CHAPTER V 



WHITE MEN IN THE TROPICS 



Can the tropics be permanently colonized by Europeans, 

 and particularly by men of the Anglo-Saxon race ? This 

 is the question that now occupies much attention in view 

 of the mad struggle among the chief European Govern- 

 ments for a share of all those parts of tropical Africa 

 and Asia still held by inferior races. And the general 

 opinion seems to be that there is something in the 

 tropical climate inimical to Europeans, who cannot live 

 and work there as the natives can, and who must, 

 therefore, be content with a few years' residence, occupy- 

 ing the country solely as rulers, and as exploiters of 

 native labour. Again and again the statement is made in 

 the public press, and by writers of some authority, that 

 " white men cannot live and work in the tropics ; " and 

 this dogma is made the foundation of theories as to our 

 conduct toward the natives, and is often held to justify us 

 in inducing or compelling them to work for us by methods 

 which do not very much differ in their results from modi- 

 fied slavery. It therefore becomes important to ascertain 

 whether this dogma is true or false ; and on this question, 

 having myself lived and worked for twelve years within 

 ten degrees of the equator, in the Amazon valley and in 

 the Malay Archipelago, I have formed a very definite 

 opinion. 



A few preliminary remarks are needed to avoid mis- 

 conception. In the first place, we must clearly distinguish 



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