protestant and Catholic Church in the Institution. The cost is very small—less than 35s. per inmate per annum, which seems almost incredible.
But to return to Isoavina. During our visit a great united meeting of the Isan-Efa-Bolana (four-monthly meeting) for the whole district was held in the Church. The schools were inspected and interviews held with the leading Christian workers. At this place, as at nearly every other place in Madagascar which we visited, presentations were made to us by the Native Christians in order to express their gratitude to the Society for sending us to visit them and their pleasure at seeing us. At various places we were the recipients of numberless turkeys, fowls and eggs. Offerings of other kinds of food were made, and we received more permanent reminders of our visit in the shape of lambas, walking sticks, lace, rafia work, embroideries, scarf pins, serviette rings, photographs, hats, addresses, etc. In their joy at seeing representatives of the Society in their midst it seemed that our friends could not do enough to express their appreciation and gratitude.
Some half-hour’s walk from Isoavina, the “Rest-House,” or Sanatorium belonging to the Mission is situated at Ambatovory in the midst of lovely country commanding fine views. It is here that many of the Imerina missionaries spend their hard-earned holidays.
During my stay at Isoavina I paid a surprise Sunday morning visit to a small outstation called Fararina. Every precaution was taken to conceal the fact that a visit was going to be made, so that the visitor might have an opportunity of seeing a country outstation under normal conditions. The Church was a small and primitive wattle-and-daub building, with a brick pulpit, covered with the commonest and most gaudy wallpaper. The earth floor was covered with matting. I was delighted to find that the chapel was practically full. Afterwards a Communion Service was held. The “bread” was nearly black. It was made of manioc root and coarse black sugar almost like treacle. The “wine” was pine-apple juice. The cups and plates were tin painted red. Although the visit was a complete surprise, the people would not let me go without making the customary gifts. As I descended the steep hill after the service some of the Church members overtook me bringing a fowl, and as I reached the foot others came running after me with eggs.
Ten miles north-west of Tananarive is Ambohidratrimo, where the late Mr. Baron lived for two years in the seventies. In 1901 Ambohidratrimo was re-opened as a residential station under the care of the Rev. F. W. Dennis, and it is now in charge of the Rev. H. A. Ridgwell. In past days it was the capital of one of the four small kingdoms into which the present province of Imerina was divided, and it still retains marks of its former importance. At the top of a lofty hill behind the Mission house the royal village once stood, where a century ago the Malagasy king ruled over his petty kingdom. There are still several royal tombs to be seen. Towards three-quarters of the horizon a great plain stretches out into the distance. In the middle of it towards the south-east amidst the rice-fields is Tananarive. All around are mountains. The country looked like a gigantic relief map, and the view must be similar to that to be seen from an aeroplane.
Ambohidratrimo is reached by a two hours’ ride in a pousse-pousse through rice fields and pine-apple gardens. In passing along the road I could see the women very busy in the rice fields, transplanting the young rice and working in water half up their legs. Pine-apples are very plentiful in the district, and three large ones can be bought for a penny. During our visit we attended two great meetings, one in the Mission Church consisting only of men, representing some sixty-eight Churches in the district, while the other, for women only, was held at an outstation in a large village Church with very few seats. The Church was crowded, most of the women being seated on the floor looking very clean, happy and bright in their white lambas. Many of them had walked for several hours to attend the meeting. The wife of the evangelist made an admirable president, and several women took part in the meeting.
Fourteen miles north-west of Ambohidratrimo is Vangaina, which became the residence of a missionary in 1903. It is the centre of fifty outstations, which are superintended by the Vangaina missionary, the Rev. Thomas Tester. The beautifully situated Mission house has been built on the hillside some distance off the main motor-car road from Tananarive to the Port of Majunga on the north-west coast. At the station there is a Church and a school. A united meeting for the Churches of the district was held at the outstation, Ampanotokana, at which forty-four Churches were represented, crowding the building to its utmost capacity.
