Note 400 — Chapter II · GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVERY.

Riedel states, that on Buru there were formerly slaves, and gives some details about slavery as it was carried on here. Wilken however says that there are neither slaves nor pawns400. Whether the latter means to say, that slavery did not exist at the time at which he was writing (1875), or that it had never existed, is not clear. Van der Miesen, writing in 1902, states that, if a man is unable to pay his debt, he is obliged to serve his creditor till his parents have collected the required sum401. No further mention of slavery or pawning is made in his detailed description. So we are left in doubt as to the former existence of slavery here.