38 
MADAGASCAR. 
merce than this that we are compelled to speak 
when considering the past, present, and future 
of the sultanate of Johanna. The various har¬ 
bours and roadsteads of this ocean - kingdom 
have always afforded ready and secure shelter 
to the vessels and dhows engaged in the fiendish 
and desolating slave-traffic between Africa and 
Madagascar, and the other islands of the archi¬ 
pelago ; and as the poor kidnapped Africans or 
Mozambiques are sturdy of limb, and of untir¬ 
ing energy in manual labour, they are eagerly 
sought after, at prices varying from £6 to £10 
English money, for the heavier work connected 
with the cultivation of the sugar-cane, which 
requires a powerful frame, a dogged determina¬ 
tion, and a certain recklessness of consequences, 
such as exposure to extremes of weather, and 
privations in matters of sleep and food, which 
characteristics are all to be found in the native 
of East Africa. The Comoro Islands are, or were 
till very recently, the home of some of the most 
enterprising slave-traders in the African or In¬ 
dian seas. It is very difficult, after all that has 
been said on this subject, for people who have 
never left Europe to appreciate, even in the 
smallest degree, the whole amount of misery 
and despair which is contained in that word 
“ slavery.” There are good people who speak 
gently, and even kindly, of the system, and of 
