As attested by oral history and the records of the ▮.
- ▮ transport large numbers of Taadži to the archipelago. High mortality rate.
-- The Naasengo records say that they thought the Taadži would be a good fit for slaves on the archipelago: "Giant as they are, stout and strong-limbed, these great hairless beasts will keep well in transport." Transport of non-Taadži slaves was also undertaken, serving colonial administrators. "Provisions will have to be made for the transport of house-slaves of course, but those of sufficient means should be able to supply their own for the duration of their contract."
- Taadži forced to heavy labor, including mining in the mid-Archipelagic mountain range.
- First contact with the black flesh in its wild state. It's a hazard native to the island. The ▮ attempt to destroy it, but have no luck. "A survey team returned with one man missing his boots, and all full of wild tales of living, black fens lying in the valley, full of animate malice. Tar pits, most likely. And just as well--we need better means to keep the weather out." Later: "The foreman sent to oversee the first harvesting of tar returned with sorry news--no tar to be found, he said. Whatever lies in that valley is a burning poison to the touch, and has the consistency and greasy feel of suet. This land abounds of strange and terrible things, each more peculiar than the last. Perhaps this is some effluvia from the volcano, which has continued to mutter in dire tones one can hear above the incessant wind.".
-Taadži are starving and perishing to disease long before the colonizers are. "A foreman reported a ghastly sight this morning--one of the weaker slaves had been set upon by his fellows and torn to pieces. When interrogated, the killers denied their hand in his death, until they confessed that they had intended for birds to dispose of the evidence. This stands as another terrible reminder that these beasts may not show true intelligence, but they do not lack for animal cruelty." This is reinterpreted by the later Taadži for what it is: the use of a body as bait.
-The Taadži do not attempt to process bodies again. "The men on watch have noted the slaves continuing their depravity, though for just this once it keeps them in honest work. They have taken to eating vermin, crawling beasts and carrion birds alike. In so doing, they are partaking in cannibalism, for these creatures are drawn to the bodies of dead slaves in their camps. On fair weather days, they wait in ambush beside the corpses, waiting for creatures yet still lower than they. When sufficiently distracted by their meal, the slaves spring upon them and catch them with thrown rocks, crude baskets, or their bare hands. Perhaps we should feel more sympathy for the vulture, for it does not eat its own, directly or otherwise!"
-With food scarce, the Taadži are pulled from the mines to assist in gathering food. The reports of the colonizers mention that the Taadži end up eating rotten tree bark when they starve--the first documented consumption of the sweet rusts/galls that grow on local trees. "The brutes can't be trusted to control themselves. One suspects they eat full half or more of what they collect. Their guards, faithless men all, take the other half. Rations have been tightened accordingly. The slaves have responded in their usual custom, with completely insensible behavior. Eating beetles from the dirt is not the half of it--rotting tree bark is being rendered into a murky gruel. Gods forfend that we never find ourselves in such a state."
- The ▮ find the colony innsufficiently productive, and the Taadži too expensive to be worth the cost of transport. The ▮ leave the Archipelago.