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“ In reading it one scarcely knows whether to admire most the fearlessness, the undeviating regard for principle, or the discretion, with which he discharged a most delicate and difficult negotiation, and won in the end a signal triumph for free Christianity. Though its primary interest is religious, the work contains much valuable scientific information. At the invitation of the directors of the society, Ellis undertook another journey to Madagascar in 1863, when he was close upon seventy years of age. ”

“ After a few years his quiet life was interrupted by a call from the London Missionary Society to proceed to Madagascar in order to inquire into the prospects for the resumption of the missionary enterprise there, which had been checked for several years owing to the bitter hostility of the reigning queen. Between 1853 and 1857 he paid three visits to that island, of which he has given a full account in his Three Visits to Madagascar (1858) , one of the most profoundly interesting and romantic narratives in the whole literature of missions. ”

“ The year which was allowed him for training was devoted not merely to the study of theology at Homerton, but to the acquisition of various practical arts, such as printing and bookbinding, which proved of the utmost service to him in the mission field. ”