Our journeys to these country stations afforded many opportunities of seeing various sides of native life. On the way to Vangaina we visited the large native market at Mahitsy on market day. We went up and down between the stalls in the market place. The vendors must have numbered many hundreds, and the people attending the market some thousands from all over the countryside. Amongst the articles for sale were straw hats and mats, spades and hatchets, great heaps of fine pineapples, sugar cane, pigs, cattle, rice, meat, great piles of a small kind of dried fish, salt, tinware, calico, black soap (like the soap our missionary, Mr. Cameron, taught the natives to make eighty years ago), buttons, biscuits, ducks, vegetables—all in the greatest profusion. Perhaps the most interesting feature was the space set apart for the blacksmiths, who were repairing spades, tinware, cart-wheels, etc., with the help of primitive forges. The blast was created by two upright cylinders of wood with pipes from the bottom of them to convey the wind to the charcoal fire. The air was driven into these pipes by means of plates of wood, which were forced up and down the cylinders by poles attached to the upper surface and worked by men’s hands. They formed very effective bellows.
Vangaina itself is a small village with two moats, each about twenty feet deep, in which banana trees were growing. An interesting feature in the village is a great tree in which I saw three enormous nests of the crested-umber built in the forks of the tree and made of hay, straw, grass, and twigs, each one being about six feet long by six feet wide. The bird is about the size of the domestic fowl with longer wings, and is called the Taketra. It is a bird of ill-omen, and in the old days when the ex-Queen used to come out to Ambohimanga she would turn back again to Tananarive if one of these birds crossed her path. The old Malagasy believe that these birds bring leprosy.
The most distant country station in Imerina from Tananarive is that of Anjozorobe, between sixty and seventy miles north-east of the Capital. On the way one passes through the town of Ambohitrolomahitsy, for some years the residential station for the district, at which the late Rev. Percy Milledge, and after him the Rev. W. Kendal Gale, carried on work. We attended three large meetings at this place. The journey thither to Anjozorobe led us over a range of mountains, one of which bears a Malagasy name meaning “The mountain which cannot be climbed.” Anjozorobe, which is beautifully situated, became a residential station in 1910, when Mr. Gale moved there from Ambohitrolomahitsy. He and his family live in a newly-erected Mission house bearing a Malagasy name, which being interpreted means “The house of sweet breezes,” now quite familiar to readers of the Society’s magazines. His missionary colleague, Mrs. Milledge, formerly Miss May Sibree, lives some distance away in the centre of the native village in a Malagasy house. Anjozorobe is the centre of a very extensive district, in which there are forty large outstations, and includes the northern part of the Bezanozano country, the southern portion of which is connected with the Isoavina Station. It was not my privilege to visit the Bezanozano, but one of my colleagues, Mr. Talbot Wilson, spent nine days in a tour in this country.
During our visit to Anjozorobe a large united meeting for the whole district was held at the Church. Visits were also paid to some of the nearer outstations. The schools were inspected, and a gathering held for the native workers. Much of Mr. Gale’s time is spent away from home, his itinerating work through a widespread district necessitating his absence for many days at a time. Mrs. Milledge, too, spends much of her life travelling between outstations, living in native houses, and holding classes for women and girls in both the Anjozorobe and Ambohitrolomahitsy districts.
The journey back to the capital took us through Ankazandandy and Ambohibao, where crowded and enthusiastic meetings were held.
By the work of our missionaries at these country stations, and of hundreds of native pastors and preachers, the light is being spread through the central province of Imerina. Before the French occupation the L. M. S. work was much more extensive than it is at present. It became necessary to hand over some of the work to the Paris Missionary Society, whose missionaries, with those of the F. F. M. A. and the S. P. G. and their native workers, have now for many years past been engaged in passing on the light from place to place. The Church is steadily growing and extending into the dark places beyond.
CHAPTER VIII
Betsileo—“The Sombre Fringes of the Night”
The glad Dawn sets his fires upon the hills,
Then floods the valley with his golden light,
And, triumphing o’er all the hosts of night,
The waiting world with new-born rapture fills.
