156 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PAET I. 



sterility is rare, and proceeds, when it occurs, probably from 

 the male, as the women are frequently prolific with other men. ] 

 Gumilla 2 has made the same observations as regards the South 

 American women. An Osage chief had thirty-seven children by 

 his four wives. 3 A. Vespucci found in 1497 Venezuela thickly 

 populated about the region of Cape Paria ; the women were 

 then excellent breeders. 4 Labat 5 also speaks of the great pro- 

 lificacy of the Caribs. Humboldt and Bonpland 6 mention the 

 great fecundity of the Gruaraunos and the Indians in the mis- 

 sions distant from the Orinoco. Of some tribes it has already 

 been observed, that they have not lately decreased, but in- 

 creased. Finally, it may be mentioned, that Jefferson 7 states, 

 that Indian women who marry European traders, and are 

 relieved of their hard labour, properly settled and well fed, 

 produced as many children as European women : in some cases 

 they have brought up from six to twelve children. Rengger's 

 statements 8 with regard to the G-uarani women are to the same 

 effect. West 9 confirms them by observing, that Indian women 

 married to Europeans breed better than with the men of their 

 own stock, though they suffer more during delivery. There 

 can be no doubt that the principal reason of their being more 

 prolific is the improved mode of life. Thus among the Bedouin- 

 Arabs the prolificacy is less than among those who are settled ; 

 five children are considered among the Towaras upon the Sinai- 

 peninsula as a very large family ; 10 and among the Lapps and 

 Tunguses more than three to four children are rare. 11 



More obscure in many respects than the gradual decay of 

 the native population of America, is an analogous phenomenon 

 in the South Sea and Australia. Here one might feel more 

 inclined to assume a defective vitality of the race, since one of 



1 Say, in James, p. 237. 



2 " Hist. nat. de 1'Orenoque," ch. lii, 1758. 

 s Ibid., ii, p. 251. 



Collection de los Viages y descubrimientos," iii, p. 209, 1829. 



Nouv. voy. aux lies de 1'Am.," ii, p. 109, 1724. 

 E. in d. 



. Aequinoctialg.," i, p. 469; and iv, p. 31. 

 Besckr. v. Virginien," in Sprengel's Beitr. viii, p. 263. 

 E. nach Paraguay," p. 133, 1835. 

 Substance of a journal during a residence at the Eed E.," p. 54, 1824. 



10 Eitter, " Erdkunde," xiv, p. 953. 



11 Scheffer, " Lapland," p. 334 ; Georgi, p. 266. 





