CHAPTER III 



POPULATION AND LABOUR 



THE total population of the tropics is large, yet not so great 

 as that of the temperate zones, which have about the same 

 area. India, Ceylon, Java, and some of the small West Indian 

 islands are thickly populated, but in the rest of the tropics the 

 peopling is extremely sparse. Of late years the natives of India 

 and Java have begun to emigrate to other countries, and this 

 may be expected to go on more and more; but as yet they 

 in general ultimately return with their savings to their native 

 land. 



The following rough figures of populations and densities are 

 instructive, especially when we remember that South America, 

 at any rate, is probably as productive as India : 



Country Area in sq. m. Population Density per sq. m. 



India (British) 1,389,496 244,267,542 176 



Ceylon (W., S., and 



Centr. Provs.) 5,865 2,074,448 355 



Java 48,600 30,098,008 619 



Mexico 767,005 13,545,462 17 



Brazil 3,218,166 22,000,000 7 



Jamaica 4,193 831,383 199 



Barbados 166 171,417 1032 



Now nature is fairly prodigal in the tropics, and owing to 

 the smaller wants of the people a larger population per square 

 mile can probably be supported by agriculture than in the 

 temperate zone, though the agriculture in general is inefficient. 

 While in the United States two men are enough for 50 acres 

 of rice, in the tropics 25 to 50 will be needed in many districts. 



The races that inhabit the tropics are very numerous and 

 varied. The majority are natives of British India Bengalis, 



