Note 317 — Chapter IV · AGRICULTURAL TRIBES.

In our chapter on pastoral tribes we have found that subjection of tribes as such sometimes serves as a substitute for slavery, making slavery proper superfluous. The same proved to be the case among agriculturists who depend on cattle for a large portion of their subsistence. Something analogous to this is the levying of tributes on conquered districts that so often occurs in Oceania, as we have found in § 8. Outside Oceania we have found only one instance among agriculturists who do not depend on cattle, and even this is a doubtful one. Morgan states that among the Iroquois the council “regulated the affairs of subjugated tribes”317; but he does not enter into more details, so we cannot exactly know what he means.