L. C. Moulton.
The scene now changes to the province of Betsileo, in the south of the Island, where the work is carried on amongst a backward people, whose territory abuts upon the districts occupied by tribes more benighted still—the Sakalava, the Bara, and the Tanala.
Until quite recently the work in Betsileo was separated from the work in Imerina by a journey in a filanjana (palanquin) occupying from eight to ten days. Now the 264 miles which separate Tananarive from Fianarantsoa are covered in two days in comfortable automobiles, along a magnificent road which has been constructed by the French. For almost the whole of the distance the country is very hilly, the road rising to 4,500 feet above the sea level, and being carried over mountains in a continuous series of curves with easy gradients.
We were travelling in the middle of the Malagasy winter. The mornings were cold and misty, but before long the sun broke out and we enjoyed a changing panorama of hill and mountain, waterfall and river, and far-spreading distant views. Peaks sixty miles away appeared to be quite near. Time after time the road traversed amphitheatres in the mountains, and I was often reminded of stretches of country in the province of Hunan in Central China.
Fianarantsoa is the capital of the Betsileo province, the inhabitants of which are a curly-haired, dark-skinned people of a somewhat low type, except in the large towns where most of the population is Hova. Work is also carried on at outstations amongst the Bara and Tanala tribes in the south. The L. M. S. first sent resident missionaries to settle in Betsileo in 1870, and the Paris Missionary Society and the Norwegian Society are also at work there.
Fianarantsoa is picturesquely situated in a mountainous region. It stands considerably higher than the top of Snowdon, and commands a wonderful view on all sides—of mountains and moorland, forest and river in infinite variety. During our visit, in the early mornings great seas of mist lay in the valleys, but later in the day the whole landscape was flooded with brilliant sunshine.
The work in the Capital itself and at seventy-four outstations is in charge of Mr. Huckett and Mr. Johnson, who have borne the burden and heat of the day for upwards of thirty years, while Miss Hare has been in charge of the Girls’ School for the last seventeen years. The Mission Compound is extensive and contains the Girls’ School, three Mission houses, the Theological College, which was once a hospital, and cottage accommodation for the students at work in the College and the boys from the L. M. S. country stations attending the Boys’ School of the Paris Missionary Society. In Fianarantsoa there were all the evidences of extensive missionary activities and of a successful work. The numerous meetings that were held during our visit were crowded. During our stay the annual gatherings of the Betsileo Isan-Kerin-Taona (yearly meeting) were held.
They were the first gatherings of the kind at which I had been present in Madagascar. As I attended meeting after meeting the impression made upon me as a visitor was that of “fields white unto harvest.” To my unaccustomed eyes the white lambas, which seemed to fill the Churches, suggested the white fields referred to in the Gospels. And then came the thought which gave rise to glad thanksgiving, that in Madagascar the harvest indeed had been plenteous, though the labourers had been few. Then came a vision of the great harvest-home when from the north and south, the east and west of this island men and women, boys and girls would all be gathered into the Kingdom, and those who sowed and those who reaped would rejoice together.
Three meetings stand out in my memory. On the Wednesday there was a representative gathering of the delegates from the L. M. S. and P. M. S. Churches in Antranobiriky Church. M. Couve, of the Paris Society, addressed some burning words to the delegates, which went to their hearts. I spoke of the United Malagasy Church of the future, and rejoiced to find so hearty a response to the idea of union. Next day at the Assembly M. Couve spoke with great earnestness on the duty of self-support, and Mr. Houghton gave an eloquent address on self-government.
