482 INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



recalled the fact named in the last chapter concerning Mada 

 gascar, where owners of slaves sometimes assigned to them 

 portions of land for cultivation, giving them certain shares 

 of the produce: slaves becoming serfs. 



803. Leaving introductory illustrations, let us now ob 

 serve more systematically the extent and quality of the insti 

 tution as it has existed and still exists. We may fitly begin 

 with societies in which it is, or has been, universal. 



In Dahomey, where the king owns everything, everyone 

 is his slave, or more properly his serf. 



u By the State law of Dahome, as at Benin, all men are slaves to the 

 king, and most women are his wives.&quot; 



&quot;The highest officials in the land (excepting only the royal blood) 

 are ~bond fide slaves to the king, and therefore cannot say what they 

 please.&quot; 



In Madagascar there is a kindred state of things. &quot;The 

 whole population is always liable to be employed on govern 

 ment work, without remuneration, and for any length of 

 time.&quot; Beyond this liability of the whole population there 

 is the special liability of a class State-serfs carrying on 

 various trades. 



&quot; All are required to labour at them during life for the sovereign, 

 without any payment for their labour; they are, it is true, exempted 

 from the taxes levied on the freemen, but they are obliged to provide 

 for the support of themselves and families.&quot; 



Among the Coreans, too, State-serfdom is found. Oppert, 

 who thinks that the institution has descended from days of 

 constant warfare between tribes now consolidated, says: 



&quot;The first and best situated class comprises the Crown bondsmen, 

 who inhabit their own villages,&quot; and who contribute &quot;a slight share 

 from the revenues of the country they are bound to cultivate, which 

 share goes straight into the royal treasury.&quot; 



Of illustrations yielded by the records of ancient peoples 

 those from Egypt may come first. While the great pyramids 

 were being built, the Egyptians at large were manifestly 

 State-serfs: they were in batches drafted from their homes 



