ch. iv.] Population. 69 



other half being open from end to end and free to guests 

 or strangers. The Kadyans take but one wife, and are 

 apparently good husbands and affectionate parents ; large 

 families, however, are exceptional. This question of 

 increase of population in the island is one I could not 

 profess to explain. Here is a rich and fertile island 

 larger than Great Britain and Ireland, with an entire 

 population scarcely exceeding that of London. In the 

 old times inter-tribal warfare may have operated as a 

 check, and even now whole villages are sometimes carried 

 off by epidemics, such as cholera or small-pox, yet when 

 we consider that there are practically none of the checks 

 on marriage itself as with us, and the readiness with 

 which food is obtainable in plenty, the easy and natural 

 way, indeed, in which these people live, it is a puzzle 

 that they seem scarcely able to hold their own. 



In the case of the North American Indians or the 

 Maories of New Zealand, there is the competition of the 

 white races, but here they are not crowded out by a 

 stronger type, nevertheless, the population is supposed to 

 be less than was formerly the case. If a Kadyan youth 

 wishes to marry, he has only to select a site for his house, 

 and clear the ground around it for a garden. He may 

 take an unoccupied plot anywhere, and there is no 

 ground-rent to pay, it is freehold so soon as he has in a 

 manner "staked his claim," by cutting down the brush 

 and burning the trees, in which the other "lads of the 

 village " will assist him. The ground is cleared towards 

 the end of the dry season, and with the commencement 

 of the first rains a few seeds of Indian corn, cucumbers, 

 betel popper, &c, are sown, and yams, kaladi, sweet 

 potatoes, together with cocoa-nuts, and banana suckers 

 from his father's or a friend's garden, are planted. Then 

 timbers, rattans, and nipa leaves for thatch are obtained, 



