244 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. IX. 
presented unsubstantial pictures to their fancy; but memory 
was busy with the past, which was brought back in deeply 
affecting contrast with the present. One man of considerable 
property and fair reputation, who, I think, pays for his son’s 
education at the seminary, said, when alluding to the domestic 
comforts of his family, " I was torn when an infant from my 
mother’s breast, sold to a dealer, who carried me away, and I 
never saw my mother again. She was a slave, and I was born 
a slave, and, as such, sold by my own father.” Another, in 
the course of his remarks, said, "I was only so high,” holding 
up his stick, "when I was placed upon the end of a barrel, 
and the auctioneer made me swing my arms about and turn 
myself round, while the people bid for me.” Another said, 
"Instead of a place of light and cheerfulness like this, I re¬ 
member when I have sought the darkest dell or the craggiest 
rock, and when the chafing of the rushes or the falling of a 
withered bough has made my heart beat and my whole frame 
tremble.” These, with some truly tragic scenes, were the 
kind of pictures which memory presented, and which they 
contrasted with the present as incentives to gratitude and 
stimulants to effort, so as to ensure still greater benefits than 
those already enjoyed. Their frequent allusion to their 
children as ignorant of what their fathers had suffered, and 
therefore in danger of undervaluing the religious teaching of 
the missionaries, with other means of improvement, appeared 
to me exceedingly appropriate. The engagements at both 
places closed with prayer, and I retired gratified with the 
occasion thus afforded of witnessing and sharing the social 
enjoyments of the people. 
On the 3rd of May we proceeded to Humansdorp, nine 
miles from Kruis Fontayn, and then continued our journey 
to Avontuur in Long Kloof, where we spent the Sabbath 
pleasantly with Mr. Hood and his family, endeavouring to 
encourage the people, who, after many years’ residence there, 