The third meeting was a memorable one. It was a united Communion Service held on Thursday afternoon in the Church of the French Protestant Mission. The spacious church was crowded to its utmost limits. The aisles and stairs were thronged with devout worshippers. A native pastor conducted the service. Missionaries and evangelists, pastors and preachers joined with some 800 Christians and the Deputations from the two societies round the table of our Lord. Men and women, brown and white, were all as one in that sacred service of commemoration and consecration. The solemnity of the gathering was emphasised by the thunderstorm which broke over the town while the service was proceeding. The church became dark. The wind howled. The lightning flashed. The thunder rolled. The rain fell. And then came the brilliant sunshine—a prophetic vision of the history of the Church of Christ in Madagascar. Persecution, trouble, and anxiety have beset that Church in the past. Even now there are clouds upon the horizon. But the day is surely coming when the glorious shining of the Sun of Righteousness will flood this great island with light and love, and all who live in it “shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and ... as the stars for ever and ever.”
Mr. Huckett has long carried on a fine piece of work in the Theological Seminary. Here pastors and evangelists receive a three years’ course of training, and there is a two years’ course for catechists and itinerating preachers. Mr. Huckett also superintends the boys and youths from the country mission stations, who come up to Fianarantsoa to complete their education, living in the cottages above referred to, which are supported by the Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Association. Another branch of Mr. Huckett’s manifold labours is the secretaryship of the local agency of the British and Foreign Bible Society. From the Bible and Book Room in the Compound the Scriptures are distributed to the whole of the South of Madagascar, and five colporteurs are at work.
At the Girls’ High School, conducted by Miss Hare, there are one hundred girls on the books, of whom on the occasion of our visit ninety-six were present. There is ample accommodation for more scholars, but the Government regulations prevent it being utilised. Some of the girls at the school come from the country stations and live in the Mission house with Miss Hare. It would be a very great help to the work if a Boarding Home for Girls could be established in Fianarantsoa. In addition to her duties in the School, Miss Hare also has the oversight of the wives of the students at the Theological Seminary. The Paris Mission carries on the Boys’ High School and a Normal School, to which the L. M. S. students go.
About an hour’s journey from Fianarantsoa another fine example of missionary activity is to be seen at the Leper Home, at a place pathetically called “The Village of Hope.” This work was started by Mrs. Huckett twenty years ago. My visit was a sad experience, and will be an abiding memory. No leper who enters this home, in which there are forty-three inmates, ever comes out again. The sufferers die, and are buried in the grounds. My thoughts naturally carried me back to Dr. Fowler’s Leper Home in Central China at Siao Kan. “The Village of Hope” might well be called the “Village of Despair,” for maimed and missing hands and feet told their tale only too plainly, and pitiable sores on the legs and face were common. But without exception all the patients seemed bright and happy, and one could not doubt the joy that had come into the lives of the poor afflicted creatures, thirty-three of whom were Church members, while others were enquirers. We visited the rooms in which they live, and afterwards attended a pathetic and yet happy meeting in the Chapel at which we all spoke. The lepers were genuinely glad to see us and gave us a hearty welcome. After we left we could see the whole community, standing in their white lambas just outside the gate on the top of the hill, waving farewells to us for fully half an hour.
Thirty-two miles south of Fianarantsoa is the growing Government town of Ambalavao, which is reached by pousse-pousse along another well-engineered road through the mountains. As we approached the town we were met by streams of natives, many gaily decorated, returning from the annual three days’ fair. For many years Ambalavao was worked from Ambohimandroso, but it has been a residential station since 1903 under the care of the Rev. D. M. Rees, whose untiring efforts are ably seconded by those of his wife, who has the great advantage of an excellent knowledge of French. The Mission house is an old Malagasy residence which has been enlarged. The Station Church is one of the most handsome and best built churches in Madagascar. On the occasion of our visit it was crowded to its utmost capacity by a gathering representing the forty-four outstations in the district.
