XXV 



INTRODUCTION. 



HEALTH IN THE TROPICS. 1 



I ALLOW myself a fair judgment under this 

 head, because I have lived and worked for over 

 twenty-five years almost continuously in some 

 of the worst reputed sections of the Tropics, 

 and in the Torrid Zone more especially, yet 

 have come through perfectly unscathed, still 

 possessing to-day a clear, sound mind and 

 a body unimpaired and capable of undertaking, 

 without damage, still further sieges of the same 

 conditions. Experience is, after all, the best 

 guide in this instance. It is true that I 

 started young to sojourn in those regions, 

 with a physique as " sound as a bell," a lot of 

 common sense, and no fear or apprehension 

 of what might happen to me in the prosecution 

 of the calling which I was at the time en- 

 gaged in. I even indulged upon occasion in 

 actual manual labour, such as seafaring in the 

 northern waters of Australia and in the Dutch 

 Islands, pearl-fishing in the Torres Straits and 

 New Guinea, and so forth. I have listened 

 to the opinions of many medical men in my 



1 Contributed by F. A. G. Pape. 



