96 
MISSIONARY LIFE 
their liberties will be continued them. Is one 
poor, or in debt, or unfortunate, or a thief, or 
surety for another and can not pay ; or does one 
curse the king — speaking against him, though it 
may be justly^ is cursing him^ and punishable just 
as speaking against slavery, though ever so mildly 
and justly^ was punishable in the South, and by 
the laws of slave states, when slavery existed in 
them ; or is he found in suspicious circumstances ; 
or does he profane a sacred place, or a religious 
rite, — for any of the above named things he may be 
sold into slavery, unless he has the uncommon 
good fortune to have friends to interpose in his 
behalf. Is a wife untrue, she is often sold into 
slavery. Is a father in straightened circumstances, 
he pawns his child, with no hope, often, of being 
able to redeem that child. 
The system of involuntary servitude is an evil, 
socially, intellectually, politically, and morally, in 
Africa, as in every other country where it exists. 
Out of it grow fearful cruelties; and perhaps a 
more fit appellation can not be given it than to 
call it the emblem of hell. 
The Soosoos, who occupy the country north of 
Sierra Leone, are the great slave-traders and slave- 
owners. They often stint their slaves in food, and 
work them very hard on their ground-nut plan- 
tations. The country south-east of Sierra Leone, 
