180 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



"there would have been less mortality." Another careful ob- 

 server of the natives, Mr. Davis, remarks, "The births have been 

 "few and the deaths numerous. This may have been in a great 

 "measure owing to their change of living and food; but mor§ so 

 "to their banishment from the mainland of Van Diemen's Land, 

 "and consequent depression of spirits" (Bonwick, pp. 388, 390). 



Similar facts have been observed in two widely different parts 

 of Australia. The celebrated explorer, Mr. Gregory, told Mr. 

 Bonwick, that in Queensland "the want of reproduction was be- 

 "ing already felt with the blacks, even in the most recently settled 

 "parts, and that decay would set in." Of thirteen aborigines from 

 Shark's Bay who visited Murchison River, twelve died of con- 

 sumption within three months." 



The decrease of the Maories of New Zealand has been ca;refully 

 investigated by Mr. Penton, in an admirable report, from which 

 all the following statements, with one exception, are taken.* 

 The decrease in number since 1830 is admitted by every one, in- 

 cluding the natives themselves, and is still steadily progressing. 

 Although it has hitherto been found impossible to take an actual 

 census of the natives, their numbers were carefully estimated by 

 residents in many districts. The result seems trustworthy, and 

 shows that during the fourteen years, previous to 1858, the de- 

 crease was 19.42 per cent. Some of the tribes, thus carefully 

 examined, lived above a hundred miles apart, some on the coast, 

 some Inland; and their means of subsistence and habits differed 

 to a certain extent (p. 28). The total number in 1858 was be- 

 lieved to be 53,700, and in 1872, after a second interval of fourteen 

 years, another census was taken, and the number is given as 

 only 36,359, showing a decrease of 32.29 per cent!" Mr. Penton, 

 after showing in detail the insufficiency of the various causes, 

 usually assigned in explanation of this extraordinary decrease, 

 such as new diseases, the profligacy of the women, drunkenness, 

 wars, &c., concludes on weighty grounds that it depends chiefly 

 on the unproductiveness of the women, and on the extraordinary 

 mortality of the young children (pp. 31, 34). In proof of this he 

 shows (p. 33) that in 1844 there was one non-adult for every 

 2.57 adults; whereas in 1858 there was only one non-adult for 

 every 3.27 adults. The mortality of the adults is also great. He 

 adduces as a further cause of the decrease the inequality of the 

 sexes; for fewer females are born than males. To this latter 

 point, depending perhaps on a widely distinct cause, I shall re- 

 turn in a future chapter. Mr. Penton contrasts with astonish- 

 ment the decrease in New Zealand with the increase in Ireland; 



='»For these cases, see Bonwick's 'Dally Life of the Tasmanlans,' 

 1870, p. 90 and the 'Last of the Tasmanians,' 1870, p. 386. 



" 'Observations on the Aboriginal Inhabitants of New Zealand,' pub- 

 lished by the Government, 1859. 



" 'New Zealand,' by Alex. Kennedy, 1873, p. 47. 



