opening up the country to white settlement led to the displacement of numerous tribes in the area from their traditional grounds, and "with privation, disease, alcohol and lead", whole communities were annihilated. by the time of his sojourn at boulia, roth goes on to estimate that, as with most tribes in the area, the pitapita were suffering from a rapid demographic collapse, and he stated that no more than 200 probably remained in the whole of the district.