HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
103 
and politeness, so that none of the ladies ever experienced 
the least alarm from his presence. 
Amongst other instances recorded in this work of the 
uniformly generous and humane principles which actuated 
the conduct of the king, the following deserved to be re¬ 
corded in a history of the people:—One of the soldiers 
having behaved improperly towards some of the natives 
soon after their arrival at Tolia, corporeal punishment was 
about to be inflicted upon him; when the king, advancing 
to the spot, took him away, saying at the same time, that he 
was sure if any of his people had been wrecked in England, 
king George would not allow them to be so treated; and 
that he would not, therefore, allow king George’s people to 
be so punished in Madagascar. 
It will be gratifying to learn, that, after the return of the 
English to their own country, which was effected in almost 
a miraculous manner, after near twelve months’ residence 
in the island, by Mr. Dale’s having crossed the Mozambique 
channel in the yawl belonging to the Winterton, the direc¬ 
tors of the East India Company sent out a handsome present 
to this king, who certainly merited, in a high degree, such 
a mark of public regard. 
Although the worst features of slavery are the same in 
every country, there is a picture of it drawn by the writer 
of this interesting work, which, as the subject bears much 
upon the subsequent history of the island of Madagascar, 
is too important to be omitted. It cannot be given more 
impressively than in the writer’s own words:— 
“Well would it have been if one branch of commerce 
had never been known in this island; the odious traffic in 
slaves, one of the severest scourges that Madagascar has 
experienced from European alliance; and one which 
Britain has had a large share in inflicting. It rends the 
