152 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
the peace, the happiness, the freedom, the lives of thousands, 
and well may they bear the stigma which the Malagasy 
reproach conveys, of 44 European cannibals.” 
When the traders had obtained a sufficient number of 
slaves at the capital, or any part of the interior, by purchase 
or exchange of goods, they were conveyed in parties varying 
from fifty to two thousand, down to the sea-coast for ex¬ 
portation. On commencing the journey, their wrists were 
usually fastened by means of an iron band. They were 
then corded one slave to another, and through the whole 
distance compelled to carry provisions on their heads. 
Thus driven like cattle to the sea-side, they no sooner ar¬ 
rived there, than they were stowed away in ships, and con¬ 
veyed to their final and fatal scene of misery and toil, unless 
their sufferings terminated in death during the passage. 
The slaves from Madagascar supplied the Isles of France 
and Bourbon, others were conveyed to North and South 
America, and some even to the West Indies. The vessel 
in which Robert Drury obtained his release from Mada¬ 
gascar, in 1717, discharged her cargo of Malagasy slaves 
at Jamaica. 
An affecting memorial of the many scenes of sorrow and 
separation which must have taken place under this cruel sys¬ 
tem, is described by Mr. Cameron as having existed even at 
the time he was in Madagascar, and we cannot but join with 
him in the hope that it will not long exist. There is a hill on 
the way from Imerina to Tamatave, which has obtained the 
melancholy appellation of 44 the weeping-place of the 
Hovalisf because from that eminence they first beheld the 
sea, when prosecuting their miserable journey to be sold 
in the slave-markets on the coast; and here it is more than 
probable they would give vent to all the anguish of their 
hearts under the twofold influence of exile and slavery. 
