slave.
Before slavery was outlawed during American rule in the first decade of the twentieth century, slaves comprised a large percentage
of the Samal and Tausug populations. There were three classes: Aristocracy, freemen, and slaves. Now there are only two, aristocracy
and common. Slaves came from debtors and from slave kidnapping raids. The slaves provided a large work force by which the
Tausug and Samals used to harvest sea products such as shark's fin, pearls, trepang, tortoise shell, and birds' nests, for
trading with visiting Chinese and European ships which brought cloth, pottery, and arms.