We had hoped to remain in Mojangá for six days. But to our surprise the Malacca came into the bay on Monday morning; and would leave again on Wednesday. We had however only to select the tents and other portions of our travelling gear, which we no longer needed and which we purposed to hand over for the use of the mission. Our baggage for board ship packed into very small compass. We saw the young pastor once more: completed our preparations; and said our farewells to the willing and careful men, who had travelled with us so often and so far. Then the school children sang to us as we went into the boats: and so we quitted the land, in which we had spent a delightful twelvemonth, and a people, among whom the grace of God has wrought great marvels, in the face of a sceptical and unbelieving world.
CHAPTER X.
OUR RETURN HOME.
Domestic Slavery in Madagascar—Ancient Trade in Slaves—Rádama’s Treaty with Governor Farquhar well observed—Similar clause in the Treaty of 1865—Slaves imported nevertheless—Capture of Slaves by the Vulture—Successful efforts against the Slave trade—Recent Proclamation of the Queen of Madagascar—Our Return Home—The new Bishopric in Madagascar—Its aggressive attitude and spirit—God’s care of His people.
CHAPTER X.
OUR RETURN HOME.
Throughout our visit we felt that there is one very weak point in Malagasy social life, the system of domestic slavery. We saw it; we touched it at many points; it forced itself continually upon our attention. And we were glad to find that many thoughtful men among the upper classes of Malagasy society feel it to be a serious evil, which must some day be carefully considered by the Malagasy people and be entirely abolished. It is an ancient institution in the island: and as in other lands, for the sake of a present and temporary advantage, it has done, and is still doing, deep and permanent harm. It has been fed from two sources, without and within. From abroad there have been imported into Madagascar a multitude of pure Africans, who have to some extent been absorbed into the community, and have tainted the pure Malagasy blood. Many individuals in the highest Hova families have crisp woolly hair and thick lips, even with the high forehead and straight nose of the Malay races. From within the slave-class has been increased by captives in war from all the native tribes, Hova and Betsileo, as well as Sakalavas; also by the criminal classes, whether condemned for theft and murder, or (in the dark days) for the crime of reading the Word of God. In general slaves are very cheap: they may be purchased for as little as ten dollars, or for as much as forty and fifty. To possess slaves is one sign of respectability: and many a man, especially of Hova blood, who has redeemed himself from bondage, as soon as he can manage it, will buy slaves for himself. The general effect of the system is to degrade labour, to give the community the idea that people of station should not work, but should live on the labour of others. Slaves are held in large numbers by the leaders of society: some individuals own hundreds; and some have even two and three thousand slaves. Many excellent Christians own them: many pastors of churches have them. And the churches and congregations are filled with slaves. The system is local and domestic. Christianity is greatly affecting it and influencing it for good. As a rule it is not harshly administered. Opportunities are of frequent occurrence under which slaves can purchase their freedom either by their own efforts or by loans from their friends. The male slaves too have a great deal of independence both in action and spirit. They are allowed to earn money, to carry burdens to great distances, and to receive the price of their service. Sometimes they give their owners nothing: at other times they agree to give a portion, say half their earnings. Sometimes the owners are hard and selfish and demand the whole. In such cases spirited slaves run off. The country is large and wide: Noman’s land is not distant; and the injured people go to another part of the country and settle in the forests or dig new land. Under the influence of Christianity, and in the absence of any imperative demand for produce of special kinds, this domestic slavery has become serfdom rather than slavery: and there are many points of resemblance between it and the former system of Russia. The most prominent among its evil effects at the present time is that it encourages and increases the general idleness of the community, and renders all labour inefficient; because to such a large extent feudal service, as well as slavery, denies to the man who would be industrious, any large share in the fruits of his industry. As there spread among the community a deeper sense of what is just between man and man, a deeper respect for good women, slave as well as free, and a truer estimate of the worth of men as men, the way will be prepared for a right settlement of these important questions; and the relations of the members of the community to one another will be placed upon a healthy footing.
The system was in a much worse position in former days than it is now. Before Radáma I. inaugurated the great change, the trade in slaves, both for home use and foreign export, was very active. We have already seen how captives in war, even of Hova and Betsileo blood, were fastened in gangs and sent down to Tamatave to be sold to Mauritius and Bourbon, to the Cape and to the West Indies. Radáma, when appealed to by Governor Farquhar, heartily acknowledged the wrong and set himself to remedy it. The “vested interests” among his people were the chief difficulty: but his shrewdness and his strong will carried the day. The Treaty was made: and he and his people steadily kept it. For a while it produced a great change on both coasts, and Mojangá and its neighbours lost a considerable trade. The treaties all broke down in the days of his successor: but when the late Queen Rasoherina in 1865 renewed a Treaty with the English government, among other humane enactments, the clause against the foreign slave trade was again inserted and put in force.
By the Hova Government it is still observed: and there is reason to believe that by the Government and by the officers and people generally any infringement of its stipulations is disapproved. But the territory is larger than the government. Over the unfriendly Sakalavas on the west coast they have no control whatever. The officers in the garrison towns among the friendly tribes apparently tamper with the evil. And individuals are freely named both in Imerina and in the provinces who are said privately to soil their hands with the traffic and to make from it large profits. The Arab and Hindu merchants live on the coast: the Arab dhows run backward and forward between the west coast of the island and Mozambique: they are said to run their vessels, not into Mojangá Bay, but up the deep river Loza, some forty miles to the north, or into the quiet bays away from the Hova towns. And Sir Bartle Frere not only exposed the system, as the result of his inquiries on both sides the Mozambique Channel: but he avers on good grounds that the number of Africans, run in by these vessels, amounts to six thousand a year.