slaves_, even should there be
no intention of selling them as such. Slaves taking refuge in the
country from abroad will not be surrendered, but slaves belonging to
natives of the country will be given up to their owners unless they can
prove ill-treatment, or that they have been brought into the territory
subsequently to the 1st November, 1883, and it is optional for any slave
to purchase his or her freedom by payment of a sum, the amount of which
is to be fixed, from time to time, by the Government.

A woman also becomes free if she can prove that she has cohabited with
her master, or with any person other than her husband, with the
connivance of her master or mistress; and finally "all children born of
slave parents after the first day of November, 1883, and who would by
ancient custom be deemed to be slaves, are hereby proclaimed to be free,
and any person treating or attempting to treat any such children as
slaves shall be guilty of an offence under this Proclamation." The
punishment for offences against the provisions of this Proclamation
extends to imprisonment for ten years and to a fine up to five thousand
dollars.

The late Mr. WITTI, one of the first officers of the Association, at my
request, drew up, in 1881, an interesting report on the system of
Slavery in force in the Tampassuk District, on the West Coast, of which
the following is a brief summary. Slaves in this district are divided
into two classes--those who are slaves in a strict and rigorous sense,
and those whose servitude is of a light description. The latter are
known as _anak mas_, and are the children of a slave mother by a free
man other than her master. If a female, she is the slave or _anak mas_
of her mother's master, but cannot be sold by him; if a boy, he is
practically free, cannot be sold and, if he does not care to stay with
his master, can move about and earn his own living, not sharing his
earnings with his master, as is the case in some other districts. In
case of actual need, however, his master can call upon him for his
services.

If an _anak mas_ girl marries a freeman, she at once becomes a free
woman, but a _brihan_, or marriage gift, of from two to two and a half
pikuls of brass gun--valued at $20 to $25 a pikul is payable by the
bridegroom to the master.

If she marry a slave, she remains an _anak mas_, but such cases are very
rare and only take place when the husband is in a condition to pay a
suitable _brihan_ to the