From: Michael Schwartz (mschwartz@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue 09 Apr 2002 - 20:13:47 EEST
Forwarding this to the list for Bryan. I think he is spot on, here.
Michael;
It is Bryan Thexton from the stormsteads group. Yahoo is giving me trouble so I can't post anything write now, but I can read messages OK. I've been reading the current thread about population figures with interest, and have a thought that might be relevant, so I'm writing you directly from my work e-mail. Feel free to mention this idea on the list however you want.
"Children" as mentioned in Storm Tribe might include all "non-adults". There is probably a small percentage of what we would consider to be adults who are not initiated. Even if the clan doesn't keep thralls, there may a couple of "village idiots" who couldn't even go through initation but who survived to adult hood, and there could be a couple of what amount to "permanent guests" who come from other cultures, or family who have converted to lunar worship, so would be counted amongst the _not adults_.
If you say 5% of total is made up of adult-in-age-but-not-initiated folk, but that they were counted in the 50% children, and also count the initiands amongst the children, the numbers begin to make sense (especially since the mature not-adults may bear children of their own occasionally).
Regards;
--Bryan
--
Michael Richard Schwartz | Language is my playground,
mschwartz@mindspring.com | and words, its slides and
Ann Arbor, Michigan USA | swingsets. -- yours truly
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