CHAP. VI. CONDITION AND NUMBER OF THE SLAVES. 149 



in the collar, and standing up by the sides of his head. 

 These, however, were the only instances of this kind of 

 punishment which came under my notice. 



So short a residence as mine amongst the people afforded 

 opportunity for little beyond a passing glance at the outside 

 aspect of slavery in Madagascar, and a brief notice of the 

 subject is consequently all that I have attempted. The con- 

 dition of the slaves as compared with that of the free, though 

 exhibiting many of the evils inherent in slavery, and insepa- 

 rable from it, appeared in many respects much less oppressive 

 than I had been prepared to expect. In some instances, 

 however, it was hopeless, the sentence of being sold into 

 slavery for some offence peculiarly obnoxious to the autho- 

 rities being at times made irreversible ; so that, however the 

 friends or relatives of the party punished might be able or 

 disposed to effect his liberation by the payment of the sum 

 at which he had been valued, or for which he was sold, they 

 were not allowed to do so, the penalty inflicted having been 

 not only slavery but unredeemable slavery. This sentence 

 has been rendered still more oppressive in the case of some 

 of the Christians, when one condition of their slavery has 

 been that they should only be sold to parties who would 

 undertake to keep them continually at hard work. 



The proportion of slaves to the entire population must be 

 great, as the children of all slaves are such from birth ; and 

 besides the natural increase of the slave population, many 

 born free become slaves in consequence of debt, crime, or 

 capture in war. The Hovas have of late years returned from 

 their military expeditions into distant parts of the island 

 with vast numbers of captives, often hundreds, and sometimes 

 thousands, chiefly youths, women, and children, all of whom 

 are usually sold for slaves, and as such are distributed over 

 the whole of the country. 



I have already noticed the frequent visits of those who 



