It is difficult to determine the number of Malagasy natives included in these figures. In general, they account for two thirds of people enslaved in the Mascarene Islands prior to 1770 and one third thereafter. Meanwhile, on the Cape, one quarter of all enslaved people imported were Malagasy, and exploited mostly by the Compagnie des Indes (Allen, 2001; Shell, 1994, pp. 40-48). Malagasy people were stereotyped as being the most likely to desert, but they were not disproportionately represented among deserters (Barassin, 1980, pp. 360-361; Vaughan, 2001). While it appears that enslaved non-Creole males, acting individually, were the main instigators of resistance movements (Worden, 2007), enslaved people of various different origins would ultimately become involved in desertion (Ekema, 2016).  
In response, the French employed so-called deserter hunters. ${ }^{18}$ In 1740, La Bourdonnais emphasized the success of his black constabulary as deserter chief Sans Souci was captured 'after eleven years of murder and arson, beaten and burned alive' (Letter from La Bourdonnais to the Directors, Port Louis, 15 January 1740. ANOM, COL, C4/4, p. 2). Further successes followed and, by 1753, black deserters on Île de Bourbon had been reduced to a small number (Letter from Lozier-Bouvet to the Directors, s.l., 21 January 1753, ANOM, COL, C4/7 s.f.). This success was short-lived, however. In 1762, DesforgesBoucher reported that extensive hunts were ongoing and were leading to captures each week by the three detachments deployed (Letter from DesforgesBoucher to the Directors, Île de France, 20 September 1762. ANOM, COL, C4/14, s.f.). On the Cape, private citizens were also encouraged to capture drosters, and the Cape authorities organized one-off expeditions to counter the threat of deserters (Worden, 1985, pp. 128-130). In 1800, dozens of deserters attacked wagons on the road, in a form of banditry.