Six miles south of Ambalavao is situated Ambohimandroso, the most southerly station of the L. M. S., where the Rev. Thomas and Mrs. Rowlands (who, like Mr. and Mrs. Rees, keep up the connection between Wales and Madagascar) have faithfully carried on work for the last thirty-four years. At the bottom of the valley between the two stations is a river which is crossed by a ferry, where I was met by a crowd of school children who escorted me up the steep hill to the Mission house, the boys assisting in propelling the pousse-pousse. Here again a crowded and enthusiastic united meeting was held, with representatives from most of the fifty-one out-stations connected with this Mission. Schools were inspected, visits paid to some of the Native workers, and other gatherings held. Mr. and Mrs. Rowlands find house-room for a dozen girls from country districts who are attending school. Each evening these girls file into the drawing-room for singing and prayer. On the occasion of my visit they sang “Nearer my God to Thee” in English. Then followed their salutation, “Good-night, Mr. Hawkins,” with a curtsey. I replied, “Good-night, girls; God bless you.” Then came their answer, “Thank you, Mr. Hawkins.” The same formula is gone through with “Madame” and “Sir.”
The morning I left, the girls were up early to see me off, and stood in a row alongside the filanjana. In a frivolous moment as I was leaving I pretended to weep to express my sorrow at parting from them, and off I went. Mrs. Rowlands told me a week or two afterwards that at my departure all the girls had burst into tears and cried bitterly, saying, “What a tender-hearted gentleman to cry when he leaves us. He must be thinking of his own daughter in England who has dark hair and dark eyes like us!”
From Ambohimandroso I proceeded to the Society’s newest station in Betsileo at Alakamisy Itenina, where since 1905 the Rev. D. D. Green, another Welshman, has resided and superintended the work of the thirty-seven outstations, of which this place is the centre. The journey occupied all day, and the road lay amongst the mountains, the views of the hills and clouds being magnificent. Several crowded meetings were held at the station and at outstations. At one place the crowd that had gathered together was three times as large as the Church could contain, and the meeting was held in the open-air, in defiance, I am afraid, of the French law. I stood under the shadow of the Church. In the immediate foreground was the great congregation, some on the seats which had been taken out of the Church, and some on the ground—a very picturesque crowd in white and gaily-coloured lambas. Beyond the worshippers stretched a glorious vista of mountain and valley, rolling away into “the purple distance fair,” with the brilliant sunshine bathing all in a flood of golden light.
The only residential station in Madagascar which I was unable to visit was that at Ambohimahasoa, a town of growing importance, where the Rev. Charles Collins has laboured for the last eleven years, superintending from that centre thirty-eight outstations. Both my colleagues, however, were able to visit it, and attended a large number of meetings there.
The Society’s work in Betsileo is well organised, and has been carried on for the last forty-three years with great and growing success. From the centre at Fianarantsoa, over a wide-spreading district comprising 244 outstations, the Gospel has been faithfully preached, schools have been conducted, Christian Endeavour Societies, Dorcas meetings, and many other missionary activities have been carried on, and this manifold work has been accomplished by means of a small European staff which has never exceeded ten missionaries. Their efforts have been seconded by a native staff of about fifty ordained pastors and 500 preachers. The Church is a growing one, but much yet remains to be done to complete the evangelization of the large territory in which the Society is at work. Beyond to the south, as already mentioned, are the unevangelized tribes of the Bara and Tanala districts, amongst whom up to the present very little work has been done. But the future is rich with promise, and if the existing work can be maintained and somewhat extended, the Society will have a rich reward in building up a Native Church so strong and so missionary, that before many years have passed it will be able to carry the light into the dark places around.
CHAPTER IX
Glad and Golden Days
Spread the Light! Spread the Light!
Till earth’s remotest bounds have heard
The glory of the Living Word;
Till those that see not have their sight;
Till all the fringes of the night
Are lifted, and the long-closed doors
Are wide for ever to the Light.
Spread the Light!
O then shall dawn the golden days,
To which true hearts are pressing;
When earth’s discordant strains shall blend—
The one true God confessing;
When Christly thought and Christly deed
Shall bind each heart and nation,
In one Grand Brotherhood of Men,
And one high consecration.
John Oxenham.
