244 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR chap. ix. 



presented unsubstantial pictures to their fancy ; but memory 

 was busy with the past, which was brought back in deeply 

 affecting contrast with the present. One man of considerable 

 property and fair reputation, who, I think, pays for his son's 

 education at the seminary, said, when alluding to the domestic 

 comforts of his family, " I was torn when an infant from my 

 mother's breast, sold to a dealer, who carried me away, and I 

 never saw my mother again. She was a slave, and I was born 

 a slave, and, as such, sold by my own father." Another, in 

 the course of his remarks, said, " I was only so high," holding 

 up his stick, " when I was placed upon the end of a barrel, 

 and the auctioneer made me swing my arms about and turn 

 myself round, while the people bid for me." Another said, 

 "Instead of a place of light and cheerfulness like this, I re- 

 member when I have sought the darkest dell or the craggiest 

 rock, and when the chafing of the rushes or the falling of a 

 withered bough has made my heart beat and my whole frame 

 tremble." These, with some truly tragic scenes, were the 

 kind of pictures which memory presented, and which they 

 contrasted with the present as incentives to gratitude and 

 stimulants to effort, so as to ensure still greater benefits than 

 those already enjoyed. Their frequent allusion to their 

 children as ignorant of what their fathers had suffered, and 

 therefore in danger of undervaluing the religious teaching of 

 the missionaries, with other means of improvement, appeared 

 to me exceedingly appropriate. The engagements at both 

 places closed with prayer, and I retired gratified with the 

 occasion thus afforded of witnessing and sharing the social 

 enjo3^ments of the people. 



On the 3rd of May we proceeded to Humansdorp, nine 

 miles from Kruis Fontayn, and then continued our journey 

 to Avontuur in Long Kloof, where we spent the Sabbath 

 pleasantly with INIr. Hood and his family, endeavouring to 

 encourage the people, who, after many years' residence there. 



