Ch. v. Of the Checks to Population, 8$c. 67 



lation be not so well defined, and so open to com- 

 mon observation, on continents as on islands, yet 

 they still present obstacles that are nearly as in- 

 surmountable; and the emigrant, impatient of the 

 distresses which he feels in his own country, is by 

 no means secure of finding relief in another. 

 There is probably no island yet known, the pro- 

 duce of which could not be further increased. 

 This is all that can be said of the whole earth. 

 Both are peopled up to their actual produce. 

 And the whole earth is in this respect like an 

 island. But, as the bounds to the number of 

 people on islands, particularly when they are of 

 small extent, are so narrow, and so distinctly 

 marked, that every person must see and acknow- 

 ledge them, an inquiry into the checks to popu- 

 lation on those, of which we have the most 

 authentic accounts, may tend considerably to 

 illustrate the present subject. The question that 

 is asked in Captain Cook's first Voyage, with 

 respect to the thinly scattered savages of New 

 Holland, " By what means the inhabitants of this 

 " country are reduced to such a number as it can 

 " subsist?* may be asked with equal propriety 

 respecting the most populous islands in the South 

 Sea, or the best peopled countries in Europe and 

 Asia. The question, applied generally, appears 

 to me to be highly curious, and to lead to the 

 elucidation of some of the most obscure, yet im- 

 portant points, in the history of human society. 



• Cook's First Voyage, vol iii. p, 2 50, -Ito. 

 f2 



