THE FRENCH CONQUEST OF MADAGASCAR. 750 quarrellingwithandgettingridof theirEuropean militaryadvisers,praying forBritish intervention (all hope of which had been cut off by the Anglo-French Convention), holding reviews in the capital, and consoling themselves that the French would be mostly destroyed by fever and starvation, and the remnant of them harassed to death by guerilla warfare in the wooded hills. There was, too, some wild talk of firing the forests while the French weremarching through them, the only weak point of this ingenious plan for getting ridof the enemybeing that a Madagascar forest will not burn till it has been cut down and stacked for a whole dry season. The Hovas had enrolled a largebodyof troops, and had plenty of modern weapons— Martinis, Sniders, mountain guns and Gatlings— but weapons are not of much use in the hands of unwarlikemen, and the course of the campai'— showed that the militaryspirit which had mac. the Hovas the conquering and ruling race of Madagascar was a thing of the past.

a Sakalava battalion of the advanced guardand a Hova force, which broke before abayonetcharge of the Sakalavas. By the end of May the expedition hadreachedtheconfluence of theIkopa and Betsiboka Rivers. It was reported that a Hova armyhad concentrated for the defence of Mevatanana,now close in front. The place is thus described by Mr. Frank Vincent, an American traveller,who made a journey across Madagascar some months before the war. "Mevatanana is but a little way from the SuberbievilleGold Mines. Thenamemeans'an excellent site for a city,' and is appropriate, for it stands on a highridge of clay, 240 feet above the level. It is splendidly fortified by nature, and remindedme at once of thegeneralappearance of thecity ofConstantine inAlgeria. With modern guns ?"d soldiers it would certainly be an ir ;.'-.gnvmIe post. From the northern end of the hill— where stands the house originally occupiedbyM.Suberbie— youhave a magnificent panorama. To the east and south the country is empty;to the west, across tlae River Ikopa, at long intervals, are some Sakalava villages. Mevatanana contains 200 houses. That of the Governor is in a broad open space, close to which are theprincipal shops. It is two miles from here to the Ikopa at the point to which,in the wet season, theriveris navigable forcanoes."

General Duchesne landedand took command at Majunga on April 12th, and the advance inland began at the end of the month. On May 2nd, Maravoay, a Hova post on the river of the same name, wascaptured. Serious fighting hadbeen expectedat thispoint,and anelaborate plan of attack had been arranged. Captain Bienaime went up the river with a flotilla of steam launches and boats,conveying a landingparty of bluejackets and Turcos. As the flotilla cameinsight of the fort of Maravoay, the Hova artillery opened fire, and the bow-guns and Hotchkiss cannon of the flotilla replied with a shower of shells, the range being about 2,700 yards, or rather more than a mile and a half. In an hour the fort was silenced. Meanwhile a column of infantry, with some mountain guns, under General Metzinger (one of Duchesne's brigadiers), was moving round to the land side of the place. The appearance of this column, threatening their line of retreat, was a signal for the Hovas to abandon the fort and village, pursued as they ranby shells from the mountain guns and long-range volleys from the repeating rifles of the French. The Hova Governor of the province had been in command, and he had been so hurried in taking his departure that he had left behind him in the fort his papers and his silver staff of office.

Here it was expected that the Hovas would make a stubborn defence. But Mevatanana on its boldridge was captured as easily as Maravoay on the swampy plain. In his despatch dated June 13th, General Duchesne thus reported the capture of the place : " Our troops occupied Mevatanana on the morningof the 9th instant.

The artillery opened fire at long range with such effect as to compel the enemy, whose position was simultaneously turned on the north and east, to beat a retreat. Our loss was only two tirailleurs (skirmishers) slightly wounded; but the troops have to undergo great fatigues. Two quick-firing guns have beencaptured."

The general's remark that the troopshad to endure great fatigue seems to be ahalf admission of regret that his victory cost so little fighting. South of Mevatanana lay the tract of land, 100 squaremiles in extent,granted toanenterprising Frenchman, M. Suberbie, as a goldfield, on condition of theHova Government sharing the results. There wereextensive alluvial diggings along the streams flowing into the Ikopa, and some shafts had beensunk to gold reefs on the higher ground. Suberbieville, the settlement where the Europeanengineers had their houses There was a halt at Maravoay to bring up supplies. It was not till the second week of May that the march began again. One of its earliest incidents was a brief skirmish between