238 THE EEGULATION OF NUMBEES 



recognition and careful maintenance of these areas is an indication 

 that such was the normal condition. Migration is abnormal, 

 and this fact is apt to be forgotten for two reasons. First, when 

 reviewing the course of history, migrations stand out as the chief, 

 if not the only, known facts and the huge intervals of time 

 between one movement and another are forgotten. Secondly, 

 our knowledge of primitive races is largely derived from observa- 

 tions made when migration had been set on foot owing to contact 

 wuth Europeans, as, for instance, in America. Migration may be 

 a disturbing factor, upsetting the adjustment of numbers ; but 

 it is an abnormal condition and hence it is disregarded here. 



And here, in answer to the objections that a greater prevalence 

 of infanticide and so on is assumed than there is evidence for, 

 we may, bearing in mind the many reasons why the evidence is 

 deficient, reply that this assumption is not unreasonable. If 

 such an assumption is not made, the position among these races 

 is not comprehensible. It may be granted, for instance, that 

 there is evidence of the practice of infanticide on a large scale 

 among certain Australian tribes ; but it may be pointed out that 

 similar evidence is lacking in the case of other tribes. Allowing 

 that a far more detailed examination of the evidence is desirable 

 than there is space for here, especially with regard to the nature 

 of the evidence and the date to which it refers, we may ask what 

 it is supposed was going on among those tribes who did not, as 

 it may be alleged, practise infanticide — abortion and abstention 

 from intercourse being uncommon or unknown in Australia. 

 The fecundity of all Australians is presumably very similar ; it 

 would be very remarkable indeed if it were not. The factors 

 tending to lessen fertility and to produce elimination do not 

 differ so very much from one tribe to another. It must follow 

 that, if one tribe practised infanticide on a large scale and main- 

 tained its numbers nevertheless, another tribe which did not 

 do so must have been rapidly increasing. This rapid increase is 

 not compatible with the strict maintenance of well-defined 

 territories and with all that we know of normal inter-tribal 

 relations, and it is submitted that the assumption made here, 

 namely that infanticide or some other custom was almost always 

 practised, provides the only explanation of the position.^ 



' There is evidence of an Australian tribe asking for an extension of territory. 

 So rare, however, is evidence of this kind that it only serves to emphasize that 

 the strict maintenance of territories was the normal condition. 



