Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/189

 SECT. V.] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 153 mote that increase of mankind, which is limited only by the quantity of land fit for cultivation, it is necessary that the annual agricultural labor should produce a quantity of food, at least equal to the annual consumption of the whole existing popula- tion. The labor of women alone is not sufficient to produce that result. A portion of their time is necessarily employed in the other domestic occupations which must always fall to their share; and the residue is unequal to the task of raising food adequate to the whole consumption of the nation. The pro- portion may vary, according to soil, climate, and the greater or less degree of assistance, which, amongst some tribes, they occasionally receive from the men. But it fell short every- where of that which was required ; and the result was, that, after producing an increase of population proportionate to the addi- tional supply, that increase was again ultimately limited by the quantity of game which the territory afforded. Supposing, for instance, that a territory containing ten thou- sand square miles supplied game enough to sustain a population of five thousand souls, and that the labor of women afforded a supply equal to three fourths of the subsistence of the whole population, a most favorable supposition, its total amount could never have exceeded twenty thousand, or four times the num- ber which could be supported by the game alone. For, if we suppose the number to have been for a time raised to twenty- four thousand, since the agricultural labor of the women could only support eighteen thousand or three fourths of the whole, and the game still five thousand, one thousand must have been left without food. The first European settlers were not, like Cortez, Pizarro, and his worthy comrade De Soto, reckless invaders, who, actuated by the thirst of gold, laid waste the country with fire and sword, and claimed as of right the sovereignty of the land and the servitude of the natives. The Puritans of New Eng- land, William Penn, Oglethorpe, and Lady Huntingdon were all conscientious people; and, though Locke's plan of govern- ment was a failure, those who on that occasion consulted that great benefactor of mankind, the most powerful advocate of civil and religious liberty, must have been men of liberal minds. Yet it does not appear, that, in forming their plans, any of them was at all arrested by considerations arising from the rights of the natives to the soil. The emigrants all arrived, without any previous steps having been taken in reference to the Indians. vol. 11. 20