The Fugitives, by R.M. Ballantyne.
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A group of people from a British ship have gone ashore to stretch their
legs, when enemies approach, the ship's boat retreats to the ship and
they are left stranded ashore. The book deals with their efforts to
find what they hope will be civilisation in the capital of the Island of
Madagascar, which is something like the size of France. Unfortunately
the reigning Queen has a hatred of Christianity which had been brought
to the Island by missionaries some forty years before. Our heroes find
themselves assisted by a Christian net-work, but when they get to the
capital they are appalled by the carnage and torture they find when the
Queen has one of her rages against Christianity.
Based on fact, the story told here of the repression of Christianity in
an emerging nation was all too true. The Queen died in 1867, and was
succeeded by her son, an altogether different person, at which point our
heroes take ship for England, and the story ends.
The story is full of action, the only quibble being the long and rather
similar names the Malagasy people who appear in the story have. This
makes it sometimes rather hard to make out what is happening.
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THE FUGITIVES, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.