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Reassessing ROBERT DRURY'S JOURNAL as A Historical Source for Southern Madagascar*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Mike Parker Pearson
Mike Parker Pearson*
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
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Extract

In 1729 a book entitled Madagascar: or Robert Drury's Journal During Fifteen Years Captivity on that Island was published in London. It describes the shipwreck of an East Indiaman on the south coast of Madagascar, the enforced stay of the crew at the royal capital of the Antandroy people, the crew's escape and massacre, the survival of the midshipmen, including Drury, as royal slaves, and Drury's eventual escape to the English colony of St. Augustine. It purports to be his authentic account, digested into order by a transcriber or editor and published at the request of his friends. A certification of its authenticity is provided at the front of the first edition by Captain William Mackett, the ship's captain who brought Drury back to England, and the author states that if anyone doubts the veracity of his tale or wishes for a further account, he is “to be found every day at Old Tom's Coffee-house in Birchin Lane, London.”

The tale bears many superficial resemblances to Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Knox's An Historical Relation of Ceylon and the anonymous editor is at pains to state in the preface that the book was undoubtedly likely to be “…taken for such another romance as ‘Robinson Crusoe’…” whereas it was “…nothing else but a plain, honest narrative of matter of fact.” If this is the case, then Drury's account provides a fascinating insight into the world of an emergent Malagasy kingdom at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This was a crucial moment in Madagascar's history, when the European world of long-distance trade, slaving, and piracy was exerting a strong impact on the local people, culminating in colonization by France two centuries later.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 23 , January 1996 , pp. 233 - 256
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1996

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Footnotes

*

For readers' convenience, I have used “Antandroy” throughout as both noun and adjective, although the form “Tandroy” would nowadays be more appropriate. Also I have used the term “cow” to indicate the singular of the species, female or male, rather than a specifically female beast.

References

Notes

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22. Ibid., 173n259, 281n449.

23. Drury, , Madagascar, 100, 100–06Google Scholar: Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 95n130.

24. Ibid., 12.

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26. Burney, David A., “Late Holocene Environmental Changes in Arid Southwestern Madagascar,” Quaternary Research 40 (1993), 98–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27. Ibid.; Heurtebize, Georges, “Les anciennes cultures de l'Androy central,” Taloha 10 (1986), 171–80Google Scholar; Parker Pearson, “Tombs and Monumentality;” Parker Pearson et al., “Finding Fenoarivo;” Garrod, S., Clark, C., and Pearson, M. Parker, “Tombs, Forests and Remote Sensing: Landscape Archaeology in the Semi-Arid Spiny Forests of Southern Madagascar,” Proceedings of the 1995 Conference on Remote Sensing (Southampton, 1995).Google Scholar

28. Drury, , Madagascar, 45.Google Scholar

29. Ibid., 48.

30. Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 45n37.

31. Defoort, E., L'Androy: essai de monographie (Antananarivo, 1913), 143n2.Google Scholar

32. Drury, , Madagascar, 57–58.Google Scholar

33. Ibid., 66.

34. Ibid., 150.

35. Ibid., 198.

36. Ibid., 192: Vohimena dominates the region contra Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 177n262.

37. Drury, , Madagascar, 165, 168, 189–90.Google Scholar

38. Ibid., 192, 209-10, 249; in his escape, Drury is advised to go south from Angavo until he reaches “Vohitch Futey” and leave it on his right hand, heading northwest. If we substitute north for south then there is no difficulty with the directions.

39. Ibid., 203.

40. Ibid., 210.

41. Ibid., 64.

42. Ibid., 71.

43. For Benbow's surviving account of the massacre, see Leibbrandt, H.C.V., “John Benbow's story as told at the Cape to the Dutch,” Précis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope: Letters Dispatched, 1696-1708 (Amsterdam, 1708), 310–12.Google Scholar

44. Drury, , Madagascar, 136–37.Google Scholar

45. Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 199n302, 203n307.

46. Drury, , Madagascar, 211–15.Google Scholar

47. Drury, , Madagascar, 272.Google Scholar

48. Contra Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 202n306.

49. Drury, , Madagascar, 91Google Scholar; Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 88n117.

50. Drury, , Madagascar, 82.Google Scholar

51. Ibid., 77.

52. Ibid., 69.

53. Ibid., 225.

54. Ibid., 107.

55. Ibid., 59.

56. Ibid., 110.

57. Anivo, according to Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 119n168.

58. Ibid.

59. Drury, , Madagascar, 217.Google Scholar

60. The currant tree is perhaps the voanantsidrana or Cape Gooseberry according to Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 191n288; either the tree with black plums or the bush with sloelike fruit is the lamoty; the tall tree with pear-treelike leaves is unidentified; and the miañe's (stinging tree) bark does make strong ropes; Drury, , Madagascar, 207.Google Scholar

61. Cedar does not grow in Madagascar and ebony is not found in Androy; Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 192n291. There are, however, various trees which might be mistaken for these.

