TROPICAL EXPLOITATION 65 
revive of late in modified forms. But in the tropics 
progress was less rapid, and there had, previous to the 
arrival of the white man, been but little progress beyond 
the stage of ‘‘ grow what you want and consume what you 
grow,” except in Peru, in India, and a few other spots. 
To a large extent this continues to the present day, 
and the bulk of the land employed in the tropics is in 
the hands of peasant cultivators, or of large landowners, 
who cultivate to a great extent upon the share systém. 
But with the coming of the white man all the conditions 
of agriculture in the tropics were altered, and a capitalist 
agriculture was more or less violently superimposed 
upon the other. 
The incoming European brought capital (as money) 
with him, and with the proper provision of this factor, 
agricultural progress became possible far beyond the 
point hitherto attained. At first he had little or nothing 
to do with agriculture proper, but settled as a merchant 
where he could procure the products of agriculture 
and transport them easily to Europe for sale. This 
determined the kind of locality in which he settled— 
usually either at the mouths of the great rivers, which 
afforded transport from the interior, like the Ganges, 
or upon islands, like Ceylon or Java. These early 
settlers collected and sold in Europe the products 
gathered by the natives from the forests, like cinnamon 
in Ceylon, or produce which certain districts produced 
in excess of their own requirements, like rice in Bengal. 
Before long the Europeans became themselves in- 
terested in agriculture. Land was easy to obtain in 
most countries, and native experience pointed out the 
possible crops. Means of transport were usually bad, 
F 
