do before modern civilised nations; had they done so, the old moralists
would have mused over the event; but there is no lament in any writer
of that period over the perishing barbarians. (36. Bagehot, Physics
and Politics, Fortnightly Review, April 1, 1868, p. 455.) The most
potent of all the causes of extinction, appears in many cases to be
lessened fertility and ill-health, especially amongst the children,
arising from changed conditions of life, notwithstanding that the new
conditions may not be injurious in themselves. I am much indebted to
Mr. H.H. Howorth for having called my attention to this subject, and
for having given me information respecting it. I have collected the
following cases.
When Tasmania was first colonised the natives were roughly estimated by
some at 7000 and by others at 20,000. Their number was soon greatly
reduced, chiefly by fighting with the English and with each other.
After the famous hunt by all the colonists, when the remaining natives
delivered themselves up to the government, they consisted only of 120
individuals (37. All the statements here given are taken from The Last
of the Tasmanians, by J. Bonwick, 1870.), who were in 1832 transported
to Flinders Island. This island, situated between Tasmania and
Australia, is forty miles long, and from twelve to eighteen miles
broad: it seems healthy, and the natives were well treated.
Nevertheless, they suffered greatly in health. In 1834 they consisted
(Bonwick, p. 250) of forty-seven adult males, forty-eight adult
females, and sixteen children, or in all of 111 souls. In 1835 only one
hundred were left. As they continued rapidly to decrease, and as they
themselves thought that they should not perish so quickly elsewhere,
they were removed in 1847 to Oyster Cove in the southern part of
Tasmania. They then consisted (Dec. 20th, 1847) of fourteen men,
twenty-two women and ten children. (38. This is the statement of the
Governor of Tasmania, Sir W. Denison, Varieties of Vice-Regal Life,
1870, vol. i. p. 67.) But the change of site did no good. Disease and
death still pursued them, and in 1864 one man (who died in 1869), and
three elderly women alone survived. The infertility of the women is
even a more remarkable fact than the liability of all to ill-health and
death. At the time when only nine women were left at Oyster Cove, they
told Mr. Bonwick (p. 386), that only two had ever borne children: and
these two had together produced only three children!
With respect to the cause of this extraordinary state of things, Dr.
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