254 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



Staley and the Rev. Mr. Coan. Nevertheless, another apparently 

 trustworthy writer, Mr. Jarves," whose observations apply to 

 the whole archipelago, remarks: — "Numbers of women are to 

 "be found, who confess to the murder of from three to six or 

 "eight children;" and he adds, "females from being considered 

 "less useful than males were more often destroyed." From what 

 is known to occur in other parts of the world, this statement is 

 probable; but must be received with much caution. The prac- 

 tice of infanticide ceased about the year 1819, when idolatry was 

 abolished and missionaries settled In the Islands. A careful cen- 

 sus in 1839 of the adult and taxable men and women in the island 

 of Kauai and in one district of Oahu (Jarves, p. 404), gives 4723 

 males and 3776 females; that is in the ratio of 125.08 to 100. At 

 the same time the number of males under fourteen years in Kauai 

 and under eighteen in Oahu was 1797, and of females of the same 

 ages 1429; and here we have the ratio of 125.75 males to 100 

 females. 



In a census of all the islands in 1850,™ the males of all ages 

 amount to 36,272, and the females to 33,128, or as 109.49 to 100. 

 The males under seventeen years amounted to 10,773, and the 

 females under the same age to 9593, or as 112.3 to 100. Prom the 

 census of 1872, the proportion of males of all ages (Including 

 half-castes) to females, is as 125.36 to 100. It must be borne in 

 mind that all these returns for the Sandwich Islands give the 

 proportion of living males to living females, and not of the births; 

 and judging from all civilized countries the proportion of males 

 would have- been considerably higher if the numbers had referred 

 to births.™ 



" 'History of the Sandwich Islands,' 1843, p. 93. 



" This is given in the Rev. H. T. Cheever's 'Life in the Sandwich 

 Islands,' 1851, p. 277. 



»» Dr. Coulter, in describing ('Journal R. Geograph. Soe,' vol. v. 

 1835, p. 67) the state of California about the year 1830, says that the 

 natives, reclaimed by the Spanish missionaries, have nearly all per- 

 ished, or are perishing, although well treated, not driven from their 

 native land, and kept from the use of spirits. He attributes this, in 

 great part, to the undoubted fact that the men greatly exceed the 

 women in number; but he does not know whether this is due to a 

 failure of female offspring, or to more females dying during early 

 youth. The latter alternative, according to all analogy, is very im- 

 probable. He adds that "infanticide, properly so called, is not com- 

 "mon, though very frequent recourse is had to abortion." If Dr. 

 Coulter is correct about Infanticide, this case cannot be advanced in 

 support of Col. Marshall's view. Prom the rapid decrease of the re- 

 claimed natives, we may suspect that, as in the cases lately given, 

 their fertility has been diminished from changed habits of life. 



I had hoped to gain some light on this subject from the breeding of 

 dogs; inasmuch as in most breeds, with the exception, perhaps, of 



