THE DESCENT OB ORIGIN OF MAN 253 



subjected to a greater extent, and therefore having grown 

 somewhat more accustomed, to diversified or varying con- 

 ditions, than the majority of wild animals; and to their 

 having formerly immigrated or been carried from country 

 to country, and to different families or sub-races having 



I intercrossed. It appeals that a cross with civilized races 

 at once gives to an aboriginal race an immunity from the 

 evil consequences of changed conditions. Thus the crossed 

 offspring from the Tahitians and English, when settled in 

 Pitcairn Island, increased so rapidly that the island was 

 soon overstocked; and in June, 1856, they were removed 

 to Norfolk Island. They then consisted of 60 married 

 persons and 134 children, making a total of 194. Here they 

 likewise increased so rapidly that, although sixteen of them 

 returned to Pitcairn Island in 1859, they numbered in 

 January, 1868, 300 souls— the males and females being 

 in exactly equal numbers. What a contrast does this case 

 present with that of the Tasmanians; the Norfolk Islanders 

 increased in only twelve and a half years from 194 to 300; 

 whereas the Tasmanians decreased during fifteen years from 

 120 to 46, of which latter number only ten were children.*' 



So again in the interval between the census of 1866 and 

 1872 the natives of full blood in the Sandwich Islands 

 decreased by 8,081, while the half-castes, who are believed 

 to be healthier, increased by 847; but I do not know 

 whether the latter number includes the offspring from the 

 half-castes, or only the half-castes of the first generation. 



The cases which I have here given all relate to aborigines 

 who have been subjected to new conditions as the result of 

 the immigration of civilized men. But sterility and ill- 

 health would probably follow, if savages were compelled 

 by any cause, such as the inroad of a conquering tribe, to 

 desert their homes and to change their habits. It is an in- 

 teresting circumstance that the chief check to wild animals 



** These details are taken from "The Mutineers of the Bounty," by Lady 

 Belcher, 1870; and from "Pitcairn Island," ordered to be printed by the House 

 of Commons, May 29, 1863. The following statements about the Sandwidl 

 IsJandera are from the "Honolulu Gazette," and from Mr. Coan. 



