DECREE of the Conseil du Cap, concerning the Sale of nègres, Strays, in the Jurisdiction of Fort-Dauphin

SEEN by the Conseil, the Petition of Julien Bornat, Receveur of fines, strays and confiscations of the district of Bayaha, stating that it has been an established practice at the said Seat of Bayaha, for some time, to sell the marrons held in prison, and not claimed by their enslavers or by anyone for them, only at the end of three months from the day of their arrival in the said prisons, and after three publications on different days, from week to week, with the result that the nègres are consumed in costs, waste away greatly from poor food, sometimes escape, and sometimes also die there; and since the Petitioner has learned that the said marrons are sold at the Cap at the end of 40 days, and that it does not seem natural that, for the same matter, there should be different practices in Jurisdictions dependent on the same Conseil, he was advised to apply, &c.