o do them homage, the message
proceeded:

"As to baptism, societies, places of worship, and the observance of the
Sabbath--how many rulers are there in the land? Is it not I, alone, that
rule? These things are not to be done. They are unlawful in my country,"
said the Queen, "for they are not the customs of our ancestors."

As a result of this "kabary" 400 officers were reduced in rank and fines
were paid for 2,000 others, and thus was ushered in a persecution which
lasted a quarter of a century.

The Rev. William Ellis, on English missionaries, in his book entitled
"Madagascar Revisited," states that the first martyr for Christ who
suffered there in 1836 was "Rosolama." She was a Christian woman,
between twenty and thirty years of age, bearing no common name, for
Rosolama signifies peace and happiness. She was imprisoned at
Ambotonakonga, the site of the first house built exclusively for
Christian worship in the country. A memorial church has been erected on
the spot. When brought to the place she knelt down and asked a few
minutes to pray. This was granted, and then her body fell, pierced with
the spears of her executioners.

[Illustration: REV. J. P. ROBINSON,

Pastor of First Baptist Church, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Eminent as a Successful Preacher, with Much Originality of Thought and
Strength of Convictions.]

The second martyr, Rayfarolahy, a young man, suffered on the same place
some time after. At the request of Rosolama when she was taken forth to
death he had walked by her side to the place of execution and offered
words of encouragement to her to the last. When brought to the place
himself the executioners seized him and were about, as was their custom,
to forcibly throw him down, he said to them calmly, "There is no need to
do that; I will not cause any trouble." He also asked to be allowed to
pray, and then gently laid himself down and received the executioners'
spears. The measures taken to destroy Christianity were not at all times
equally severe. The years that stand out with special prominence are
1835, 1837, 1840, 1849 and 1857. Of what took place in 1840 was depicted
at the time in a letter written by Rev. D. Griffiths, who was then
residing at Antananarivo. The nine condemned Christians were taken past
Mr. Griffiths' house. "Ramonisa," he says, "looked at me and smiled;
others also looked at me, and their faces shone like those of angels in
the posture of prayer and wrestling with God. They w