Among the several not inconsiderable associa-
tions which are labouring to develop the eastern


THE SOCIFTE DU MADAL 107


portions of the territory, that which from many
points of view has achieved a most striking success
is the Société du Madal, of which his Highness the
Prince of Monaco is, I understand, an interested
supporter.
This body holds under a Royal Decree the large
and important prazoes or districts of Madal, Tanga-
lane, Cheringone, and Mahindo, comprising an area
of some 700,000 acres, and possessing the striking
advantage of proximity to the important settlement
of Quelimane. Here again we have an association
labouring for agriculture, and one which has estab-
lished many model stations for the facilitation of
its numerous enterprises. Much attention and
considerable outlay have been devoted to the open-
ing up of roads, to the laying down of a small
Decauville railway which extends for some 15
kilometres, and to the developing of navigable
waterways for the appreciable object of the rapid
transport to the coast of their numerous products.
They possess already, it is said, no less than
125,000 coconut palms, whilst their exports include
on an increasing scale large quantities of copra,
rice, bee’s-wax, rubber, and native cereals.
Great advantage has been derived from the
Société du Madal’s workshops, which comprise
saw-mills, ironworks, brick and tile factories, and
boat-building yards, in which the untrained native
has, by intelligent supervision, been educated to a
point which now enables him to turn out most
superior work, thus rendering this active association
largely independent of expensive European labour,
and enabling it to almost bid defiance to all the


108 THE GREAT COMPANIES


hindrances and annoyances which the African
climate so successfully devises for the ruin of
machinery and labour-saving appliances.
