248 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
On the 5th of November, Mr. Hastie set sail from 
Tamatave for Port Louis, in Mauritius, after having re¬ 
quested Jean Rene to draw up an extract from Radama’s 
proclamation, to be sent by the Arabs, then at Tamatave, 
to their settlement on the western coast, in order that none 
of them might plead ignorance of the law, or be unac¬ 
quainted with the king’s intentions; and by this act of pre¬ 
caution, he closed the long and difficult negociations, which 
no individual, less clear-sighted, or less influenced by high 
and honourable feeling, would have been able to bring to 
an equally satisfactory conclusion. 
If the generous and noble feelings of the British agent 
had been roused to indignation by what he had seen and 
heard in Madagascar, they were no less so by scenes which 
he afterwards witnessed in Mauritius, when, with the Rev. 
D. Griffiths, he visited some rescued slaves, whose circum¬ 
stances form another illustration of the abominations of the 
slave-trade, and of the means by which illegal importations 
of slaves to Mauritius, by participation, connivance, or 
neglect, was effected, until it reached the fearful extent 
which recent parliamentary inquiries have disclosed. 
A vessel was discovered, under French colours, landing 
slaves (illegally of course) in Mauritius. An English 
schooner chased, and attacked her, when, unable to land 
all their cargo, and yet unwilling to leave the vessel to fall 
into the hands of the English, the traders set her on fire, 
and left four women alive on board, who perished in the 
flames. The slaves had been brought from the Mozam¬ 
bique shore, and, on being landed, were concealed in the 
woods. On being discovered, they expressed themselves 
happy in having fallen into the hands of the English. The 
governor offered a reward of seven thousand dollars for the 