After our return from Betsileo and our visitation of the Imerina country stations, we spent three weeks in Tananarive to meet with the missionaries in their District Committee, in order to consult together as to the present position and future work. We also took part in a Conference with the representatives of all the Protestant Missionary Societies at work in the island, and attended the great half-yearly meeting of the native Christians known as the Isan-Enim-Bolana. It is not the purpose of this record of travel to discuss questions of missionary politics, or to deal with matters considered at the Joint Conference. Suffice it to say that the intercourse with the missionaries of our own and other Societies during those closing weeks of our stay was a time of happy fellowship. In the interludes between more serious work delightful social receptions and garden parties were organised by several of the Missions, and we enjoyed the hospitality of the Bishop of Madagascar and of our French and Norwegian friends.
There was one gathering, however, of very special interest to us, as representatives of the L. M. S. On September 30th it was our privilege to take part in the celebration of the jubilee of the landing at Tamatave of our honoured veteran missionary, Dr. James Sibree. Mr. Sibree, as he was then, went out to Madagascar as architect of the Memorial Churches to be erected in Tananarive in commemoration of the martyrs “faithful unto death,” who lost their lives during the time of persecution. These Churches remain until this day, not only as memorials to the martyrs, but as monuments to the taste and skill of Mr. Sibree as an architect. But his services in this direction have not been confined to the Memorial Churches. In after years to the present time he has prepared the plans of upwards of 40 Churches in different parts of Madagascar.
But Dr. Sibree will leave behind him, when the time comes for him to bid farewell to Madagascar, a more enduring memorial than churches of brick and stone. When he had completed the task which originally took him to the island he returned to England, and, after taking his theological course at Spring Hill, went back to Madagascar as a clerical missionary, and from that day to this, with ceaseless energy and devotion, he has been engaged in building the Invisible Church, “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
The epitaph upon the tomb of another architect, Sir Christopher Wren, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, “Si monumentum requiris circumspice,” is equally applicable to Dr. Sibree, for no missionary has left behind him in Madagascar a more enduring memorial of his life and work than will Dr. Sibree. His energies, too, have found an outlet in other directions. His most conspicuous service to the Mission has been rendered in connection with the training of preachers and pastors. For upwards of thirty years he has been associated with the Society’s Theological College in Tananarive, and during that period several hundred students have received the benefit of his instruction and influence. As a writer of books and articles he has given to the world much information, not only with regard to Madagascar, but also with regard to the Cathedrals of the Homeland. The articles on Madagascar in the last two editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica have come from his pen, and he is a recognised authority on all matters relating to the island. He has rendered invaluable service as a translator, and especially in the revision of the Malagasy Scriptures. He does not know what it is to be idle. In his seventy-seventh year he is an example and a rebuke to men of half his age; from early morning until late at night he is always at work.
Dr. Sibree has, throughout his missionary life, been ably seconded and supported in all his “works of faith and labours of love” by his devoted wife, to whom the women and girls of Ambohimanga, and, in later years, of Tananarive, owe so much. As I have already mentioned, Dr. and Mrs. Sibree have given four children to missionary work. Two of their daughters, Mrs. Milledge and Miss Elsie Sibree are to-day rendering fine service to the kingdom in Madagascar.
On the Jubilee day a great gathering of missionaries was held in Faravohitra Church in honour of Dr. and Mrs. Sibree. Several presentations were made to them from the Directors of our Society, from their fellow missionaries and from the missionaries of other Societies, in recognition of the services they have rendered, and of the respect, esteem and affection in which they are held. It is said that never before in the history of Madagascar has such a large gathering of missionaries taken place. Later in the same day a reception and garden party were held, at which even a larger number of the missionary community were present to celebrate the occasion. A few days afterwards a great gathering of past and present students of the Theological College met to offer their tribute of gratitude and esteem to the missionary who had trained so many of the preachers, pastors, and evangelists, now engaged in the evangelization of the island.
Dr. and Mrs. Sibree.
