FREE SLAVES. 



351 



price of the engage freeman was §32 (=£6 5s.). 

 Arrived at Bourbon, Messieurs les Sauvages were 

 politely informed that they were no longer slaves, 

 and thev were at once knocked down to the 

 highest bidder. They were worked 15 or 16 

 hours a day; their pay was $2 per mensem, hardly 

 sufficient to support life ; and when they fell sick 

 their miserable pittance was cut. The expiration 

 of the engagement-period found them heavily in 

 debt, without the hope of working off their lia- 

 bilities ; and seven years of hard labour at Bour- 

 bon might be considered almost certain death. 

 "When the idea of travailleui's libres was detailed 

 to the Savvid Said, he treated it as a mauvaise 

 plaisanterie : the coast people also unanimously 

 rejected the liberal offer of free men becoming 

 slaves for §2 a month. The French Consul, M. 

 de BeKgny, was at first strongly opposed to the 

 system: a few weeks at Bourbon changed, it 

 seems, his opinion. His successor, M. Ladislas 

 Cochet, energetically and conscientiously rejected 

 all compromise. Bourbon might easily supply 

 herself with Coolies, as the Mauritius does, by 

 paying 81 per mensem, by treating the labourer 

 Avell, and by ordering him a passage home after 

 three or four years, whether in debt or not. It 

 was, however, I believe, a mistake on om- part 



