Slavery as an industrial system

by H. J. Nieboer

Prschewalsky, speaking of the Mongols, remarks: “Unlimited laziness is a main characteristic of the nomads; they spend their whole life in idleness, which is furthered by the character of pastoral nomadism. The tending of the cattle is the sole occupation of the Mongol, and this does not nearly require all his time. The guarding of cows and sheep is the business of the women and grown-up children; milking, creaming, butter-making and other domestic labour falls almost entirely to the share of the mistress of the house. The men generally do nothing, and from morning till night ride from one jurt (tent) to another, drinking koumiss and chattering with their neighbours. The chase, which the nomads are passionately fond of, serves mainly as a pastime.”

The Altaians have to survey the cattle; this consists only in riding a few times a day to the herds, and driving them together. The milking of the mares during the summer, which requires some courage, is also the men’s business.

Among the Aeneze Bedouins the men’s sole business is feeding the horses, and in the evening milking the camels[59]. [[274]]

The Kazak Kirghiz, too, are very lazy. They pass a great part of the summer sleeping because of the warmth; and in winter-time they hardly ever leave their tents, because the snow covers the roads. As they are not acquainted with any arts, and the tending of the cattle is their only occupation, there is no need for much work[60].

Rowney tells us of the Mairs and Meenas of Rajpootana: “The ostensible occupation followed by them was that of goatherds; but the herds were usually left to the charge of their boys and old men, while the more able-bodied spent their time, mounted on their ponies, in marauding, plundering, and murdering”[61].

Among the Massai the men despise every kind of work. Only warfare is considered an occupation worthy of a man[62].

It has to be remarked that most of these tribes do not keep slaves; so it is not by imposing all the work upon slaves that the men are enabled to pass their time in idleness; yet they do almost nothing. “The herdsman is lazy,” says Schmoller[63], and Schurtz speaks of the aversion from all hard and regular work, which characterizes the pastoral nomads[64]. This proves that but little labour is wanted. One might object, that perhaps women and boys are overworked. But the fact that the able-bodied men, who form a considerable part of the community, can afford to take life so very easily, sufficiently proves that the total amount of labour required is rather small.

Here we find one more reason why pastoral tribes have little use for slave labour. The demand for labour is small; therefore, even if free labourers were not available, only a few slaves would be wanted. Capital is here the principal factor of production, labour holding a subordinate place. Among agricultural tribes, when there is a practically unlimited supply of fertile soil, every person whose labour is available to the tribe can cultivate a piece of ground, and so, the more people there are, the more food can be produced. But among pastoral tribes, as soon as there are people enough within the tribe to guard the cattle, milk the cows, and do the other [[275]]work required, an increase in the number of labourers is not profitable. There is only a limited demand for labour; therefore, though there may be a temporary scarcity of labour which makes strengthening of the labour forces of the tribe by means of slaves desirable,—when a few slaves have been procured, the point at which a further increase in the number of people gives no profit will soon be reached again.

We see that among pastoral tribes little labour is required; and such as is, is easy to procure; for there are always people destitute of capital, who offer themselves as labourers. Therefore slaves are economically of little use.

There is, however, one description of a pastoral tribe, in which it is stated, that men as well as women have to work very hard. This is Geoffroy’s capital monography on the Larbas. The head of the family and his sons have to guard the herds, trace and dig pits, share in all operations common to the horsemen of the tribe: raids and battles, the pursuing of thieves, the defense of the pecuniary interests of the family, the depositing of merchandise in the ksours (store-houses). The head of the family tends the sick animals, and has the administration of the wool and grain; but practically he will not have much to do with these matters, not considering them worth his attention. But a great part of his time is taken up with keeping watch and marching, and this makes his life a rather hard one. He does not sleep at night; he waters the cattle in the pits or r’dirs; he surrounds his tents with a protecting hedge, the zirba; he struggles against the elements, which often disperse beasts, tents and men. Daily, from the cradle to the tomb, the nomad’s life is a struggle for existence. As a child he already has to look after the cattle; he learns to ride on horseback with his father. When older, whether rich or poor, he has to learn, for several years, to conduct large numbers of cattle, which is a very difficult and dangerous work, to tend the different kinds of animals, to cure them, to sell them, to derive from them as much profit as possible. Pastoral art is more complicated than at first sight it seems, and comprehends a long series of accomplishments. At twenty years the nomad is an accomplished man, thoroughly acquainted with the life he has to lead, enjoying all the physical [[276]]strength indispensable in the exceptional milieu where he has to struggle. The two youngest sons of the head of the family our informant describes, 15 and 13 years of age, now perform in the family the duties of herdsmen. Daily occupations of master and slaves are the driving together of the dispersed animals, the tending of the females that have calved, the preparing of special food for the young animals, the dressing of the stronger ones for the saddle and pack-saddle, and the chase of hares and gazelles[65].