246 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



in many districts. The result seems trustworthy, and shows 

 that during the fourteen years previous to 1858 the decrease 

 was 19.42 per cent. Some of the tribes thus carefully ex- 

 amined 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 num- 

 ber in 1858 was believed 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 expla- 

 nation of this extraordinary decrease, such as new diseases, 

 the profligacy of the women, drunkenness, wars, etc., con- 

 cludes 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 return in a future chapter. Mr. Fen- 

 ton contrasts with astonishment the decrease in New Zealand 

 with the increase in Ireland — countries not very dissimilar in 

 climate, and where the inhabitants now follow nearly similar 

 habits. The Maories themselves (p. 35) "attribute their de- 

 cadence, in some measure, to the introduction of new food 

 and clothing, and the attendant change of habits"; and it 

 will be seen, when we consider the influence of changed 

 conditions on fertility, that they are probably right. The 

 diminution began between the years 1830 and 1840; and 

 Mr. Fenton shows (p. 40) that about 1830 the art of manu- 

 facturing putrid corn (maize), by long steeping in water, 

 was discovered and largely practiced ; and this proves that 

 a change of habits was beginning among the natives even 

 « "New Zealand," by Alex. Kennedy, 1813, p. 47. 



