Communication of information is a pretty interesting topic. Especially if it's something from the past. We have always worried and will always worry about how we communicated and what were the secrets of people in the Middle Ages. At that time, people already knew the paper, and could well communicate with it. But the mystery is the letters on the stones.
The emergence of stone letters
The existence of postal stones has been noted at the Antongila Bay, located in the northeastern part of Madagascar on Mangabe Island. It was there that such letters were found. The paper got wet and deteriorated from the weather, but the stones left their messages unchanged for a long time.
There were cases when paper with letters was hidden under stones, but pre-treated with resin so that they would not get wet from the rain. The messages were left by sailors. It was through this small island that they kept their way, there they made a stop to get fresh water and to repair the ship. Some of the breakdowns were so severe that the sailors had to stay in this place for months. One ship stayed here for almost 7 months.
Stone letters of sailors
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Initially, there were messages of this kind: the name of the sailor, the date of his arrival on the island. Someone wrote the name of their commander or the name of the ship on which they arrived.
But not only such messages could be left by sailors. For example, they might have left something for the next ship. The idea is for the next ship to read the information or deliver it to the addressee.
Exchange of information in the Middle Ages
The exchange of information using stone mail was gaining great popularity at that time. For example, in 1920, more than a dozen of these unusual stones were discovered.
History of the ship "Middleburg"
Amazing and rather mysterious history of the ship called "Middleburg". And the story became known only thanks to the postal stones. According to the information that was written, this ship entered the island in 1625. After the cyclone, he lost his mast and sails. Therefore, he remained on the island for seven whole months, until his full recovery.
All this time, the team unitedly rebuilt the new mast. Then the ship went to Holland. Only this ship could not get home. On the way in the South Atlantic, near Saint Helena, it was attacked and sunk by the Portuguese. Unfortunately, no one from the entire team survived.
Before its sinking, the ship still managed to leave its last message. And it happened in the port of South Africa. It is these letters that are currently kept in the archives of the East India Company in The Hague - the latest from the entire crew and officers of the famous ship "Middleburg", so mercilessly sunk by the Portuguese.
Refusal from "stone" mail
Such an unusual post through the stones did not last long. Competing companies often tracked messages and simply steal information, using it for their own purposes.
Around the end of the 17th century, such letters simply ceased to exist. People considered it more expedient and more reliable to use the local population to transmit information. And letters began to be transmitted only through them.
Nowadays, letters on stones can be seen in some of Cape Town's museums. And only on the island of Mangabe they can be contemplated in their natural environment.
Mangabe tropical island: myths and superstitions
Despite its interesting history of post stones and beautiful pristine nature, the island is not popular with tourists. And there is no local population here either.
In 1960, the government decided to create a nature reserve to preserve the most mysterious animal - the aye-aye lemur.
Moreover, it is the local residents who are guilty of its such rarity, the species was on the verge of extinction. And this is no coincidence, because people have simply exterminated it for centuries.
The interesting island of Mangabe with its tropical climate preserves post stones and a piece of history for those who love adventure.