Since 1897 high schools, and medical and technical schools, and a few primary schools, have been formed by the French government; and all other schools have been placed under regulations issued by an educational department, the scholars being required to learn the French language; but until the end of 1906 the bulk of the educational work was carried on by the various missions. At that date the anti-clerical movement in France began to affect Madagascar. In all the missions the churches had, in the vast majority of cases, been used as school-houses, but in November 1906 it was strictly forbidden to use churches for educational purposes after two months from that date; and the effect of the decree, with other provisions, was to close hundreds of schools, probably three-fourths of the whole number.
For many years (1862-1896), all medical aid to the sick, the formation of hospitals and dispensaries, the training of native doctors, midwives and nurses, and the production of medical literature was entirely due to the Protestant missionaries, viz. the London Missionary Society, the Friends and the Norwegians. Numbers of young men received a full course of medical and surgical training, and were awarded diplomas after passing strict examinations. This work is now mostly in charge of a government department, and mission medical work is much restricted; but for thirty-five years the Malagasy owed all such help to the benevolence of European Christians. Besides care for the sick in ordinary diseases, asylums for lepers were for many years carried on; two by the London Missionary Society, one, a large one, with 800 or 900 inmates, by the Norwegian Society, and another by the Roman Catholic mission. This last, with one of those of the L.M.S., is now taken over by the government.
Authorities.—As regards the scientific aspects of the country, almost everything of value in previous books and papers is included in the magnificent work (1882 et seq.), in 28 4to vols., by Alfred Grandidier, entitled Histoire naturelle, physique, et politique de Madagascar. Many of the volumes consist of coloured lithograph plates illustrating the natural history of the country, as well as atlases of maps from the earliest period.
General: Étienne de Flacourt, Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar (Paris, 1658); Madagascar, or Robert Drury’s Journal during Fifteen Years’ Captivity on that Island (London, 1729; new ed., 1890); Voyages et mémoires de Maurice Auguste, comte de Benyowski (Paris, 1791); Froberville, Histoire de Madagascar (Isle de France, 1809); Ellis, History of Madagascar (London, 1838); Guillain, Documents sur ... la partie occidentale de Madagascar (Paris, 1845); Macé Descartes, Histoire et géographie de Madagascar (Paris, 1846); Ellis, Three Visits to Madagascar (London, 1859); J. Sibree, Madagascar and its People (London, 1870); Tantara ny Andrìana eto Madagascar: Histoire des rois d’Imérina d’après les manuscrits malgaches (Antanànarìvo, 1875); Mullens, Twelve Months in Madagascar (London, 1875); Blanchard, L’Île de Madagascar (Paris, 1875); Dahle, Madagaskar og dets Beboere (Christiania, 1876-1878); Sibree and Baron (eds.), The Antanànarìvo Annual, Nos. i-xxiv. (1875-1900, pp. 3115); Notes, reconnaissances, et explorations, revue mensuelle (Antanànarìvo, 5 vols., 1897-1899, pp. 3041); Sibree, A Madagascar Bibliography (Antanànarìvo, 1885); Vaissière, Histoire de Madagascar (Paris, 1884), Vingt ans à Madagascar (Paris, 1885); Oliver, Madagascar: an Historical and Descriptive Account (2 vols., London, 1886); Cousins, Madagascar of To-day (London, 1895); Bulletin du comité de Madagascar (monthly) (Paris, 1895, et seq.); Sibree, Madagascar before the Conquest (London, 1896); Catat, Voyage à Madagascar (Paris, 1895); Annuaire de Madagascar (Antanànarìvo, 1898, et seq.); J. S. Gallieni; Rapport d’ensemble sur la situation générale de Madagascar (2 vols., Paris, 1899); Revue de Madagascar, mensuelle, illustrée (1895, et seq.); Guide de l’immigrant à Madagascar (3 vols., with atlas, Paris, 1899); Collection des anciens ouvrages relatifs à Madagascar, par les soins du comité de Madagascar (a collection and translation of all works relating to the island from 1500 to 1800, in 10 vols.), (Paris, 1899 et seq.); Bulletin trimestriel de l’académie de Malgache (quarterly) (Antanànarìvo, 1902 et seq.); G, Grandidier et autres, Madagascar au début du xxe siècle (Paris, 1902); G. Grandidier, Bibliographie de Madagascar (2 vols., Paris, 1905 and 1907).
