- Recruitment was done by agents engaged by employers and paid a small commission.
- Many migrants agreed to take up work hoping to escape poverty or oppression in their home villages.
- Agents also tempted the prospective migrants by providing false information about final destinations, modes of travel, the nature of the work and living and working conditions.
- Often migrants were not even told that they were to take a long sea voyage. Sometimes agents even forcibly abducted less willing migrants.