The Sooloo Archipelago. 133 



superabundant wealth, and the consequence is, there 

 is no great ambition to amass it. Polygamy and 

 slavery, the accompaniments of the Mohammedan 

 faith, flourish in Sooloo. 



In Sooloo a man hardly understands what it 

 is to work for wages ; he is somewhat ashamed 

 to let himself out. There must, however, be hewers 

 of wood and carriers of water, whether they be 

 slaves who are a part of a man's establishment, 

 and who identify his interests with their own, or 

 servants earning a poor pittance, with far harder 

 work, and liable to be cast adrift on a pitiless 

 world. There are exceptional cases in which a 

 slave meets with a hard master, but generally 

 speaking, the slaves are fairly happy, well treated, 

 and not over-worked. They live on the same 

 food as their masters, and the wife they wish for 

 is generally obtained for them, but their children 

 are also slaves. Some men are born slaves, others 

 are stolen into captivity, others are slaves from 

 debt, and lastly there are certain men who admit 

 their liability to servitude under the sons of 

 their father's masters, but they are never called 

 upon to render service, and are practically free 

 agents. 



Divers will occasionally sell for as much as 



