tion by General Zurlinden, who was at once called to account in the Chamber of Deputies for his predecessor's act in giving the above contract to a British firm. General Metzinger with the advance-guard of the expedition landed at Majunga on the last day of February 1895; his object being to clear the Hova garrisons away from the banks of the river as far as Suberbieville, to enable the stores and the main body of General Duchesne's army to be landed at that stage without delay or difficulty. If the river-boats, with the steam launches to tow them, had been on the spot and in readiness, all might have gone well. But many unforeseen delays occurred. Owing to various mishaps en route, the sections of the riverboats arrived late, and when they had arrived it was found they could not be landed or put together easily, because the piers and unloading wharves had not been constructed, owing to miscalculations as to the depths and formation of the shore for which the naval officers were responsible. It was said that considerable friction between the naval and military services at Majunga caused a vast deal of unnecessary transhipment and inconvenience in disembarking the troops at Majunga, and in forwarding stores up the river. No difficulty whatever was experienced in driving the Hova garrisons from the camps and slightly fortified villages within range of the shells from the gunboats on both banks of the Betsiboka. The resistance encountered was practically nil; and after the first experience of the effects caused by the explosion of a mélinite projectile, the mere act of placing a gun in action was sufficient to cause the Hova rabble to evacute any position they had taken up. General Metzinger, however, soon found that, in the absence of boats to take the stores to Suberbieville, it was imperative to transport them by land; and for this purpose his men had to cut a road along the right bank of the river over very broken country intersected by innumerable streams, gullies, and morasses, which entailed numbers of bridges, for which all the material had to be carried from the primary base. The military train was furnished with numbers of peculiar vehicles-the famous Lefebvre carts—which were in fact light iron tanks, open and closed, on two wheels, each constructed to carry a load which could be drawn by a single mule. To admit of their usage a track 5 yards in breadth was required, and the extra labour thus entailed on the combatants was extreme, for the soldiers had to perform the · work of navvies, work severe enough for unaccustomed hands in any climate; whilst under the climatic influence of 18° south of the Equator it was cruel, and, as it proved, unbearable. On the 12th of April General Duchesne, accompanied by his Head-quarter Head-quarter Staff and by M. Ranchot, his Assistant Political Officer, embarked at Marseilles for the scene of action. The intentions of the French Government at this time are plainly expressed in the Foreign Minister's letter to his Agent, M. Ranchot, as follows: En décidant l'envoi d'une expédition à Madagascar, le Gouvernement de la République s'est proposé de mettre fin à la situation intolérable créée par le Gouvernement malgache, qui, malgré nos protestations réitérées, se refusait obstinément à exécuter les traités conclus par lui avec la France, de nous procurer des garanties efficaces contre le retour des difficultés qui se sont produites, et de nous permettre, par le contrôle que nous exercerons désormais sur le Gouvernement malgache, de faire cesser les abus ainsi que de provoquer les réformes destinées à faire entrer définitivement Madagascar dans la voie du progrès et de la civilisation.' At the same time the instructions furnished to the Commanderin-chief of the Expedition by M. Hanotaux plainly define the simple objects of the campaign, now on the eve of opening, in these words: 'Nous n'avons d'autre intention que d'assurer d'une manière incontestée à Madagascar la situation d'État protecteur qui appartient à la France. Il nous a paru que ce résultat ne pouvait être obtenu que par une action militaire directe au siège de la puissance du Gouvernement malgache. C'est cette action militaire que vous avez pour mission d'accomplir, en installant une garnison à Tananarive et un détachement à Fianarantsoa.'t The General reached Majunga on the 6th of May, where he found half of his forces had safely arrived in the fourteen transports which had preceded him, whilst the other half was following in close succession-in fact faster than the arrangements for landing could be provided for them-so that by the end of the month the whole of the expedition had been put ashore in the enemy's country. It ought to have been possible, with the active co-operation of the Navy, to transport the main body straight to the secondary base by water without delay; but meantime General Metzinger's pioneering column pushing forward past Marovoay, which important post had fallen on the 2nd of May, had not progressed beyond Trabonjy and Beseva, on the left bank of the Betsiboka river, and the head-quarters of General Duchesne could only be moved forward to Marolambo, with the advanced posts at Ambato. It was not until the 6th of June that the passage of the Betsiboka river, at its confluence with the Ikopa, was effected, and three days subsequently the Hova fort at Mevatanana overlooking the large establishment *Livre jaune,' 1885-1895. Dispatch of March 29, 1895, No. 61. and and works at Suberbieville was easily taken possession of, the Malagasy retreating southwards towards Andriba, where a mass of fresh troops from Imerina had been concentrated. Here it is necessary to give a brief explanation as to the origin of this large foreign settlement at Suberbieville. It will be remembered that, after the conclusion of the Franco-Hova war of 1883-5, numerous applications had been made by syndicates of all nationalities for concessions of land, for mining and other industrial purposes. Of these the most important was a French company which was formed to work the auriferous deposits on the Ikopa river under M. Léon Suberbie, who had long been associated with the former enterprises of MM. Laborde and Lambert in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. A concession over lands about Ampasiria was granted by the Hova Minister to M. Suberbie for five years, from 1887 to 1892, on certain conditions. M. Suberbie engaged to furnish all machinery for working the ore, paying the European engineers and artisans, whilst Rainilaiarivony undertook to supply a large number of native labourers as well as guards to keep them to their work. In return for this, 10 per cent. of the gold extracted was first to be paid over to Rainilaiarivony, and next the profits from the remaining gold were to be divided equally between M. Suberbie and the Minister.* Under these conditions goldwashing was commenced by about a thousand of these natives in 1888; whilst many of them were employed in the construction of workshops and dwellings for the Europeans without pay, although a small dole was allowed to each labourer in proportion to the amount of gold dust collected. Mining operations were commenced, a tramway laid down, and by 1894 a settlement with a considerable population had been formed on the banks of the Ikopa at this spot, a short distance from Mevatanana, the principal Hova garrison town of the district. * A Joint Stock Company was floated by M. Léon Suberbie, under the auspices of the Comptoir National d'Escompte, on the 20th of June, 1895, entitled 'La Compagnie Coloniale des Mines d'Or de Suberbieville et de l'Ouest de Madagascar.' In reference to the gold-workings in the Ikopa Valley, an official letter published in the Hova 'Red Book' of October 1894, p. 11, will be found interesting: In May 1894 a French employé of M. Suberbie, by name M. Schupp, shot at and killed with his revolver a Malagasy soldier. M. Schupp attempted to justify his action by the plea that the soldier had stolen some gold; but all enquiries failed to elicit any evidence in support of the accusation. M. L. Suberbie and his Company owe to the Malagasy Government, in conformity with the agreement made for the exploitation of gold at Mevatanana, a sum of $1,370,008 (6,850,040 francs), against which debt they have only paid but a very minute amount. The business of the works has been carried on in a way to discourage the labourers. The salaries were insufficient even for the purchase of their daily food.' General |