HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
375 
effect of greatly diminishing capital punishments, without 
augmenting crime. 
To be reduced to slavery, is another punishment, some¬ 
times involving a whole family, and with it the confiscation 
of their property. Pecuniary fines are common, particularly 
for the trespass of cattle on other ground than that of the 
owners, and for stealing articles of small value. 
Those who borrow money without being able to refund 
it, or those who incur debts which they are unable to pay, 
are taken into the public market to be sold for payment of 
what they owe. A man, his wife, and children, are thus 
frequently sold together, unless some friend should come 
forward and become his surety, or pay his debts. Thousands 
of free people have been reduced to slavery by this means; 
.and this is a law which is generally carried into effect 
without any mitigation of punishment. If a debtor has 
property that is seized to pay his debts, and if that be 
insufficient, he is sold in the market; and if the produce of 
his sale should still be insufficient to satisfy his creditors, 
his family must share the same fate. A man who has 
become surety for another is exposed to similar treatment, 
if unable to meet the claims substantiated against the per¬ 
son for whom he has become surety. 
The punishment of maiming, cutting off hands and feet, 
has been resorted to in some instances, but is not frequent. 
Death has generally resulted from such amputations, either 
by haemorrhage or mortification. 
Nearly all punishments are inflicted publicly, and it is 
seldom that any delay is allowed after the conviction of the 
offender. The judges have power to inflict punishments 
not capital, but death is exclusively in the hands of the 
sovereign. 
When the king has ordered any one for execution, the 
