Sedgwick, 'British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review,' July 1863, p.
170.)

Notwithstanding that savages appear to be less prolific than civilised
people, they would no doubt rapidly increase if their numbers were not by
some means rigidly kept down. The Santali, or hill-tribes of India, have
recently afforded a good illustration of this fact; for, as shewn by Mr.
Hunter (60. 'The Annals of Rural Bengal,' by W.W. Hunter, 1868, p. 259.),
they have increased at an extraordinary rate since vaccination has been
introduced, other pestilences mitigated, and war sternly repressed. This
increase, however, would not have been possible had not these rude people
spread into the adjoining districts, and worked for hire. Savages almost
always marry; yet there is some prudential restraint, for they do not
commonly marry at the earliest possible age. The young men are often
required to shew that they can support a wife; and they generally have
first to earn the price with which to purchase her from her parents. With
savages the difficulty of obtaining subsistence occasionally limits their
number in a much more direct manner than with civilised people, for all
tribes periodically suffer from severe famines. At such times savages are
forced to devour much bad food, and their health can hardly fail to be
injured. Many accounts have been published of their protruding stomachs
and emaciated limbs after and during famines. They are then, also,
compelled to wander much, and, as I was assured in Australia, their infants
perish in large numbers. As famines are periodical, depending chiefly on
extreme seasons, all tribes must fluctuate in number. They cannot steadily
and regularly increase, as there is no artificial increase in the supply of
food. Savages, when hard pressed, encroach on each other's territories,
and war is the result; but they are indeed almost always at war with their
neighbours. They are liable to many accidents on land and water in their
search for food; and in some countries they suffer much from the larger