On The Portuguese Going Among Them, No Arms Were
Found In Their Possession Except A Few Guns They Had Procured From The
Moors And Hollanders, Which They Knew Not How To Use, And Were Even
Fearful Of Handling.
They have excellent amber[5], white sandal,
tortoises, ebony, sweet woods of various kinds, and abundance of slaves,
with plenty of cattle of all kinds, the flesh of their goats being as
sweet as mutton.
The island likewise produces abundance of sea cows,
sea-horses, monkeys, and some say tigers, with a great many snakes which
are not very venomous. It has no elephants, horses, asses, lions, bears,
deer, foxes, nor hares.
[Footnote 1: Madagascar, between the latitudes of 12 deg. 30' and 35 deg. 45' S.
and the longitudes of 44 deg. and 53 deg. W. from Greenwich, rather exceeds 1000
statute miles from N.N.W to S.S.E. and is about 220 miles in mean width
from east to west. This island therefore, in a fine climate, capable of
growing all the tropical productions in perfection, and excellently
situated for trade, extends to about 200,000 square miles, or 128
millions of acres, yet is abandoned entirely to ignorant
barbarians. - E.]
[Footnote 2: The north end of Madagascar, called the point of St
Ignatius, is 70 miles from east to west, the eastern headland being Cape
Natal or de Ambro, and the western Cape St Sebastian. - E.]
[3][Footnote 3: 3 Cape Antongil on the east coast is probably here
meant, in lat.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 8 of 842
Words from 1795 to 2049
of 230997
