Slaves in Mauritania were returned to their masters and treated as runaway children. Also, African men who were recruited into the French army, or , were allowed to take slave wives, but they had to have been free before they were married, and had to remain in the colony.
In Mauritania, slaves were reclaimed by their owners and considered runaways until they grew up. Similarly, African men recruited into the French military or , were allowed to marry slave women, provided they were previously free and stayed within the colony.