Ambátovóry is a place of peculiar beauty, and is in many ways fitted to be the sanatorium of the Imerina Mission. It is only ten miles from the capital. Bracing air, pure water, noble hills, rich cultivated valleys, patches of forest, beds of ferns, and broad moors, contribute to its beauty. Close to it on the east is the noble mountain of Angávokély; and on the south a fine conical hill, Ambóhitsilého, covered with boulders, and looking like an enormous pine-apple. The ground is high, 4600 feet above the sea; potatoes grow readily, and the soil should produce wheat and English grain and fruit. The Cape laburnum, with its rich clusters, was in full flower: the little thorny Euphorbia brightened the hedges with scarlet or yellow flowers; and all over the hills the wild flowers were abundant.
In their religious knowledge the people of Mr. Peake’s district are far more backward than their neighbours of the Imerina plain. And he will have hard work to get them on. The population immediately around the station amounts to about 12,000: but they are conveniently distributed and three excellent sub-centres for regular visitation, can be formed at no great distance.
There is one bright exception to this state of things. Among the new arrangements of the mission, was the transfer of a group of churches from the care of Mr. Wills and his people to that of Mr. Peake. And two months after our present visit to Ambátovóry, in March 1874, we went to the station again to be present on the occasion. Ten miles to the northward, out on the great moors, is a noble ricevalley, abundantly supplied with water. Around this valley are thickly clustered several fine villages: Ambátoména, Antsámpandráno, and Ambóhitsehéno are the chief: there are many others, and they contain in all a population of more than five thousand souls. Several fountains burst from the higher parts of the moor, and soon run into streams and rivers, all of which are head waters of the Betsiboka. Two of these fine streams run together at the foot of a hill, on which stands a fine village with a church. The hill and village are called Antsámpandráno, “the meeting of the waters.” From this point the river is called the Mánanára. A mile to the north, it flows into a broad level plain, which forms the finest rice plain we saw in the province except the central portion of Imerina itself. We found the people a most amiable, spirited and intelligent people. We visited them in three congregations. Each church was crammed; and in every case there were two hundred and more listeners outside. In the three churches we had not less than three thousand people, including many children. They took a deep interest in the change of superintendence: and heartily approved of it, promising to give Mr. Peake a warm welcome among them. They received us most kindly and treated us royally. At each place they wanted us to dine after the service. We staved off their well meant hospitality the best way we could. But our bearers were less scrupulous. They confessed to having had two dinners within an hour and a half: and some of them tried a third shortly after. We found that these good people were a colony from Ilafy. And that they have themselves sent off a swarm, to people another valley of the Mánanára, forty miles to the north; where they formed the village of Anjozórobé and its neighbours.
Later on and after the visit to Ambátoména in March, we left Ambátovóry to retrace our steps along the Tamatave road and pay a visit to Angávo. After living long among the bare hills of Imerina, we were greatly struck with the richness and profusion of the Angávo forest and with the loveliness of the hills. We saw nothing to equal it in all Madagascar. Thence we passed to Andrángalóaka, also on the borders of the forest, and spent three pleasant days with Dr. Davidson. We saw also Mántasóa, the great factory of former days, in which the chief workshops were built by the Christian martyrs, who had been enslaved. We visited also the iron district, and examined the claims of three towns in that direction to be the residence of an English Missionary. Of these Ambátomanga, the usual stopping place of visitors to the capital in former times, was one. Hills, rocks and valleys, running streams, rice fields, villages, succeeded one another in rich variety and ceaseless numbers. In these country visits we added hourly to our knowledge of this strange but interesting land, and understood more clearly the way in which its people have been led and trained for their present attainments and for the part which they have yet to play in the world’s history. And we looked with deep interest upon the old idol village of Ambóhimánambóla, with its great cactus hedges and inhospitable dogs; and saw the spot, where in September 1869 the idol had been brought from his house and burned before all eyes. “Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.”
CHAPTER V.
HOW IT STRIKES A STRANGER.
Settling in the Capital—My Madagascar Home—Prospect over Imerina—Family Life and Housekeeping—Our Servants, the Garden—Weather, Thunderstorms—Beauty of Imerina—The great City Market: Food, Dress and Manufactures Sold—Low Prices—Money—Settlements of the European Families—Roads—Our Dress—The Sun—The Palace—Social Life in the Capital—Lack of External Stimulus—Sources from which it may be supplied—Memorial Church at Faravohitra—The Martyrs who suffered there—Conference of Missionaries held in January—Topics discussed—Resolutions and Arrangements—Concluding Meeting—Important Re-arrangements resulting from it—Love of the Bible among the People—The Churches in the City—Opening of the Memorial Church at Ampamarinana.