compelled the earlier emigrants, such as political strife or economic need, but because emigration has become a way of life. The Shortage of labour created by the departures is filled, paradoxically, by immigrants from other parts of the country. With so many absentee men, emigrant communities typically show a predominance of women and children. The low birthrate, another feature of emigrant communities, gave rise in earlier times to the popular practice of buying or adopting sons.