62. Drury, , Madagascar, 199, 207.Google Scholar

63. The edible white root (ibid., 76), is a bañe; the “roebouche,” ibid., 107-08, is probably the roy bosy according to Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 103n146; the “vauhovalumy” is perhaps the vaho veto according to ibid., 104n148; the “faungidge” (Drury, , Madagascar, 138Google Scholar), is the fangitse. The “verlaway” (ibid., 139) and “verlaway-vole” (ibid.) cannot be traced; the latter, according to Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 130n183, may be derived from Flacourt's reference to a non-existent plant. The “suser” (Drury, , Madagascar, 222Google Scholar) is a soso—Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 206n313, suggests that these are found in the south.

64. Drury, , Madagascar, 138.Google Scholar

65. Ibid., 81.

66. Ibid., 91.

67. Ibid., 143-44.

68. Ibid., 137-38.

69. These wild humpless cattle were known in southern Madagascar as “aolo” (actually haolo); Defoort, , Androy, 147Google Scholar; for the African context see Blench, Roger, “Ethnographic and Linguistic Evidence for the Prehistory of African Ruminant Livestock, Horses and Ponies” in Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Andeh, B. and Okpoko, A., eds., The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns (London, 1993), 74–75Google Scholar; Juliet Clutton-Brock, “The Spread of Domestic Animals in Africa” in ibid., 66-67.

70. For the “wild fox” see Drury, , Madagascar, 212, 214Google Scholar, and Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 197n301; for wild dogs see Drury, , Madagascar, 132.Google Scholar

71. Ibid., 208, 312-13.

72. Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 151n212. However, they are considered locally to be generally black rather than two-tone and thus Drury's story holds.

73. Drury, , Madagascar, 206.Google Scholar

74. Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 192n292, claims there are no lobsters in Madagascar, but presumably she means the true lobster. I would presume that Drury is using the term “lobster” as it would commonly be understood in English, for a large marine crustacean whether it be the spiny lobster (Palinurus sp.) or the true lobster (Homarus sp.). Spiny lobsters are easy to find along the south coast of Madagascar. The sea urchin is the sorandriake; ibid., 206n313.

75. Drury, , Madagascar, 81.Google Scholar

76. Ibid., 113.

77. Ibid., 86.

78. Ibid.

79. Ibid., 78.

80. Ibid., 109; Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 105n149, disagrees. Antandroy women today have the right to drink directly from the cow in this fashion.

81. Drury, , Madagascar, 79, 161.Google Scholar

82. Ibid., 150.

83. Ibid., 86, 91; in the dry season the men and boys may take the cattle many kilometers from the home village contra Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 83n101.

84. Ibid., 89.

85. Ibid., 47, 54, 58, 75, 121, 137, 145, 151, 180, and 217. Today baking and broiling are not practiced, and roasting of meat (on sticks propped towards an outdoor fire) is rare.

86. Ibid., 58.

87. Ibid., 86; Blench, , “Ethnographic and Linguistic Evidence,” 80–81.Google Scholar

88. Drury, , Madagascar, 86.Google Scholar

89. Ibid., 107, 166, and 119; Drury calls the spade a hoe, which it resembles.

90. Ibid., 107, 207.

91. Potatoes (ibid., 54, 107); guinea corn (ibid., 61, 78, 155, 193, and 207), presumably sorghum (Indian millet); carravances (ibid., 78, 155), like gray peas and might be chickpeas according to Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 74n77. Calavance (or caravance) is a type of pulse (Dolichos sp.)

92. Drury, , Madagascar, 225.Google Scholar

93. Ibid., 138.

94. Ibid., 107, 111.

95. Ibid., 107, 166.

96. Contra Molet-Sauvaget, , Madagascar, 18.Google Scholar

97. Drury, , Madagascar, 140–41.Google Scholar

98. Ibid., 51 and 233.

99. Ibid., 68; Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 65n68.

100. For houses and villages see Drury, , Madagascar, 57, 60, 62.Google Scholar

101. Ibid., 57, 78.

102. Ibid., 89, 125.

103. Ibid., 263; as Drury describes for the houses of important men among the Sakalava.

104. Ibid., 119, 124.

105. Ibid., 57, 198.

106. Pottery for cooking (ibid., 54, 58; this has been confirmed by archeological fieldwork which indicates that potting died out about a century ago), and for drinking rum (ibid., 59); calabashes (ibid., 58) are a commonly used water container today; wooden mortars (ibid., 207) are used today; wooden tubs but not platters (ibid., 58, 68, 82, 89, 116, 140-41, and 179) are still in use.

