Maori and Polynesian: their origin, history and culture
The Rapid Growth of Population proves the Same
The Rapid Growth of Population proves the Same
(7) And in spite of the internecine warfare that prevailed we are asked to believe that these few hundred immigrants in the fourteenth century had so grown in numbers by the middle of the seventeenth century that Tasman found Cook Straits swarming with population in command of great fleets of double and single canoes. Even in a peaceful, primitive people the growth of numbers is very slow. It is only in industrial eras and centres that it becomes rapid. And in New Zealand there were no mammals and few small game, whilst the native fruits and foods were hard to get and prepare. Under such conditions it is difficult to believe in so great an increase in about a dozen generations.