MAN IN EQUATORIAL REGIONS. 163 



which caused the Captain to observe that it was " all 

 d d humbug. " His interlocutor, " miffed " at the 

 unceremonious reply wanted to know what he meant 

 by " humbug. " " A cargo of Missionaries and Bibles 

 in the cabin, and a cargo of idols, cheap trade muskets, 

 and rum in the hold," that, so the Captain said, 

 conveyed a good idea of what he called " hum- 

 bug. " Leaving the reader to form his own conclusions 

 upon these matters, we pass to the more direct con- 

 sideration of our subject. 



Taking the equatorial zone as a whole, though it 

 is everywhere dotted over with the dwellings of man, 

 probably from periods of immense antiquity, it may be 

 safely affirmed that nowhere, except perhaps in the 

 arctic regions, has the wilderness so firmly and con- 

 stantly maintained its dominion. In the arctic zone, 

 of course, the habitations of man have been restricted 

 by the barren soil and the rigour of the climate. 

 Here, on the contrary, it is by the exuberance of 

 Nature that he has been overwhelmed, for even assum- 

 ing that man, such as we find him in these hot coun- 

 tries, was possessed of the physical energy necessary 

 to keep in check the rapid accumulations of vegetable 

 growths, and the innumerable armies of insect life 

 which destroy his crops, a continual struggle for 

 existence is created, in which man, unless confining 

 his efforts to a very small area, or working in numer- 

 ous communities, would soon be tired out, and all 

 evidence of human works quickly hidden under a thick 

 canopy of perpetual verdure. His permanent settlements 

 within the equatorial zone, are therefore mostly confined 

 to cities and other centres of population, planted on 

 the sea coasts or upon the banks of navigable rivers, 



