258 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



then attained its greatest perfection. No in- 

 crease of their numbers has any where appeared 

 to take place, since that time. No circumstance 

 or event has taken place during the three hun- 

 dred yeai^s, that the Europeans have been ac- 

 quainted with the Indians, which can lead us to 

 suspect that the savage state either has, or can 

 admit of a greater population, than what it had 

 already attained. Nor is it probable, that any 

 increase of numbers, and population, could have 

 taken place, while hunting continued to be the 

 method of procuring subsistence. From the 

 observations that Avere made in Virginia, and 

 Massachusetts, it has been computed that the 

 population of the Indians upon the sea coasts, 

 could not be estimated higher than one for eve- 

 ry square mile. In the inland parts of the coun- 

 try, the Indian population certainly did not ex- 

 ceed tliis. Geographers have computed the 

 number of square miles in America, to amount 

 to fourteen millions, one hundred and ten thou- 

 sand, eight hundred and seventy four. We can- 

 not make a nearer computation, than to suppose 

 this was about the number of Indians it requir- 

 ed in the hunter's state, to spread over the 

 ■whole continent. How long a period would it 

 require, for the savages to increase to such a 

 number ? There has been no instance of a more 

 rapid increase, than that of the British colonies 

 in America. They were aided by new emigra- 

 tions from Europe : But so much were they 

 retarded and broke up in their settlements by 

 war, before the American revolution, that they 

 did not in fact double their numbers in thirty 

 years. The families of the Indians did not 