Only a passing reference can be made to the meetings of the Joint Conference. This gathering was unique, for it is believed that never before in the history of the Christian Church have all the Protestant Missionary Societies at work in a mission field appointed simultaneous deputations to unite with the missionaries on the spot to study in common the problems and needs of the field, and to plan together for its evangelization. Many matters of common interest to all the Societies were considered, and important discussions were held with the Malagasy Christian leaders. The subjects of the evangelization of the island, the work of delimitation, education, the social and moral condition of the people, the recrudescence of heathenism, the growth of atheism and agnosticism, and many other questions vitally affecting the life of the people and the growth of the Church came up for discussion. The meetings were held in the beautiful French Protestant Church in Tananarive in the early days of October. The tone and spirit which prevailed throughout the deliberations were of the highest. The Conference owed much to its Chairman, M. le Pasteur Couve, who presided throughout with wisdom, tact, patience and good humour. The holding of such a Conference in which High Anglican, Lutheran, Quaker and Congregationalist, British, French, Norwegian, and American took an equal part, was a remarkable evidence of the growth of the spirit of comity and co-operation in the mission field.
But amongst the many vivid experiences of those crowded closing days in Tananarive, the most lasting impression was that made by the great meetings of the Isan-Enim-Bolana. This institution is a federation of the Imerina Churches of the L. M. S., F. F. M. A., and P. M. S., and it holds a warm place in the regard and affection of the Malagasy Christians. Moreover, it is a Missionary Society and sends its own native missionaries into the outlying districts in the North where, but for its efforts, there would be no Christian work carried on. It is the child of the London Missionary Society, and came into being in the year 1868. Since then it has met every half-year in the Capital, and its gatherings are always marked with a spirit of great earnestness and enthusiasm. It met in October, and high as our expectations were from what we had heard, the gatherings surpassed all that our imagination had pictured. On Wednesday afternoon, October 8th, five preaching services were held at the same hour in five of the largest Churches in the Capital, and these were followed by two great meetings in connection with the Christian Endeavour Societies. Perhaps a short account of my own experiences at the Isan-Enim-Bolana, which were similar to those of my fellow-delegates, will convey some impression of the character of these Meetings. I was taking lunch with a party of French Missionaries, when M. Pierre de Seynes came to tell me that the French Church in which I was to speak was already crowded to its utmost limits, although it was nearly two hours before the time for the commencement of the service. On reaching the Church an hour and a half later I had the greatest difficulty in effecting an entrance. There was a dense crowd round the door of those who could not find room. It required great care to walk up the aisle without treading upon the women, who were sitting on the ground two abreast. The great congregation occupied every foot of available space; the floor of the chancel was packed, and men were sitting on the communion rails, on the top of the harmonium, and on the pulpit steps. Moreover, there were groups of people round the numerous open windows on the ground floor, and the gallery and the steps leading to it were likewise crowded. The scene from the pulpit can never be forgotten. The contrast between the black hair, brown faces and white lambas of the worshippers formed a striking picture. Pastor Rabary, the Chairman of the Isan-Enim-Bolana, translated for me. The vigorous action and fine declamation of the interpreter, combined with the inspiration which one receives from the enthusiasm and devoutness of a great audience, had their effect upon the quieter methods of the more phlegmatic Englishman, and I found myself moved to speak with a force and earnestness rarely experienced before. My address was followed by what I am told was an eloquent sermon by one of the ablest of the younger Malagasy leaders, Pastor Rakotonirainy, who is also a successful master in one of the F. F. M. A. Schools. As soon as the service was over the congregation hurried away to a great Christian Endeavour meeting at Ampamarinana, where the Church was already packed. An overflow meeting was arranged to be held in the Church which we had just left, and in a few moments that building was again filled to overflowing, and I was called upon to give another address, which was translated by Pastor Razafimahefa, who interprets from both French or English into Malagasy with wonderful force and fluency.