107. Ibid., 58.

108. Spoons (ibid., 89, 116) and mats (ibid., 59, 61, 119).

109. Spades (ibid., 80, 89, 107, 119, and 180; variously described as shovels or hoes); axes (ibid., 91, 107, 119 and 180); fire drills (ibid., 80); and digging sticks (ibid., 123).

110. Ibid., 203-04.

111. Ibid., 59.

112. Ibid., 73.

113. Ibid., 129.

114. Ibid., 134.

115. Ibid., 83.

116. Ibid.

117. Cartouche box and powder horn (ibid., 115); balls, powder and flints (ibid., 168); and lead slugs (ibid., 193).

118. Ibid., 190.

119. Ibid., 203-04; this is confirmed by the lack of imported pottery or other artefacts on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century settlement sites.

120. Ibid., 95; this word is not known today.

121. Ibid., 98 and 164.

122. Ibid., 89.

123. Ibid., 107, 111, 180.

124. Parker Pearson et al., “Finding Fenoarivo;” this is a red glass bead from the likely site of Fenoarivo in the early eighteenth century.

125. Drury, , Madagascar, 83.Google Scholar

126. Ibid., 91.

127. Ibid., 182.

128. Ibid.

129. Ibid., 172.

130. Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 159n223.

131. Drury, , Madagascar, 182.Google Scholar

132. Ibid., 193.

133. Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 179n269.

134. Drury, , Madagascar, 181.Google Scholar

135. For Drury's mistress' clothes, ibid., 123, and for the prince's, ibid., 142.

136. Ibid., 154.

137. Ibid., 84-85.

138. Ibid., 243.

139. Ibid., 178-81.

140. Ibid., 175-76.

141. Ibid., 175.

142. Ibid., 175-76.

143. Ibid., 177-78; lolo be or big spirit but the term also refers to stone tombs today.

144. Ibid., 99, 107-08.

145. Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 95n127. For magic against the enemy see Drury, , Madagascar, 99Google Scholar; charms, ibid., 186; magic against honey thieves, ibid., 107-08.

146. Ibid., 152.

147. Ibid., 173; Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 160n225.

148. Ibid., 61n231.

149. Drury, , Madagascar, 132.Google Scholar

150. Although it was documented among the Antanosy by Cauche; Malotet, Arthur, Étienne de Flacourt ou les Origines de la Colonization Française à Madagascar 1648-1661 (Paris, 1898)Google Scholar; Morizot, , Relations Véritables et Curieuses de l'Isle Madagascar: Voyage de Fr. Cauche (Paris, 1651).Google Scholar For Molet-Sauvaget's criticisms see her Madagascar, 124n177, 125n178. Today it is not the tsimahaivelo (funerary priests who in central Androy are of ex-slave descent) who kill the cattle at funerals but younger men of the family holding the funeral.

151. Drury, , Madagascar, 67, 77Google Scholar; Sarah Fee, personal communication.

152. Ibid., 84.

153. Ibid., 123.

154. Ibid.

155. Ibid., 78; Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 74n78.

156. Drury, , Madagascar, 65Google Scholar; Molet-Sauvaget, Madagascar, 63n65.

157. For Drury's descriptions of fortified villages, Madagascar, 89, 113, and 124-25. Such sites of the early eighteenth century have been found by the Central Androy Project (see note 166) in 1995 at Ambaro, Montefeno, and Amandabe. Earlier stone-walled enclosures are also known: Radimilahy, Chantal, L'ancienne métallurgie du fer à Madagascar (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar; Parker Pearson, “Tombs and Monumentality.”

158. Drury, , Madagascar, 89.Google Scholar

159. Parker Pearson et al., “Finding Fenoarivo.”

160. Drury, , Madagascar, 59.Google Scholar

161. Georges Heurtebize, personal communication.

162. Secord, Robert Drury's Journal, 71; Molet-Sauvaget, , Madagascar, 15.Google Scholar

163. Drury, , Madagascar, 183.Google Scholar

164. Ibid., 204-05.

165. Ibid., 205.

166. This research was made possible through the Central Androy Project, a joint venture between the Universities of Antananarivo and Sheffield. Fieldwork was done by Karen Godden, George Heurtebize, Ramilisonina, Retsihisatse, Victor Razanatovo, lean-Luc Schwenninger and Helen Smith. Further help and advice were provided by: Chris Clark, Sarah Fee, Simon Garrod, John Mack, Karen Middleton, Chantal Radimilahy, Jean-Aimé Rakotoarisoa, Henry Wright and Pierre Vérin. The project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries, the Natural Environment Research Council and the National Geographic Society.