THE KEGULATION OF NUMBEES 275 



spread and perhaps to some small extent contraceptive practices 

 or prudential restraint are employed by all these races. It may 

 also be noticed that there is plenty of evidence that in former 

 times in any case marriage customs existed which ensured that 

 before marriage took place the bridegroom was competent to 

 support a family at the recognized standard of living. ' The days 

 are still remembered when no young Munda could marry before 

 he was able to construct a plough with his own hands, nor would 

 a Munda girl be given away in marriage before she could, with 

 her own hands, weave mats with palm leaves and spin cotton.' ^ 

 5. There is no reason for thinking that over-population occurs 

 among the nomadic people such as the Arabs ; presumably the 

 methods we have seen to be in use are effective. There has 

 been much discussion as to whether over-population exists in 

 India, and there is a very great difference of opinion on the matter. 

 Hitherto, in order to throw some light on this point, we have had 

 to rely on general evidence ; here, for the first time, there is some 

 exact evidence of the kind which should enable a definite answer 

 to be given. What we want to know in the case of India is 

 whether the real income per head is increasing or not with the 

 increase of population. Unfortunately the evidence in India is 

 somewhat contradictory. It has recently been summed up by 

 Wattal.2 jjq shows that some of the arguments in favour of the 

 view that there is no over-population are of very doubtful validity. 

 It has been said, for instance, that large areas are sparsely popu- 

 lated ; in this connexion it has to be remembered that the soil 

 is poor in these areas. It has also been said that the complaints 

 about insufficiency of labour point to the same conclusion. There 

 are, however, many reasons to account for this fact. On the 

 other hand, Wattal points out that the acreage per unit of the 

 agricultural population hardly exceeds one and a half acres and 

 further shows a tendency to fall. He also points out that in 

 Europe 250 persons to the square mile is thought to be the limit 

 of density where agriculture is practised, whereas in India from 

 four to five times that number in many places find their support 

 on an area of this size. He finds the explanation of this not in 

 any superiority of soil or of skill but in the lowness of the standard 

 of living. Four persons subsist on an income that would hardly 

 support one person in Europe. The lowness of the standard of 



1 Roy, Mundas, p. 346. ^ Wattal, loc. cit., ch. v. 



S2 



