INTRODUCTION xiii 



man's playground, a land of attractive winter homes for people 

 in moderate circumstances and a refuge for thousands who are 

 suffering from various ills of the flesh. I can look forward with 

 full confidence to a time in the near future when a large area 

 within the territory covered in this work will be girdled with the 

 finest of roads bordered with beautiful tropical and semi-tropical 

 shade trees; I can see the land filled with happy homes shaded 

 and embowered with the glorious vegetation of the equatorial 

 regions, a land of peace and contentment, a land of hope, of rest 

 for the weary, a land of perennial verdure and fadeless beauty. 



