HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
47 
It is stated, that on one occasion they captured a Moorish 
vessel bound for Mecca with pilgrims; and there being on 
board one hundred women, who were accompanying their 
friends and parents on their pilgrimage, the pirates detained 
these as wives for the people of their colony, with a view 
to its greater stability, and the contentment of the men 
under their command. 
Amongst their most daring exploits had been the taking 
of a large Portuguese vessel, by which they obtained so 
many prisoners, that to detain them would have been to 
endanger their own safety; they therefore fitted out a vessel, 
and gave them all their liberty to sail with it wherever they 
might choose, reserving to themselves no other security 
than a promise from these men that they would never fight 
against them. 
The consequences were such as might easily have been 
anticipated. About the time when the settlement had 
reached the height of its prosperity, one of the small vessels 
belonging to the pirates, which had been sent out for the 
purpose of exercising the negroes in their newly acquired 
nautical skill, brought word that five tall ships had chased 
them into the harbour, and by their appearance they judged 
them to be 50-gun ships, belonging to the Portuguese, and 
full of men. This was probably one of those attempts 
stated by Rochon as having been made by the European 
powers to put a stop to the depredations of the pirates; 
and from the conflict which ensued, it appeared an inferior 
force would have been unable to cope with an enemy so 
formidable as the pirates had rendered themselves. 
The account of Captain Misson states, that the Por¬ 
tuguese were driven away with considerable loss, but that 
to all who were taken captive, great lenity and generosity 
were shewn, with the exception, however, of two Portuguese 
