'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1863 to December 1864. (Edited by the Secretary.) Volume XVII.' [‎266] (443/524)

266 OBSERVATIONS AND ENQUIRIES MADE DURING A
soldier of the garrison) to accompany him, say to Mohilla. There the
necessary number of slaves are purchased from Arab dealers, they are
then liberated and bound to serve their new masters for periods of not
less than three, and not more than five years. The average price paid
for the slaves is <§"35, and by the time they are landed at Mayotta as
« f ree engages” they cost about ^40 per head. Their master is bound
to pay them JSH V er ™ ensem as wages, and to allow them a weekly
ration of 12lbs. of rice with a small quantity of salt and butter.
57. These negroes are usually, if not always, brought by Arabs
from the mainland of Africa to the various islands, whence they are
shipped to Mayotta ; they are then bond fide slaves, and it is certain
that their purchase by the French, even though by this fact they
become transmuted into “free engages,” fosters and tends to perpetuate
the slave trade. I do not propose any remedy for this, I merely state
facts which no colonist at Mayotta will dispute.
58. I left Mayotta on the 3rd of November, and arrived at Pomoni
In Johanna on the following morning; during the passage we met a
boat at sea containing seven “free engage's,” who had fled from
Mayotta in their master’s boat; they were in great distress, and owing
to adverse winds and a high sea, it seemed doubtful whether they could
reach their destination. They were received on board the “ Pleiad,”
and the boat was made over to Mr. Sunley, Her Majesty’s Consul at
Johanna, to be returned to its owner.
59. These men called themselves slaves, and evidently had failed to
appreciate their altered condition as “ free engage's”; they said that
they preferred death to returning, and as they were found on the high
seas, I did not feel myself called on to restore them, even had I possess
ed the power to do so.
60. Colonel Pelly has left me little to say regarding this island, but
I cannot refrain from adding my testimony to his regarding the mar
vellous results which the skill and energy of Mr. Sunley have pro
duced, and the humanizing effects on the population which have
followed.
61. He has already three hundred acres of land planted with sugar.
cane, which produce upwards of three hundred tons of sugar
per annum*