20.2 A Chronicle of Survivors
349
islands and 25 years after the arrival of the first sealers, was estimated at 1,600 [2].
By 1835 a significant proportion of Moriori had succumbed to European diseases.
Alexander Shand estimated from Moriori oral evidence that a series of influenza
and measles epidemics between 1828 and 1832 wiped out half their population.
Europeans claim Moriori lost only one-fifth of their population from European diseases before 1835 [2]. The Moriori estimate suggests a pre-contact population of
more than 3,200. The European estimate claims 2,000. With a pre-contact population of between 2,000 and 3,200 plus, the area per person before European contact
would have been between 0.3 and 0.5 km 2 per person. Thus the density of people in
the Chathams would have been between 9 and 15 times that on Flinders Island.
The food resources available on Flinders Island seem to have been comparable
to those in the Chathams: colonies of seals, numerous birds (including Cape Barren
geese not found in the Chathams) and, in season as in the Chathams, vast quantities
of migrating mutton birds which could be cooked and preserved in their own fat (as
Maori preserved the moa in New Zealand). Flinders Island had the advantage of a
lower latitude (higher temperatures).
How did Moriori with a substantial population in relation to area, limited to a
hunter/gatherer lifestyle, avoid extinction? The answer we believe lies in their evolution of a tightly controlled society. Most hunter/gatherers find means to preserve a
stationary population, birth control and infanticide amongst them. As commented
in Chapter 11, such societies have to maintain a population size below the carrying capacity of the land to protect themselves from population losses in times
of drought or environmental disasters (tsunamis, cyclones, floods, etc.). Moriori
depended on seals for protein and clothing. They maintained seal colonies by culling
only old males. Like the tangata whenua in New Zealand, they probably had hunting
protocols to preserve the birds they hunted.
For controlling human population levels they employed two means. The first was
their adoption of a law of non-violence (discussed in Section 20.6), the second,
castration of a proportion of male babies. For over 2,600 years, until the arrival of
Europeans, they were able by these means not only to avoid extinction but also to
support a substantial population in relation to area.
A significant consequence of their following these strategies is that the generation lengths of the two genealogies we analyse in this chapter may well have
been virtually constant throughout Moriori prehistory. This would ensure the accuracy of the chronological estimates we can obtain through analysis of these two
genealogies.
The closeness of the two mean generation lengths of the two genealogies which
we derive in the following sections (21.21 years for the Tamahiwaki line and 21.04
for the Maikoua line) shows their consonance one with the other, as is perhaps to
be expected given a controlled population size, conservation of resources and strict
adherence to a law of non-violence which ensured no loss of life through war or
personal conflict.
Until European contact, the Moriori were free from invasion and conquest and
internal conflict. The preservation of accurate traditions in these circumstances can
be expected.
349
islands and 25 years after the arrival of the first sealers, was estimated at 1,600 [2].
By 1835 a significant proportion of Moriori had succumbed to European diseases.
Alexander Shand estimated from Moriori oral evidence that a series of influenza
and measles epidemics between 1828 and 1832 wiped out half their population.
Europeans claim Moriori lost only one-fifth of their population from European diseases before 1835 [2]. The Moriori estimate suggests a pre-contact population of
more than 3,200. The European estimate claims 2,000. With a pre-contact population of between 2,000 and 3,200 plus, the area per person before European contact
would have been between 0.3 and 0.5 km 2 per person. Thus the density of people in
the Chathams would have been between 9 and 15 times that on Flinders Island.
The food resources available on Flinders Island seem to have been comparable
to those in the Chathams: colonies of seals, numerous birds (including Cape Barren
geese not found in the Chathams) and, in season as in the Chathams, vast quantities
of migrating mutton birds which could be cooked and preserved in their own fat (as
Maori preserved the moa in New Zealand). Flinders Island had the advantage of a
lower latitude (higher temperatures).
How did Moriori with a substantial population in relation to area, limited to a
hunter/gatherer lifestyle, avoid extinction? The answer we believe lies in their evolution of a tightly controlled society. Most hunter/gatherers find means to preserve a
stationary population, birth control and infanticide amongst them. As commented
in Chapter 11, such societies have to maintain a population size below the carrying capacity of the land to protect themselves from population losses in times
of drought or environmental disasters (tsunamis, cyclones, floods, etc.). Moriori
depended on seals for protein and clothing. They maintained seal colonies by culling
only old males. Like the tangata whenua in New Zealand, they probably had hunting
protocols to preserve the birds they hunted.
For controlling human population levels they employed two means. The first was
their adoption of a law of non-violence (discussed in Section 20.6), the second,
castration of a proportion of male babies. For over 2,600 years, until the arrival of
Europeans, they were able by these means not only to avoid extinction but also to
support a substantial population in relation to area.
A significant consequence of their following these strategies is that the generation lengths of the two genealogies we analyse in this chapter may well have
been virtually constant throughout Moriori prehistory. This would ensure the accuracy of the chronological estimates we can obtain through analysis of these two
genealogies.
The closeness of the two mean generation lengths of the two genealogies which
we derive in the following sections (21.21 years for the Tamahiwaki line and 21.04
for the Maikoua line) shows their consonance one with the other, as is perhaps to
be expected given a controlled population size, conservation of resources and strict
adherence to a law of non-violence which ensured no loss of life through war or
personal conflict.
Until European contact, the Moriori were free from invasion and conquest and
internal conflict. The preservation of accurate traditions in these circumstances can
be expected.