SECT. II.] CAUSES OP EXTINCTION. 149 



account of the approach of civilization. The extinction of the 

 Maynas is sufficiently explained by the ravages of disease. 

 Dobrizhoffer 1 shows that the number of the Abiponians had 

 actually increased after infanticide and polygamy had been 

 abolished. In Lima the Indians have, from 1793-1820, in- 

 creased from 3,600 to 5,000, and a proportionate increase is 

 observed in the whole country ; a diminution in taxation, the 

 abolishment of forced labour, and a better treatment in general, 

 afford the only explanation for these phenomena. 2 Moreover, 

 we hear of considerable diminution in the number of other 

 races, without attributing it to an original want of vitality. 

 As well-known instances we may mention the Jakutes and 

 Aleutes, who are greatly oppressed, the Jukagires and Kam- 

 schatdales. 3 The Aleutes perish by brandy, famine, excesses, 

 and, it may be added, by a systematic system of extermination 

 on the part of the Kussians. Numerous suicides and sexual 

 excesses promote the extinction of the Kamschatdales. 



Another principal cause which leads to the extinction of the 

 aborigines of America is their mode of life and their relations 

 to each other. Many of these tribes gather no provision for 

 the winter, but consume their stock, so that they are often 

 exposed to the greatest privations. Whenever an opportunity 

 offers they cause the greatest devastation among the game, and 

 thus deprive themselves of resources for the future. The 

 Indians on Hudson's Bay even believed that the deer increased 

 in proportion as they killed them. 4 As among many Asiatic 

 tribes, so in America, the custom prevails of burying or burn- 

 ing the property of the deceased with him. Among the Sioux 

 the funeral nearly swallows up the property of the deceased, so 

 that the survivors are in distress (Schoolcraft). In the ancient 

 half civilized states of America, as in Mexico and Peru, re- 

 ligious worship included an immense number of human sacri- 

 fices, which were also practised by other tribes related to the 



1 Chap, iii, p. 140. 



2 Caldcleugh, " Trav. in South Am./' ii, p. 68, 1825. 



3 Billings, " E. nach d. nordl. Gegenden v. Russ. As. und Am.," p. 121, 

 1803 ; Wrangell, " Statist, und Ethnogr. nachr. iiber d. russ. Bes. in Am.." 

 p. 218, 1839. 



4 Ellis, " E. nach Hudson's-Meerb.," p. 196, Q-ott., 1750. 



