52 VOYAGE TO MADAGASGAK, 



at their aflemblies when tbey were deliberate 

 ing upan iinponaat affairs ; I have follo wed 

 them in their dances, their iports and their 

 amufements; and 1 have always found among 

 them that prudent refer ve which fecures 

 them from thofe fatal exceJes, and thofe 

 vices, fo common among poliihed nations* 

 I was, indeed, then fo young that my ob- 

 fervations cannot have much weight ; bur, 

 if my experience is not fufficient to infpire 

 confidence, 1 beg the reader to ftudy the na- 

 ture of thing3, more than the relations of 

 ignorant and unprincipled men, who think 

 they have a right to exercife the moft def-* 

 potic fway over the inhabitants of a foreign 

 land. 



If the Malegaches have fometimes em- 

 ployed treachery, they were forced to it by 

 the tyranny of the Europeans. The weak 

 have no other arms to protect them from 

 the attacks of the ftrong. Can thefe people 



defend 



