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3: The savage state

Malthus looks to the most primitive state of mankind: the hunter-gatherer. Given the inefficiency of this means of food production, the population must by necessity be thin. However, when food is more plentiful, and less effort required to obtain it, such as a more permanent settlement in a fertile location, their population increases.

He takes as his example the North American Indian tribes: those that are nomadic exist in small bands, but those who take up a residence near European settlements have been noticed to have families of five, six, or more children - though it is rare that more than one or two live to maturity.

This is not merely the adoption of European habits, but a natural consequence of lifestyle: the hardship of life and the inconsistency of food lead to many miscarriages and high child mortality rates.

The notion of the happy savage is largely mythical - which the warrior in the prime of life can be seen to be relatively well provisions, such mean are the nobility of the savage tribes, who are less than one in a hundred of their population. The women, children, ages, and captives of a tribe have a crude and unenviable existence.

It is reasoned that this is the reason that the world is not presently more peopled than in might have been, given that for thousands of years prior to the age of agriculture, the vast majority of mankind existed in the savage state.

Little is known about the "manners and habits" of the next state of mankind: shepherd and subsistence farmers. However, he reckons that these advancements meant that there was a ready supply of food, less effort involved in harvesting it, and less hardship to the population in general - specifically, to women and children. Under these circumstances, it was possible for population to grow.

However, history records significant incidence of tribal conflict over land for framing and grazing as well as the significant effect of raiding barbarian tribes that found attacking villages more productive than hunting. It was fairly common for villages to be sacked and their inhabitants slain or dispersed.

He repeats that there is scant evidence provided in fragmented history of this era, but between what evidence that did exist and deductive reasoning, it is clear that the population of certain areas was able to increase (the classical civilizations of Greece, Rome, and Egypt occurred in areas that were relatively safe), but population was still held effectively in check by conflict and misfortune.