| caption: |
Chapter One. The Material Background |
| caption: |
hiring of labour and labour gangs |
| text: |
Wealthy people cultivating many fields had also to hire labor in excess of that provided by the members of their own households, and the gangs of unmarried boys or girls who habitually worked together were the most obvious source of such labor. The owner of the field had to feed the members of the gang, and, in addition, pay them a daily wage. This was usually not distributed among the members of the gang, but was kept in a fund used to meet expenditures on feasts. Occasionally, even labour gangs from neighboring villages were employed, and this system of paid labour made it possible for some men to cultivate as many as ten fields in one year. Men who could not afford to hire workers usually contented themselves with the cultivation of two fields. In exceptional cases impoverished men would not cultivate any plots of their own, but worked exclusively for rich people, who paid them partly in rice and partly in cash. |
