nd every planter has to go in search of hands for himself. But
while the English Government keeps a sharp eye on these matters,
the French Government is as lenient in this as in the question of
the sale of alcohol, so that frequent kidnapping and many cruelties
occur in the northern part of the group, and slavery still exists. I
shall relate a few recruiting stories later on: some general remarks
on the subject may not be amiss here.

In years past the natives crowded the recruiting schooners by hundreds,
driven by the greed for European luxuries, by desire for change,
and inexperience; to-day this is the case in but very few and savage
districts. Generally the natives have some idea of what they may
expect; moreover, by trading with coprah they can buy all they need
and want. They enlist nowadays from quite different motives. With
young people it is the desire to travel and to "see the world,"
and to escape the strict village laws that govern them, especially
in sexual matters, and to get rid of the supervision of the whole
tribe. Sometimes, but only in islands poor in cocoa-nut trees, it is
the desire to earn money to buy a woman, a very expensive article at
present. Then many seek refuge in the plantations from persecution of
all sorts, from revenge, or punishment for some misdeed at home. Some
are lovers who have run away from their tribe to escape the rage of an
injured husband. Thus recruiting directly favours the general anarchy
and immorality, and indirectly as well, since the recruiters do their
best to create as much trouble as possible in the villages, knowing
it will be to their advantage. If they hear of a feud raging between
two tribes, they collect at the shore and try to pick up fugitives;
if there is no war, they do their best to occasion one, by intrigue,
alcohol, or agents provocateurs. They intoxicate men and women,
and make them enlist in that condition; young men are shown pretty
women, and promised all the joys of Paradise in the plantations. If
these tricks fail, the recruiters simply kidnap men and women while
bathing. This may suffice to show that, as a rule, they do not use
fair means to find hands, and it is hardly surprising that where
they have been they leave behind them wrecked families, unhappiness,
enmity, murder and a deep hatred of the white man in general as the
cause of all this misery. This recruiting is not only immoral in the
highest degree, but also very harmful to the race, and