146 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
the natives became scourges of one another, plunging each 
other into inextricable misery, wasting each other’s resources, 
depopulating each other’s territory, and affording satisfac¬ 
tion to none but men who were unworthy of the name, and 
whose rapacious avarice could be equalled only by their 
cruel contempt of human rights and human misery. 
No data exist, by which to ascertain, with certainty, the 
exact number of human beings expatriated from Mada¬ 
gascar during the past hundred years, and plunged into 
abject slavery. An average, formed on a moderate compu¬ 
tation, amounts to not less than three or four thousand per 
annum; and this may be considered as rather below than 
above the actual number. The aggregate presents a frightful 
amount, to be mentioned only in association with the most 
atrocious deeds ; but it exhibits only a fractional part of the 
outrage, violence, cruelty, and misery, produced by this most 
horrible system of immorality and avarice, robbery and 
murder. 
The trade having commenced on the coast, and the plea¬ 
sure of its gains gradually expelling all sense of the injus¬ 
tice of the traffic, it soon extended to the interior of the 
island, withering all before it, and desolating, like a pesti¬ 
lence, wherever its baneful influence spread—as it always 
has done, and will continue to do, until it ceases from the 
earth. 
With the increased demand for slaves, the supply was 
consequently increased. Various modes were then employed 
to obtain slaves for sale, and all these were characterised 
by deceit and treachery, violence and cruelty. Every man’s 
hand was against his brother; and he who could seize or 
ensnare the greatest number of his fellow-beings, for whom 
he could obtain the factor’s price, esteemed himself the most 
fortunate man. 
