THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 453 



master and slave, the former was allowed whatever compensation might have 

 been agreed upon. If a slave were condemned by a court to be executed or 

 transported, the jury passing the sentence was authorized to fix a valuation 

 on the slave, not to exceed £100, which was made over to the master from, the 

 public treasury as compensation."" 



As to RunwiuoAjs. — The runaway slave was returned to his master when 

 apprehended.™ It was difficult for a slave to make good his escape in a 

 country where there was so little land on which to hide, and where the means 

 of transportation were so limited. But running away was at times a frequent 

 occurrence; so common did it occur several times in the history of the Colony 

 as to become a matter of serious concern to the authorities. Both Governor 

 and legislature might be seen at times dealing with this vexed question, oflfering 

 amnesty to slaves who would deliver themselves up within a given time, and 

 warning those who refused to surrender.^" The alarm, caused by the great 

 number of desertions in the years 1800-01, was the immediate cause of the 

 passage of a law to deal summarily with them. It ordered the registration of 

 all free negroes, mulattoes, mustees and Indians, and enacted that if at any time 

 five or more runaway slaves were reported, free negroes were liable to be armed 

 and sent in pursuit of them. Colored freemen were offered rewards for the 

 arrest and delivery of deserters. They were allowed to kill a fugitive slave, if 

 necessary, in order to ward off a counter attack from the offending slave."" 



The later code defined a runaway as follows : " Every slave absent from 

 his owner or employer for ten days together without leave .... found at a 

 distance of eight miles from the house or plantation, to which he belongs, 

 without a ticket, or permit, shall be deemed a runaway." Exception was 



™ 10 Geo. IV, 13. 



™ Smyth's Ds. No. 212, and Ds. S. St., 1833, No. 103. The question of runaways 

 became complicated with' that of removal under the administration of Sir James 

 Smyth. He interfered with the removal of several slaves who had run away from 

 the Out-islands to New Providence to escape from ill-treatment of their masters. 

 Removals from one island to another were allowed only when the person owned 

 land on the island to which the removal was to he made, and was removing the 

 slave for the bona fide purpose of cultivating that land. 



^'^^ Bahama Gazette, XI, Nos. 40, 55, 75, 115, 296, etc. Hardly an issue of the 

 Gazette in 1794-95 failed to give notice of the escape of a fugitive. Private rewards 

 were offered for their return. See also H. V., 1800-01, p. 21, record of the action of 

 the House of Assembly respecting runaways. The slaves had congregated in the in- 

 terior of the small island of New Providence where their presence had caused alarm 

 to the white inhabitants. 



"UO Geo. IV, 13. ■ 



