CHAPTER VI. 
NUMBERS — DISEASES CAUSE OF LIMITED POPULATION — 
CRIMES AGAINST EUROPEANS AMONGST THEMSELVES — 
TREATMENT OF EACH OTHER IN DISTRIBUTION OF 
FOOD, ETC. 
There is scarcely any point connected with the 
subject of the Aborigines of New Holland, upon 
which it is more difficult to found an opinion, even 
approximating to the truth, than that of the aggre- 
gate population of the continent, or the average 
number of persons to be found in any given space. 
Nor will this appear at all surprising, when the 
character and habits of the people are taken into 
consideration. Destitute of any fixed place of resi- 
dence, neither cultivating the soil, nor domesticating 
animals, they have no pursuits to confine them to 
any particular locality, or to cause them to congre- 
gate permanently in the same district. On the 
contrary, all their habits have an opposite ten- 
dency. 
The necessity of seeking daily their food as they 
require it, the fact of that food not being procurable 
for any great length of time together in the same 
place, and the circumstance that its quality, and 
abundance, or the facility of obtaining it, are con- 
