slaves loaded in those light coasters that are used by fishermen. The
governors were surrounded by functionaries who were slaveholders and
who were therefore interested in supporting the traffic and screening
the offenders from punishment, so that their reports, based on
information received from these parties, were not entitled to much
credit.

As to the feelings of indignation expressed by the colonists at the
remembrance of the horrors of the slave trade, it is sufficient to
remark that rogues are always louder in protestation of their
innocence than honest men--that this change of feeling was too rapid
to be sincere, and that truthfulness of character does not stand high
in the code of Mauritian morality, to judge from the attitude of the
white population.

In judging the treatment of the slaves in Mauritius, recourse must be
had to those writers who visited or lived in the colony during the
prevalence of slavery, and have given the world the benefit of their
experience. These are St. Pierre, Soumerat and Baron Grant. St. Pierre
spent several years in the island, and mingled freely with the
inhabitants of all classes. The last was born in the island where his
father had sought to retrieve his fortune after the failure of Law's
Mississippi scheme. The pictures presented in the writings of St.
Pierre might appear exaggerated, or prejudiced, if drawn by a
foreigner; but it must be borne in mind that he describes only what he
witnessed, and that his good faith has never been questioned.[12] He
thus speaks of the importation and treatment of slaves:

"They are landed with just a rag around their loins. The men are
ranged on one side and the women on the other with their infants,
who cling from fear to their mothers. The planter, having
examined them as he would a horse, buys what may then attract
him. Brothers, sisters, friends, lovers, are now torn asunder,
and bidding each other a long farewell, are driven weeping to the
plantations they are bought for. Sometimes they turned desperate,
fancying that the white people intended eating their flesh,
making red wine of their blood, and powder of their bones. They
were treated in the following manner:

"At break of day a signal of three smacks of a whip called them
to work, when each betook himself with his spade to the
plantation, where they worked almost naked in the heat of the
sun. Their food was