80 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. i. 



we may well imagine that these chiefs will often 

 live in plenty, while their vassals and servants are 

 pinched with want* 



From the late accounts of Otaheite in the Mis- 

 sionary Voyage, it would appear, that the depo- 

 pulating causes above enumerated have operated 

 with most extraordinary force since Captain 

 Cook's last visit. A rapid succession of destruc- 

 tive wars, during a part of that interval, is taken 

 notice of in the intermediate visit of Captain Van- 

 couver ;* and from the small proportion of women 

 remarked by the Missionaries,t we may infer that 

 a greater number of female infants had been de- 

 stroyed than formerly. This scarcity of women 

 would naturally increase the vice of promiscuous 

 intercourse, and, aided by the ravages of European 

 diseases, strike most effectually at the root of 

 population.^ 



It is probable that Captain Cook, from the data 

 on which he founded his calculation, may have 

 overrated the population of Otaheite, and perhaps 

 the Missionaries have rated it too low ;§ but I 

 have no doubt that the population has very con- 

 siderably decreased since Captain Cook's visit,, 

 from the different accounts that are given of the 

 habits of the people with regard to economy at 

 the different periods. Captain Cook and Mr. An- 

 derson agree in describing their extreme careful- 



* Vancouver's Voy. vol. i. b. i. c. 7. p. 137. 

 f Missionary Voyage, p. 192 & 385. 

 % Id. Appen. p. 347. 

 § III. cb. xiii. p. 212. 



