CHAP. XIII. 
A SLAVE’S PEOPOSAL. 
373 
glad to hire him when I had anything to do. The next 
morning he came to say that his master was willing to 
sell him, and also to entreat me to buy him, and expressing 
great regret when I told him I could not gratify his wishes. 
I knew that I could not take him away with me, and was 
not certain that, had I purchased his liberty, he would not 
have been enslaved again after my departure. Compared 
with slavery as it existed formerly in our colonies, the yoke 
on Malagasy slaves sits easy; yet it is a bitter and a soul¬ 
depressing lot. I was often impressed with the indifference 
manifested by the slave to many things that to others are 
objects of eager desire and evident satisfaction. When I 
have offered a present, as a piece of cloth, in return for 
some service rendered, or even a piece of money, the slave 
has scarcely cared to accept it; and when I have expressed 
my surprise at such indifference, I have been told by some 
around me, “It is of no use giving anything to him. If it is 
a present, his master will take it when he returns home ; if it 
is money, he must give it to his master.” Nothing is his but 
what he eats and drinks. Hence, access to the kitchen 
seemed to be the best reward a slave could receive. 
B B 3 
