36 Of the Checks to Population Bk. i. 



dent savage would frequently prevent him from 

 extending the benefits of these supplies much be- 

 yond the time when they were actually obtained. 

 The great extent of territory required for the sup- 

 port of the hunter has been repeatedly stated and 

 acknowledged.* The number of wild animals 

 within his reach, combined with the facility with 

 which they may be either killed or insnared, must 

 necessarily limit the number of his society. The 

 tribes of hunters, like beasts of prey, whom 

 they resemble in their mode of subsistence, will 

 consequently be thinly scattered over the surface 

 of the earth. Like beasts of prey, they must 

 either drive away or fly from every rival, and be 

 engaged in perpetual contests with each other.')" 



Under such circumstances, that America should 

 be very thinly peopled in proportion to its extent 

 of territory, is merely an exemplification of the 

 obvious truth, that population cannot increase 

 without the food to support it. But the interest- 

 ing part of the inquiry, that part, to which I 

 would wish particularly to draw the attention of 

 the reader, is, the mode by which the population 

 is kept down to the level of this scanty supply. 

 It cannot escape observation, that an insufficient 

 supply of food to any people does not shew itself 

 merely in the shape of famine, but in other more 

 permanent forms of distress, and in generating 

 certain customs, which operate sometimes with 



* Franklin's Miscell. p. 2. 

 f Robertson, b. iv. p. 129. 



