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.