ciiAr. xnr. A SLAVE’S PROPOSAL. 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 some 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.