Note 223 — Chapter XVII · THE FRENCH IN MADAGASCAR
Reading edition
Whether the Hovas had overlooked the Mojanga route and had decided to concentrate all their resistance on the approach from Tamatave is not known; but after their repeated boasts as to the determined resistance they would make to an invader, the collapse of their defence and the feebleness of the resistance they offered to the French are matters of considerable astonishment. It must have been mainly due to the fact that the Hova rule over the bulk of the island was hated, and that the other tribes were not inclined to fight for its maintenance.