t we shortly made out
that he was expressing his thanks to us for having rescued him.

The next day he was up and dressed, and though somewhat weak, perhaps,
apparently as well as anybody on board. He now came aft, when, in his
broken language, helped out with a word or two of English, he gave us a
strange story. I cannot pretend to give his account in his own
language--indeed it would not be very clear if I did so, as it was only
after he had been on board some time that we gained all the particulars.
He told us that his name was Macco, that he was born in Madagascar, at
a village in the north of that large island. With several lads from the
same village he had gone on board a vessel which had carried them to the
Mauritius. There he had worked as a field-labourer for some time, and
though not a slave, treated very little better than one. He had learned
something about Christianity, but not much, I am afraid. He knew that
some of his countrymen had become Christians; but as large numbers of
them had been murdered, he was afraid, should he ever go back to
Madagascar, that he might be treated in the same way, and was therefore
unwilling to acknowledge that he was a Christian. After a time he had
engaged with several other people from Madagascar, as well as Creoles of
the Mauritius, to accompany a person to the island of Rodrigez, to be
employed under him as fishermen. They were at once embarked on board a
small colonial vessel, which conveyed them to that island, where they
were hired out to different masters. It appeared, however, that the
Creoles were very jealous of the Malagasys, and poor Macco found himself
very ill-treated by them. Frequently they beat him, and often
threatened his life. Several times he complained of their conduct to
his master; but the man was hard-hearted, and only laughed at his
complaints, telling him to go and thrash the Creoles, and they would
soon cease to torment him. Poor Macco, however, was a mild-tempered
young man, and probably thought that he would only be treated worse if
he made any such attempt. At length, to avoid the persecutions to which
he was subjected, he determined to run away from the island, and
endeavour to reach the Mauritius. He mentioned his determination to one
of his fellow-countrymen, who advised him to put it into execution. He,
however, had to wait some time before he could carry out his project.
He began, however, at once to store up a supply of food