But the greatest gatherings took place on the following morning. At 6 o’clock seven of the most spacious Churches were thronged to their utmost capacity, some having arrived at 4 a.m. to secure a seat for the meetings, which were not to commence till four hours later. I was appointed to speak at the great meeting for men in the spacious Ampamarinana Church, which had for hours been filled to overflowing. As soon as I had spoken I was hurried away in a chair to an overflow meeting in a neighbouring Church, and, having spoken there, went on to Faravohitra Church, which was crowded with women, where my address was translated by Mrs. Milledge, who speaks Malagasy like a native. The service at this Church was concluded by eleven o’clock. Then came one of the characteristic features of the meetings of the Isan-Enim-Bolana. It is the practice for the Mother Churches in the Capital to entertain the delegates from the various Daughter Churches in the country. I went to Analakely, where some 1,400 people sat down in five relays to abundant meals of rice and meat prepared by their hosts. The same gracious hospitality was shown in each of the Mother Churches of Tananarive. After attending such gatherings one wonders whether there is any place in the world, unless it is Korea, where such great crowds gather for Christian worship.
The hearts of sympathetic visitors to Madagascar are often thrilled at these manifest signs of the Divine blessing upon the work of the Missionaries, but very little investigation shows that there is another side to the picture, and that the young Malagasy Church needs all its zeal and courage to face the difficulties and dangers with which it is surrounded. Apart from the experience which unfortunately is common in all Christian communities, that practice does not always correspond with profession, the Malagasy Christians have special difficulties of their own which confront the growing Church. They have to face the temptations which beset a backward race living in the tropics, and the struggle with sensualism and immorality is a severe one.
Moreover, in recent years materialism and agnosticism have come into the land like a flood, and tax to the uttermost the wisdom and consecration of the Christian workers in the island. Again, it must be remembered that the activities of the Church are being carried on in an unsympathetic environment, for apart from the deadening influence of the native heathenism amidst which the Church is at work, the unfriendly attitude towards religion of the French official class is felt on every hand. Again, on the north-east and north-west coasts the menace of the advance of Islam is increasingly felt, and already there are at least 75,000 Moslems in the country, professing a degraded type of Mohammedanism and introducing many vices, especially drunkenness and immorality. It will be a surprise to many to know that during the recent Balkan war a collection was made in Madagascar to help the Turks to fight “the vile Christians.”
With these and other difficulties confronting the young Malagasy Church, it will be readily understood that the battle is by no means won. Moreover, much of the field has, up to the present, not been occupied by the Christian army, and great is the work remaining to be accomplished.
If one stands on the verandah of “the House of Sweet Breezes” at Anjozorobe, the Society’s most northern station, and turn one’s eyes to the north, there is a stretch of country extending well-nigh 500 miles to Diego Suarez. In this vast district, the area of which exceeds that of England and Wales, there is at the present time but one white missionary. It is true that some dozen native missionaries, sent out by the Isan-Enim-Bolana of Imerina, are at work in this territory, and many of these men are carrying on their missionary labours with energy and devotion, but without any European supervision. The Native Missionary organisation which sent them forth would welcome such supervision, and would be prepared to send more labourers into the vineyard, if well-trained men were available for service. In the near future the main work of the European missionary must be the training of the Native missionary. As the Church at the centre grows and multiplies, and becomes stronger and more efficient, the need of the presence of a large number of European missionaries will gradually diminish. The test of the success of their work will be that they have made themselves unnecessary. As the College in Tananarive attracts and trains and sets to work Christian Natives of good education and apostolic fervour, so the work now carried on by the European missionaries will steadily pass into the hands of the Native Pastors, and, under the blessing of God, the day will come in the not distant future when the foreign worker will be able to withdraw, having completed his task.
“And lo! already on the hills
The flags of dawn appear;
Gird up your loins, ye prophet souls,
Proclaim the day is near;
The day in whose clear-shining light
All wrong shall stand revealed,
When justice shall be clothed with might,
And every hurt be healed:
When knowledge, hand in hand with peace,
Shall walk the earth abroad,—
The day of perfect righteousness,
The promised day of God.”