The Zoologist— Octoijkk, 1868. 1391 



systematic course of action, and expressed their views in this syllo- 

 gistic form : — ■ 



1. " The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. 



2. " God has given the earth to be inhabited by his Saints. 



3. " We are his Saints, and therefore the earth and the fullness 

 thereof is given to us." 



The Saints acted on this view of the case, and it must be said 

 carried it out with spirit and perseverance. First, they seized corn 

 and cattle, then the land, shooting down the owners without the 

 slightest compunction: at last the Indians, driven to desperation, 

 retaliated, and such scenes of rapine and murder followed, such 

 atrocities were perpetrated, both by the natives and the Saints, as the 

 world has never witnessed elsewhere: the white man of course came 

 off triumphant, and from that hour to this has been pursuing the 

 poor Indian with unrelenting assiduity, nor will he desist while a 

 single red skin remains between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The 

 Report of the Select Committee touches on the different tribes by 

 name, and speaks of them as a very degraded race. The Indians of 

 New Brunswick are "in a wretched condition." The Cree Indians, 

 " once a powerful tribe, have now degenerated into a few families." 

 The Copper Indians "have decreased within the last five years to one 

 half the number of what they were." The Report dwells at consider- 

 able length, and with decided approbation, on the attempts now being 

 made to christianize the Indians, and regards this movement as having 

 a marked effect in diminishing the ratio of decrease. 



Thus the races of men have died exactly in the same way as the 

 species of animals ; they are also still dying in the same way : the two 

 are decreasing pari passu. The death of the Carib is an exactly 

 similar case to the death of the dodo ; the death of the Tasmanian 

 corresponds exactly with the death of the moho : all these are obedient 

 to one law, and that law is the death of species. These facts are open 

 to any scrutiny, however rigid, but they are so generally admitted that 

 nothing is to be apprehended from the most searching investigation. 



And here, before entering on the great question of the degradation, 

 deterioration or decay of races, it seems desirable to forestall two 

 objections or suggestions that will certainly occur to the reader who 

 has favoured me by attentively considering the subject. First, that 

 seeing that exhaustion or depletion of Nature's ranks must result from 



