Note 224 — Chapter IV · AGRICULTURAL TRIBES.
Reading edition
Our informant in several passages speaks of freemen destitute of land224. But these people are not in any way to be identified with the poor of modern times who depend on wages. They were generally foreigners who had no rights in any village community; but the lords were always ready to receive them and give them a piece of land in use on condition of their rendering services and paying tributes. The natural increase of the labouring population and immigration of foreign labour did not yet cause any difficulty225.