HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
43 
and on the 9th of September, 1717, again reached the 
shores of his native country, after an absence of sixteen 
years. It is stated by Drury, in his own account of this 
joyful event, that, after landing, he could not set forward 
on his journey to London without returning God thanks, 
in the most solemn manner, for his safe arrival, and for his 
deliverance from the many dangers he had escaped, and 
the miseries he had so long endured. 
After the expression of such feelings, and especially after 
perusing the history of his protracted sufferings, it is equally 
melancholy and astonishing to see Robert Drury (the most 
unlikely of all men to be engaged in the same cruel system 
of oppression by which he had himself been held in such 
degrading bondage) embarking, in less than two years after 
his return to England, as a slave-dealer for Madagascar, 
and, by his own testimony, using all his knowledge of the 
country in directing captains and others to the places 
where the unhappy captives, whom he was dooming to a 
harder lot than he had suffered, were likely to be obtained 
in the greatest numbers ! He appears to have made exten¬ 
sive purchases in slaves; and, after a residence of more 
than a year in the island, proceeded to Virginia, in North 
America, and there disposed of his miserable cargo. 
The conduct of the pirates, in promoting war for the 
purpose of obtaining slaves, which was so long the most 
terrible scourge of Madagascar, has been universally 
stamped with infamy, and their proceedings in encouraging 
this inhuman traffic are justly and naturally associated 
with all that is reprobate in character and fiendish in 
cruelty, and it might seem congenial employment to men 
accustomed to destroy the lives of all who possessed the 
wealth of which they were in search; but the conduct of 
Drury, who in many respects might be regarded as an 
