Vonizongo is a broad open valley, fifteen miles wide by twenty miles long. It has the noble mountain of Lóhavóhitra for its eastern boundary: on the west is a long low ridge of the usual red clay. West of this again is a fine valley, which has for its western boundary the lofty, curving ridge of Ambóhimánga: outside of this running north-west to the sea is the river Ikopa. The centre of the province consists of the sandy clay, deeply scored by the strong streams which flow from Lóhavóhitra: along the waters everywhere the levels are cultivated with rice, and small villages are numerous. The northern part of the district is a lofty moor, which clings to the skirts of the Ambóhimánga ridge, and over which the east winds blow keen and piercing. Fiháonana, the chief town, contains only seventeen houses. But it is and has long been the residence of the chief of the local clans: and there are large villages at a short distance. The population are much scattered: and there are four or five clusters of villages, with fields and churches and a goodly number of inhabitants, within eight miles of Fiháonana; which at once point out the form which Christian labour must take among them: and there are other clusters about Fierénana and in North Vonizongo to be dealt with in the same way.
The inhabitants of Vonizongo have always been a spirited and independent people. Radáma made soldiers of them, and he found them brave, enduring and self-reliant. They used to have a multitude of chiefs, each with a long pedigree and a longer tail of dependents and clansmen. The power of the chief over his people was as great and as summary in its dealings, as that of the Highland chiefs of old days: and the clannish feeling is still very strong. The intelligence and spirit of these tribes led them to appreciate the teachings of the missionaries in the earliest days. Several lads from the district attended their schools in Antanánarivo; and both Mr. Johns and Mr. Griffiths visited them. Indeed the missionaries and the people felt an unusual regard for one another. The missionaries found their teaching appreciated. The story of the Bereans was rehearsed once more. “These were more noble than those of Thessalonica: in that they searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so: therefore many of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas: also of the devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a few.” Can we wonder at the experiences which followed? The mother of the present chief of the clans, was the first convert: her eldest son was burned as a martyr for the Gospel: her second son was sold as a slave: two men from the first little church, in their Christian zeal, went to preach to the Sákalávas: were arrested on their return by the frontier garrison; and were speared in the market-place for their Christianity. One noble woman, Rabódománga, boldly gave testimony to her faith before the judges: “I do not pray to wood and stone and to the mountains: unto God alone do I pray.” Four of the sisters of this brave woman were martyred. Of the fourteen martyrs who were thrown over the precipices of Ampamarinana, seven were from Vonizongo.
Of Razáka, the pastor of Fiháonana, now growing grey with years, Mr. Matthews spoke to us thus: “He is one of the most remarkable men I ever met. To this man we owe not only the number, but the satisfactory state of the churches in a large part of Vonizongo. He was sent to the coast by Radáma II., while prince, before the death of his mother, in order to see what the French missionaries were doing on the west coast. He was captured by the Sakalavas, was sold to the French, and was taken to Bourbon. There they tried hard to make a priest of him, but could not; he knew his Bible too well. When they found that they could make nothing of him, and that he was likely to turn some of their people from them, by teaching the Gospel, they sent him back to Madagascar. He returned, after some time, to his own village. Since the death of the old Queen, in 1861, he has been not only the pastor of the mother church at Fiháonana, but really the head of the whole district, and the man to whom all the churches look as to their father and their guide. Although only a clansman, and neither a chief nor a freeman, such is the respect felt for the man, that he has more influence in the district than twenty chiefs.”
It was a great pleasure to Mr. Pillans and myself to see this good man: to talk with him of the hard days of trial; and to hear from his own lips the story of the sufferings endured. He told us of the meetings which the fugitive Christians held for worship and mutual help. They used to come long distances to such meetings; tracts were lent from one to the other, as a tract could often be carried, and hidden away under their garments, when a Bible or Testament could not. Parts of the New Testament were also lent about, even to single leaves; and leaves of the hymn book and Pilgrim’s Progress. He said that they often used to long for a rainy night, in order that they might be able to sing. He showed us the underground passage beneath the floor of his house, by which, when the soldiers came to search, the inmates and visitors could escape. He accompanied us to a pile of immense rocks, and showed us the little cave beneath the big boulder, three feet high, into which they used to creep for their meetings: and the hollow where their Bible was hid away. He brought vividly before us the sufferings and the persecution which his heroic brethren and himself had endured: and in him we realized something of the power of that faith by which all had been sustained. Few finer bodies of Christians have been won to Christ by modern missions than these faithful men and women in Vonizongo.
MARTYRS’ CAVE.
We remained ten days with Mr. Matthews, every day finding some new object of interest. We accompanied him to the principal localities of the district and made a careful survey of the whole: we ascended Lóhavóhitra and had a fine prospect of the country to the west. We were much struck with the respectability of the people: with their bright, intelligent looks: with the self-respect manifest in the demeanour of the Christian women; and with their hearty enjoyment of the religious services at which we were present. Two of the most pleasant days we spent in the island were occupied in visiting the northern groups of churches at Ambóhizánakólona and Sambáina. We were glad to take the pastors by the hand, especially Rainisóa, the pastor at Sambaina, the son and nephew of faithful martyrs, himself a devoted instructor and guide of the people committed to his care. We could not doubt the genuineness and the thoroughness of Christ’s work in Madagascar, when we visited churches like these.
We were clear also on the important point of the true position to be held by the general body of English missionaries in Madagascar. All who do not hold staff appointments in the Theological and Normal Schools, but have the care of churches, should be placed in charge of districts also. Each district should have its centre, with three or four sub-centres. Instruction should be given specially and on system to the preachers and pastors of the entire district: on system also to the people generally by Bible classes maintained at the sub-centres: and to the children in schools. An English missionary in Madagascar can rarely visit the scattered congregations of his district; but by teaching and advising all his preachers, and by systematically working on his principal people at its centre and sub-centres, in the course of a few years he will, under God’s blessing, contribute much to the enlightenment of the whole. This form of labour is thoroughly approved by the missionaries generally, and is carried out to a greater or less degree in all the country districts.
We left Fiháonana on December 23d after a most pleasant visit, with a view to spend Christmas with Mr. and Mrs. Sibree at Ambóhimánga, which lies due east from Vonizongo. We passed under the west face of Lohavóhitra, descending into deep gullies and crossing several streams; came to the river Anjomóka, with which they unite: and which about twelve miles farther to the west and south falls into the Ikopa. We were now on the northern border of Imerina and were approaching the great mountain mass of Andringitra, with its sacred, oracular caves. We passed beneath the western buttresses of Miakótsy; and then under Andringitra itself. It is a noble mountain, without any prominent peak, but presenting an enormous mass with a high curved ridge, the most conspicuous object in North Imerina. To the south are the long green ridges of Ambóhipiháinana and Ambohipoloálina. Passing these we entered a long and narrow valley under the ridge of Ambóatány, and early in the afternoon arrived at Ambóhimánga.
The town of Ambohimanga stands on the long gneiss ridge, which, under the roots of Andringitra, forms the northern boundary of the Imerina plain. The ridge has been broken through at various points; and the hill of Ambohimanga is isolated from those parts of the ridge which lie east and west of it. It is beautifully wooded on all sides. On the north side the houses appear among the trees in three large clusters; and numerous villages are scattered about the clay roots and slopes of the hill. On the south the face of the hill is precipitous: and the gneiss rock shows itself in grey masses, among the woods, in which the white, thin stems of the Amiana trees, gigantic nettles, are specially abundant.