Madagascar.
On the eastern coast of Africa is one of the largest islands in the world, called Madagascar. It is 900 miles long, and contains about twice as much land as England, Wales, and Scotland, or three times as much as New England. It is some five or six thousand miles southeast of the United States, and 1800 miles northeast of the Cape of Good Hope.
Conducting a person who has passed the ordeal of the Tangena, home.
It is separated from the continent of Africa by the channel of Mozambique, through which vessels often pass in going to China. A long chain of mountains, some of which are 11,000 feet or two miles high, runs north and south through the island. In these mountains are volcanoes, though they are not so terrible as in South America.
Madagascar is a pleasant country, and produces many fine things, among which are sugar, honey, various fruit-trees, valuable gums, silver, copper, and tin ore; also precious stones, together with other more useful things, as cattle, corn, poultry, &c. The people are numerous, and consist of several tribes or races, some resembling negroes, others appearing like Arabs, but the greater part bearing an affinity to the people who inhabit the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The whole population of the island is estimated at about four millions and a half, or about twice as much as all New England.
About twelve or fifteen years ago, a king by the name of Radama had subjected to his sway nearly all the tribes. He encouraged the Christian missionaries from England, by whose means a good deal of useful knowledge was diffused, and various arts were introduced among the people. Had his reign continued, it is probable that all the tribes would have been formed into one well organized and well governed nation, among whom civilization might have made rapid advances. But, unfortunately, Radama was poisoned by his queen, and since that time, though the people are considered as forming one kingdom, they are in a very disturbed and dismembered state. Many of them are little better than savages, and indeed all the people are slaves of the most degrading superstitions. One of the most remarkable customs is that of trial by the Tangena, a poisonous nut, that is given to persons suspected of any crime. The people are great believers in witchcraft, and if any one in a family is taken sick, it frequently happens that some of the members are accused of causing the illness by witchcraft, and the tangena is therefore given to them. It appears that the poison, when thoroughly administered, causes the most excruciating pains, and is almost certain death. If the person has a very strong constitution, or if he can bribe the officer who administers it to give a weak dose, he sometimes escapes; but in most cases it is fatal. There is a vast deal of pompous ceremony attending these trials: there is a sort of prayer or incantation before the dose is given, and during its operation, an appeal to the invisible power to punish crime, or vindicate innocence, as the case may be—though, in point of fact, the whole system seems to be one of trick, practised by a few artful and designing men.
If the person resists the effect of the poison, which rarely happens, he is taken to his house in great state, a procession being formed like that which is represented in the engraving. It appears from the accounts of the missionaries who have visited the island, that the practice of the tangena is so extensive as actually to diminish the population of the island; and what is remarkable is this, that the people seem to take a great interest in these trials, and actually encourage them, seeming to have great delight in them. It is indeed a fact that cannot be disputed, that in all nations not softened and civilized by the influence of Christianity, mercy seems to be unknown, and cruelty affords only a pleasing excitement.
“The clock upbraids us with the waste of time.”