Page:Madagascar - Phelps - 1883.djvu/14

 a regular and organized system of barbarous traffic in the island.

Whilst Drury was residing at a sea-port on the western coast, called Youngoule, an English ship, the Clapham Galley, Captain Wilks, commander, arrived there to take in a cargo of slaves; and a number were accordingly taken down to the coast to be sold. The master whom Drury served at that time was collecting slaves for this purpose; and he, delighted with the idea of thus escaping from the country, engaged a friend to intercede with his master and mistress that he might be sold with the rest; but being a prisoner of war, and probably too highly prized for his services, he was denied the privilege of being sold with the native slaves.

Before the ship set sail, however, Drury (to use his own words) "endeavored to inform the captain by this stratagem: I took a leaf, which was about two inches broad and a foot and a half long, and marked upon it these words: 'Robert Drury, son of Mr. Drury, living at the King's Head in Old Jewry, now a slave in the Island of Madagascar, in the country of Youngoule.' I desired the favor of one who was going to the sea-side, to deliver this leaf to the first white man he saw; and when he returned, I asked him what answer he had brought. 'None at all,' replied he; 'for I suppose the white man did not like it, since he threw the leaf away, though I am sure it was as good, if not better, than that which you gave me: it is true I dropped yours, but then I pulled one of the best I could find off a tree. "My heart," says Drury, "was ready to break at this disappointment; whereupon I turned from him, and went directly into the woods to give vent to my tears."

Some years after this bitter disappointment, Drury obtained his long wished-for liberation; and the circumstances of this event are best described in his own words. Aware that two ships were then waiting for slaves at Youngoule, every intelligence respecting them obtained an interest in his mind, such as none but a captive could have experienced; and he feelingly relates the circumstance of his final escape from slavery in the following words:—

"I was sitting with my master one evening, when two men came in with a basket of palmetto leaves sewed up, and delivered it to the chief, who opened it, and finding a letter, asked the men what they meant by giving him that? 'The captain,' they said, 'gave it us for your white man, but we thought proper to let you see it first.' 'Pray,' said the chief, 'give it