Maritime desertion, whereby enslaved people endeavoured to reach their home country by canoe, was another problem on the Mascarene Islands, as the enslaved people were 'too close to their homeland to discourage the continuous practice of desertion' (Journal of Magon, 4 May 1756. ANOM, COL, C4/9). Occasionally, these fugitives would arrive safely on Île de Bourbon and would often be returned to Île de France. ${ }^{19}$ The Cape, on the other hand, was situated on the mainland.  
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[^0]:    18 Letter from the Council of Bourbon to the Directors, Saint-Denis, 28 January 1754. Bellecompte, Petition, Saint-Denis, 21 January 1768. ANOM, COL, C3/10, f. 203-204 and C3/12, s.f. REYDELLET 1994, pp. 50-51.
19 See, for example: Letter from the Council of Bourbon to the Council of Ile-de-France, Saint-Denis, 16 December 1764. ADLR, $\mathrm{C}^{0} / 644$.  
Its extensive hinterland was inhabited by an indigenous population; deserters often tried to reach the Xhosa territories. Some enslaved people even attempted to return to Madagascar by an overland route, including a group of three people acting on the instructions of an enslaved person named Samel. ${ }^{20}$  
According to Governor Magon, however, the success of any such enterprises was extremely limited: 'the wretches [...] were immediately discovered and returned to the slavery which they had endeavoured to evade by their escape' (Magon's Journal, 17/08/1757. ANOM, COL, C4/9). Tombe (1810, vol. I, p. 89) makes reference to escapees who, 'having arrived in Madagascar, and forced by winds and currents to land on a coast which was held by their enemies, were recaptured and sold'. ${ }^{21}$ In the 1790 s, a number of enslaved people who had fled from Île de France found themselves in Sainte-Marie. ${ }^{22}$ Dalrymple even confirms having met a runaway enslaved person from the Mascarene Islands in Saint-Augustin Bay, Madagascar, in 1752 (Dalrymple, 1935, p. 405).