Note 696 — Chapter II · GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVERY.

Sibree, describing the Sakalavas of Madagascar, speaks of a kind of temple, which slaves may not enter, for should they do so they would become free696. According to Hildebrandt the occupations of the Sakalavas are not multifarious. The men tend the cattle and now and then sell a beast, and sometimes help the women in the little plantations. In the rice district of North Sakalavaland, where rice is cultivated for export, more labour is wanted on the fields; therefore in this district many slaves are kept697. It is not clear, whether our informant means to say, that in the other districts of Sakalavaland there are no slaves; at any rate we may conclude, that among the Northern Sakalavas slavery exists.