Archduke Friedrich also learned something from the prisoners: Ranavalona I was attempting to replicate firearms. She wanted to learn about European military technology from them.
That was why these people had been allowed to live. However, most of the prisoners knew very little about the manufacture of guns and artillery; no amount of brutal torture could force much intelligence or technical knowledge out of them.
By this time, the Kingdom of Imerina was already capable of manufacturing simple firearms. However, the range and quality of these crude weapons were severely flawed, and that was not entirely due to the prisoners' sabotage.
The main reason was that the Kingdom of Imerina's level of basic science was simply too low. Many things could not be produced at all; even if they knew the principles, they could not make them, much less reach the standards of European nations.
The Kingdom of Imerina's firearms factories could produce roughly five crude muskets per day. To the Austrian Empire, that number was plainly a joke.
But another piece of news kept the Austrian officers from laughing: the Kingdom of Imerina had learned from the prisoners how to make saltpeter by crude methods, and could produce hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder every day.
If the Madagascar natives made proper use of these explosives, the Austrian army would find this war an arduous struggle at every step.
Yet Gablenz did not seem nearly so pessimistic.
"Friends, do not worry. You must believe that this is hardly the first time natives armed with firearms have appeared. When we were in West Africa, we often encountered native tribes funded by Britain and France. Nearly every one of them had a gun, yet they were still utterly unable to withstand a single blow.
"The enemy we face today also has a