Political: Sibree, “What are ‘French Claims’ on Madagascar?” Madagascar Tracts (1882); Oliver, True Story of the French Dispute in Madagascar (London, 1885); Shaw, Madagascar and France (London, 1885); Saillens, Nos droits sur Madagascar (Paris, 1885); K. Blind “The Fictitious French Claim to Madagascar,” Contemp. Rev. (1894); Martineau, Étude de politique contemporaine. Madagascar (Paris, 1894); Rentier, Les droits de la France sur Madagascar (1895); Corlay, Notre campagne à Madagascar (Paris, 1896); Knight, Madagascar in War-time (London, 1896); Carol, Chez les Hovas (Paris, 1898); Gallieni, Neuf ans à Madagascar (Paris, 1908).
Philology: Houtman, Spraak ende woord boek in de Maleische ende Madagaskarsche talen (Amsterdam, 1603); Voyage de C. van Heemskerk; vocabulaire de la langue parlée dans l’Île Saint-Laurent (Amsterdam, 1603) Megiser, Beschreibung der Mechtigen und Weitberhümbten Insul Madagascar, with dictionary and dialogues (Altenburg, 1609); Arthus, Colloquia latino-maleyica et madagascarica (Frankfort, 1613); Challand, Vocabulaire français-malgache et malgache-français (Île de France, 1773); Froberville, Dictionnaire français-madécasse (3 vols., Île de France, 1809); Freeman and Johns, Dictionary of the Malagasy Language (Eng.-Mal. and Mal.-Eng.), (Antanànarìvo, 1835); Dalmond, Vocabulaire et grammaire pour les langues malgaches, Sàkalàva et Bétsimisàra (Bourbon, 1842); R. C. Missionaries’ Dictionnaire français-malgache (Réunion, 1853); and Dictionnaire malgache-français (Réunion, 1855); Van der Tunk, “Outlines of a Grammar of the Malagasy Language,” Jour. Roy. Asiat. Soc. (1860); Ailloud, Grammaire malgache-hòva (Antanànarìvo, 1872); W. E. Cousins, Concise Introduction to the Study of the Malagasy Language as spoken in Imèrina (Antanànarìvo, 1873); Marre de Marin, Grammaire malgache (Paris, 1876); id., Essai sur le malgache, ou Étude comparée des langues javanaise, malgache, et malayse (Paris, 1876); id., Le Jardin des racines océaniennes (Paris, 1876); Dahle, Specimens of Malagasy Folk-lore (Antanànarìvo, 1877); and W. E. Cousins, “The Malagasy Language,” in Trans. Phil. Soc. (1878). Besides these there are several valuable papers by Dahle in the yearly numbers of The Antanànarìvo Annual (ante) (1876-1877); Richardson, A New Malagasy-English Dictionary (Antanànarìvo, 1885); Cousins and Barrett, Malagasy Proverbs (Antanànarìvo, 1885); Caussèque, Grammaire malgache (Antanànarìvo, 1886); Abinal et Malzac, Dictionnaire malgache-français (Antanànarìvo, 1889); Brandstetter, “Die Beziehungen des Malagasy zum Malaiischen,” Malaio-polynesische Forschungen, pt. 2 (Lucerne, 1893).
Missions and Religious History: Freeman and Johns, Narrative of the Persecutions of the Christians in Madagascar (London, 1840); Prout, Madagascar, its Missions and its Martyrs (London, 1863); Ellis, Madagascar Revisited (London, 1867); id., The Martyr Church (London, 1869); “Religion in Madagascar,” Ch. Quar. Rev. (1878); Briggs, The Madagascar Mission (L.M.S. 1879); id., Ten Years’ Review of Mission Work in Madagascar (L.M.S. 1870-1880, 1881); Johnson, Review of Work of the Friends’ Foreign Mission Association in Madagascar, 1867-1880 (Antanànarìvo, 1880); Vaissière, Histoire de Madagascar, ses habitants et ses missionaires (Paris, 1884); The Church in Madagascar (S.P.G., 15 years’ progress, 1874-1889, 1889); La Liberté religieuse à Madagascar (Paris, 1897); Matthews, Thirty Years in Madagascar (London, 1904); Sibree, The L.M.S. Mission in Madagascar (L.M.S. Mission Hand Books, London, 1907); id., “Christian Missions in Madagascar and French Colonial Policy,” The East and the West (Jan. 1909); and General Gallieni’s “Neuf ans à Madagascar”, Journal of the African Society (April 1909).
(J. Si.*)
[1] In the apparent absence of any Cambrian formation above them, there is little doubt that these rocks are Archean, although this cannot be absolutely proved.