Thirty years in Madagascar

In Short

This memoir records three decades of evangelical work, educational outreach, and church administration in nineteenth-century Madagascar. Written with pragmatic humor and unvarnished detail, it tracks the author's efforts to erect schools, manage rural parishes, distribute medicine, and navigate the fraught transition from native rule to French colonial control. The narrative retains its historical value because it avoids pious idealization, offering instead a clear-eyed accounting of native customs, administrative blunders, religious persecution, and the complex realities of introducing a foreign faith to an emerging state.

The Story

The narrative opens with an extensive historical setup of Malagasy culture and early missionary endeavors. Before widespread Christianization, traditional beliefs dictated severe practices regarding unlucky birth dates and sacrificial rituals. Female infants and twins often faced exposure or lethal trials under the strict authority of local diviners. Early Christian converts faced violent state persecution, suffering execution by fire at Fàravòhitra or being cast over the high cliffs of Ampàmarìnana. These early martyrs sang hymns as they perished, establishing a resilient underground foundation for the faith.

When the monarchy later shifted its policy and ordered the burning of traditional idols, mass conversions followed across the central province of Imèrina. This widespread official adoption created a vast, superficial membership driven more by royal decree than deep religious conviction. Arriving in the central highlands to oversee rural parishes, the author confronts the monumental task of organizing untutored congregations, training native evangelists, and establishing basic social institutions.

Daily mission life requires constant physical and administrative labor. Building double-storied manses and brick schoolhouses demands endless oversight to keep native builders from running walls off the plumb. Parishioners eagerly join structural discussions, negotiating agreements where locals make bricks, gather thatch, and raise walls while the mission supplies timber, glass, and specialized labor. Medical work becomes equally central; distributing quinine counters widespread malarial fevers and gradually undercuts traditional beliefs that attributed disease strictly to sorcery.

Political stability vanishes as conflict with France culminates in full military invasion. French forces shell Antanànarìvo, force the sovereign's surrender, and establish colonial rule. The invasion introduces severe disruptions: native troops appropriate relief supplies, British subjects face naval evacuations, and imperial authorities view Protestant mission networks with intense suspicion. Under early colonial control, Jesuit competitors leverage military authority to seize Protestant properties and suppress established village schools.

Despite destruction caused by subsequent anti-colonial risings—where hundreds of rural chapels are burned and Christian villagers taken captive—the native congregations rebuild. Returning captives immediately thatch roofless walls, reopen schools, and purchase hundreds of newly translated Bibles, demonstrating an enduring local commitment that outlasts both monarchical coercion and colonial interference.

How It Unfolds

Darkness and the early martyrs Severe native customs determine the fate of newborns through trial by cattle or suffocation, while early Malagasy Christian converts endure brutal public executions, facing the fire at Fàravòhitra or being thrown from the cliffs of Ampàmarìnana.

The government burnings and rapid expansion The royal government orders the destruction of traditional idols, causing thousands of citizens to nominally embrace Christianity out of political loyalty, which wildly expands church attendance while diluting personal understanding.

Building amidst ignorance Constructing the first two-storied brick manse at Fìhàonana requires continuous surveillance over lazy or untrained bricklayers, while local elders express terror that unprecedented high walls will collapse in severe seasonal hurricanes.

Confronting feigned illness and money claims Parish leaders attempt to hide their lack of formal clothing by feigning sickness during surprise visits, while palanquin bearers who demand higher cash wages discover that medical care like tooth extraction will no longer be offered for free.

Combating fever and sorcery Severe malarial outbreaks are treated by forcibly administering quinine mixture to superstitious villagers, successfully curing the sick and transforming an initial terror of medicine into an eager market for disease-curing charms.

War, bombardment, and French conquest French troops advance onto the hills surrounding the capital, bombarding the city and shelling the palace yard until the Malagasy flag is lowered, ending native sovereignty and instituting military rule.

Colonial harassment and persistent faith Jesuit factions utilize French military officers to divide chapels and suppress Protestant services, but native believers recover from rebel captive camps, rebuild their destroyed churches, and purchase new scriptures to restore their community life.

The People

• Thomas T. Matthews wants to establish self-sustaining, genuine Christian communities and educational centers across central Madagascar. He battles architectural incompetence, tropical fevers, native apathy, and hostile colonial officials, evolving from an idealistic preacher into a shrewd administrator and practical physician.
• Razàka seeks to lead his local congregation at Fìhàonana with dignity and order. He acts as a key mediator between the foreign missionary and the village population, navigating local structural fears, exposing fraudulent travelling preachers, and directing construction efforts.
• Rainilàiàrivòny seeks to preserve national independence and maintain royal authority. Born under an unlucky astrological sign but spared as an infant, he rises to become Prime Minister, overseeing the state-directed burning of idols and later facing the collapse of his government under French bombardment.
• General Gallieni wants to pacify the island and secure French colonial dominance. Misled by hostile advisors and religious partisans, he initially views Protestant missionaries as political enemies, slowly revising his judgment only after inspecting the interior provinces directly.

In Its Own Voice

"There were different ways of putting these unfortunate innocents to death."

The author outlines the harsh traditional divinations that governed infant life prior to the widespread arrival of Christian teaching.

"Oh, sir, let’s return to friendship--and draw my tooth!"

A native palanquin bearer yields his wage demands after discovering that free mission dental care is tied to personal goodwill.

"A new detachment of black gowns has just arrived, and is beginning to spread everywhere."

A field correspondent reports on the aggressive expansion of Jesuit rivals backed by French military authorities.

What It's Really About

The book explores the friction between nominal religious conformity and genuine personal transformation. When the Malagasy crown abolished traditional idols, millions joined the church out of fear or geopolitical expediency rather than spiritual conviction. The text documents the long, tedious work required to turn state-mandated conversion into authentic literacy, moral order, and community leadership.

It also examines the collision between indigenous culture, European imperialism, and Christian internationalism. The narrative illustrates how native society adapted to rapid modernizing forces, highlighting the tragic irony of European military forces disrupting native Christian institutions under the guise of civilizing missions.

Why Read It Today

This account appeals to readers of colonial history, historical missiology, and African history who appreciate plainspoken, unvarnished primary sources. Rather than offering a pious, idealized narrative of easy conversions, the author writes with dry humor, detailing administrative blunders, native trickery, construction disasters, and medical emergencies. The text moves fluidly from tragic historical accounts of public executions to absurd disputes over rented parish clothes and tooth-drawing diplomacy.

Readers must navigate nineteenth-century imperial attitudes, paternalistic commentary, and archaic orthography. The author frequently judges traditional customs through a strict Victorian lens and exhibits clear anti-Catholic biases when describing French colonial policy. Yet the book remains deeply rewarding for its rich cultural observations and its transparent recording of how ordinary Malagasy villagers built, defended, and sustained their own educational and religious institutions during an era of extreme political violence.