Note 9 — Chapter III · PASTORAL TRIBES.

Paulitschke tells us that among the nomadic Somal and Danakil slavery is not profitable; for the territories inhabited by them are thinly peopled, agriculture is insignificant, and these cattle-breeders get their subsistence rather easily; moreover they would be unable to support a considerable number of slaves by the produce of their cattle. Therefore among the Danakil on the river Aussa and the Rahanwîn Somal on the lower Wêbi-Schabêli, where slaves are employed in agriculture, there is more use for slave labour. Among the nomadic Somal and Danakil slaves appear also to be employed in warfare. According to Bottego, whose account applies to the Somal of the towns, adult male slaves till the soil, build houses, and perform the rudest and most fatiguing kinds of work. The boys lead the cattle to the pasture-ground; the women are employed in household work and often are concubines of their masters9.