﻿9^ REMARKS ON THE ISLAND 



* may be,' said 1, < such cases; but you fallaciously draw 



* a general conclusion from a few particular instances ; 

 *. and this is the very fallacy which, on a thousand 



* other occasions, deludes mankind. It is not to be 

 ' doubted, that a constant and gainful craffic in hu- 



* man creatures foments war, in which captives are 



* always made, and keeps up that perpetual enmity 

 ' which you pretend to be the cause of a practice in 



* itself reprehensible, while in truth it is its effect. The 



* same traffic encourages laziness in some parents, 

 ' who might in general support their families by pro- 



* per industry, and seduces others to stifle their na- 



* tural feelings. At most, your redemption of those 



* unhappy children can amount only to a personal 

 1 contract implied between you, -for gratitude and rea- 



* sonable service on their part, for kindness and 



* humanity on yours ; but can you think your part 



* performed by disposing of them against their wills, 



* with as much indifference as if you were selling 

 ' cattle, especially as they might become readers of the 



* Koran, and pillars of your faith ? ' '•' The law," said 

 be, ** forbids our selling them, when they are be- 

 " lievers in the Prophet ; and little children only are 

 te sold ; nor they often, or by all masters." ' You, 



* who believe in MuhammedJ said I, * are bound 



* by the the spirit and letter of his laws to take pains, 



* that they also may believe in him ; and if you ne- 



* gleet so important a duty for sordid gain, I do 



* not see how you can hope for prosperity in this world, 

 ' or for happiness in the next.' My old friend and 

 the Muftis assented, and muttered a few prayers; but 

 probably forgot my preaching before many minutes 

 had passed. 



So much time had slipped away in this conversa- 

 tion, that I could make but a short visit to Prince 

 Salim ; and my view in visiting him was to fix the 

 time of our journey to Domoni as early as possible on 

 the next morning. His appearance was more savage 



