Note 27 — Chapter III · PASTORAL TRIBES.

Going on to inquire what is the cause of this phenomenon, we may remember the general conclusion we have arrived at in the last paragraph, viz. that slave labour is of little use, where subsistence is either dependent on capital, or very difficult to procure. Now it is easy to see that among pastoral tribes subsistence entirely depends on capital. Among people who live upon the produce of their cattle, a man who owns no cattle, i.e. no capital, has no means of subsistence. Accordingly, among pastoral tribes we find rich and poor men; and the poor often offer themselves as labourers to the rich27.