We cannot explain here why in Melanesia womankind is so much at a discount, whereas among some other savage tribes (e.g. on the North Pacific Coast of North America) the sex [[393]]commands such respect[272]. But we clearly see what is the effect of this state of things. Much labour is wanted; otherwise the women would not have to work so hard, and the rich would not keep so many female labourers. Yet slaves are not kept in any considerable number, because the women supply the place of slaves.
One might object, that possibly the women are held in such a slavelike state because male slaves are impossible or very difficult to procure, or because the coercive power of these tribes is not strong enough to admit of the keeping of slaves, or because male captives, where they are introduced into the tribe (as in the islands Bougainville Straits), are wanted for warriors. Shortly expressed the objection is, that slavery is not wanting because there exists a “slavery of women,” but “slavery of women” exists because slavery proper is wanting. We must own that this is quite possible. But, whatever be the cause of this “slavery of women,” as soon as it exists it renders slavery less necessary than it would otherwise be. War is frequent in Melanesia[273], so there is no physical impossibility of procuring captives. And though it may be difficult to keep male slaves subjected,—if the men were unable to impose all work on the women and obliged to perform their due share of it themselves, they would decidedly take more pains to procure slaves and set them to work. A low condition of women, though only a secondary factor, certainly is a factor which tends to make slavery proper superfluous.
§ 14. Commerce.
In § 1 of this chapter we have found the following numbers of positive and negative cases among commercial agricultural tribes: [[394]]
| Positive. | Negative. | |
| a1 + t | 8 | 3 |
| a2 + t | 26 | |
| a2 + c + t | 7 | |
| a3 + t | 6 | |
| a3 + c + t | 1 | |
| Total | 48 | 3 |
We use the term “commercial tribes” in a wide sense, as including not only those tribes among which many people subsist by trading, but those that exchange a considerable part of their produce for foreign merchandise. For instance, a tribe that grows corn for export is a commercial tribe in the sense we attach to the word.
We see that, with very few exceptions, all commercial agricultural tribes keep slaves. This proves that among agricultural tribes the development of trade greatly furthers the growth of slavery.
We have not much to say in explanation of this fact. When speaking of the slave-keeping tribes of the Pacific Coast of North America, we have already remarked that the development of trade tends to further slavery in various ways. Commercial tribes are likely to carry on a trade in slaves, and this makes the keeping of slaves very easy. Where the freemen take to commercial pursuits, they want others to perform the common drudgery for every-day subsistence. The trade itself may also require menial work: the articles of commerce have to be prepared and transported, trading vessels have to be rowed, etc. And finally, commerce often leads to a development of wealth and luxury; a man can now, by the labour of his slaves, acquire not only the necessaries, but the refinements of life[274].
The last point is an important one. In self-dependent agricultural countries the main use of slave labour consists in [[395]]providing the master with food. If, then, a man keeps a large number of slaves who work for him, he is able to entertain his friends, or to keep a retinue of unproductive slaves or servants, whose wants are provided for by the work of the soil-tilling slaves. But where this is the sole profit one can derive from one’s slaves, an owner who keeps a considerable number of them does not want to make them work very hard; he often contents himself with receiving a tribute, and so the slaves become serfs. In this way the slave-owner gets less out of his slaves than would otherwise be the case; but he does not want more, and he need not now continually supervise their work. Slavery is not likely to exist on a large scale.