Every farmer owns a large number of slaves, who live in the same
compound as himself. These people do all the work of the farm, while the
master employs himself as his fancy leads him. Over these unfortunate
people the owner has absolute control. All their affairs are managed by
him. His girl slaves he marries off to other men's slave boys, and
similarly obtains wives for his male slaves. The lot of these
unfortunate people is hard beyond description. Being considered but
little more valuable than the cattle they tend, the food given to them
is often inferior to the corn upon which the master's horse is fed. The
cruel beatings and torturings they have been subject to have completely
broken their spirit, and now they seem unable to exist apart from their
masters. Very seldom do any of them try to escape, for no one will give
them shelter, and the punishment awarded a recaptured slave is so severe
as to intimidate the most daring. These poor folk are born in slavery,
married in slavery, and they die in slavery. It is not uncommon to meet
with Chinese slaves, both boys and girls, in Nou-su families. These have
either been kidnapped and sold, or their parents, unable to nourish
them, have bartered them in exchange for food. Their purchasers marry
them to Tu-su, and their lot is thrown in with the slave class. One's
heart is wrung with anguish sometimes as he thinks of what cruelty and
wretchedness exist among the hills of this benighted district. Even
here, however, light is beginning to shine, for some adherents of the
Christian religion have changed their slaves into tenants, thus showing
the way to the ultimate solution of this difficult problem.

"The life in a Nou-su household is not very complex. The cattle are
driven out early in the morning, as soon as the sun has risen. They
remain out until the breakfast hour, and then return to the stables and
rest during the heat of the day, going out again in the cool hours. The
food of the household is prepared by the slaves, under the direction of
the lady of the house. There is no refined cooking, for the Nou-su
despises well-cooked food, and complains that it never satisfies him. He
has a couplet which runs: 'If you eat raw food, you become a warrior; if
you eat it cooked, you suffer hunger.' No chairs or tables are found in
a genuine Nou-su house. The food is served up in a large bowl placed on
the floor. The family sit around, and each one helps himself with a
large wooden