476 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. \Jan. 2, 1899. 
THE PKOBLEM OF THE TROPICS. 
THE EDITOn or THE " DAILY CHBONICLE." 
Sir, — la the interesting article on Mr. Ridd's book, 
" The Cobtrol of the Tropics," in he Daily Chronicle 
of last Monday, there ia a pervading assumption — I 
presume made also by Mr. Kidd — that White men 
cannot live and work there. Your reviewer makes 
this statement three times, as if it were an absolute 
fact, undisputed and undisputable, and it ia probably 
this assumption which has made it so di&cuU for 
Mr. Kidd to give any aatiafactory solution of the 
"Problem of the Topics." As one who has lived 
(and worked) for twelve years in the tropics, per- 
haps you will allow me space to discuss this interest- 
ing question. 
No great problem can be solved if we begin by 
assuming data which are erroneous, ani I maintain 
that the assumption as to what men not being able 
to live and work in the tropics, in good health and 
in full enjoyment of existence, is not only nntiue, 
but ia the very opposite to the truth. It is because 
white men, as a rule, do not work enough in the 
open air in the tropics that they so often suffer in 
health, and for anyone who lives rationally as to 
food and clothing, and who conforms in kis dwel- 
ing and surroundings to ordinary sanitary laws, a 
fair amount of bodily exertion is, there as much as 
here, one of the conditions of perfect health, and 
to those who thus live I affirm that the tropics, as 
a whole, are more conducive to health than the 
temperate regions. A large body of facta go to 
prove this contention, and I will briefly enume- 
rate them. 
First, I may say that I owe to my twelve years' 
residence in the tropics the comparatively good 
health I now enjoy. When about seventeen I nearly 
died of lung-disease, but breathing the pure, warm 
air of the equatorial zouo for twelve years completely 
restored them, so that, ten years after my return 
home, a physician informed me that my lungs were 
perfectly sound, and that, in fact, I had the chest 
of an athlete. Is it not also a well-known fact that, 
in India, tho men who suffer least from the climate 
are the enthusiastic sportsmen, who seize every op- 
portunity of getting away from civilisation, and who 
often submit to privations and fatigue with benefit 
rather than injury to their health. But, turning to 
a better IllnstratioD, do not the rank and £ile of 
our European soldiers work, and work pretty hard, 
too, in every part of India, especially on a cam- 
paign, and has a been ev-r alleged that they "cannot 
live and work" there, or that they suffer in health 
from the mere fact of working ? On the other hand, 
the class that does no outdoor work at all in India, 
and which has fewest outdoor occupations and amose- 
ments — the women of the ruling classes— are those 
who suffer most from the climate. But more strik- 
ing still is the object lesson we have just had in 
the Sou'lan campaign, where English soldiers and 
officers have been continuously working and fight- 
ing for two or three years in one of the hottest and 
most trying parts of the tropics, and with certainly 
not more illness than in similar campaigns in tem- 
perate climates. 
Again, turn to our sailors. * * * 
Then, again, as to there being anything injurious 
to white men who are permanently settled in the 
tropics, all the evidence is favorable. In the Moluccas 
there are many Dutch families who have been there 
for two or three hundred years, and who are not only 
perfectly healthy and prolific, but who retain the fair 
complexions of their European ancestors. In many 
of our West Indian islands there are, I believe, 
Creole families of pure English blood, and there are 
considerrtble populations of pure Spanish blood in 
v.^rious parts of South America. 
It is only when we come to apricultiiral labor that 
we find white men refuse to work, and the demand 
is made for a supply of native colored laborers, and 
the reason for this is not difficult to see. Agricul- 
tural labor among us has always been considered the 
lowest class of labor, as it is the worst paid, though, 
as Mr. Ryder Haggard has recently told us, it ia 
really skilled labor of a very pronoKoced kind. It it 
also work in which there is no great excitement, and 
no chance of getting wealth, except when practiced on 
a large scale with a foil supply of v*ry cheap labor. 
But there is, really, no occupation ao fall of intereet, 
so enjoyable, so health giving as agriculture t'> nim 
who practises it for himself ; and in the tropics nMore 
is so productive and lavish that five or six hours' 
work a day would give a larger return than doubU 
the amount in oar own coantry. 
The more favorable portions of the tropica, extend- 
ing about 15 deg. on each side of the equator, afford, I 
believe, the most healthy and tba most enjoyable 
abodes for man, where with the least labor he can 
obtain the greatest amount of the necessaries, tha 
comforts, and the loxuries of life, and can at the a&me 
time develop and cultivate his higher nature. But to do 
this he must go there not with the object of making a 
fortune and coming home to live in luxurious idleness, 
but as a true settler, determined to make his home 
there. And he must not go with the intention of 
hiring native labor — a more or less modified form 
of slavery — but determined to work with his bauds as 
well as with hia head. This can be best done — can 
only be successfully done — bv some form of co- 
operative colonies, of which tbe Raskin Colony in 
Tennessee is perhaps the best type. There, associated 
labor loses all its terrors, while all the members 
being approximately equal in education and refine- 
ment, there is ample scope for healthy and varied 
social enjoyments. Such a colony established in 
some healtby part of the tropica, guided by adequate 
experience, and with a moderate capital to start with, 
would soon attain to a condition of social and 
economic prosperity that could hardly be reached 
elsewhere. The economies of such a colony as will be 
shown by the fact that at Buskin the whole cost of 
three good meals a day is less than a dollar a month 
a bead. And in a tropical colony of sufficient size, 
when once fully established, every necessary of 
civilized life would be produced, such as sagar, coffee, 
cocoa, <&c,, while the cost of houses and clothing would 
be a minimum. 
Here then is a clear and definite solation of the 
" problem of the tropics." They most be gradaally 
occoupied by white men in co-operative association 
to establish permanent homes, which, sarroanded by 
the glories of tropical vegetation, may in time become 
something like the legendary paradise. — Yours, &c., 
ALFRED B. WALLACE. 
TEA— AND CYCLING- IN FRANCE. 
Mr. A. E. Scovell — whom we are glad to see 
looking exceedin;4ly well after his trip home — 
picked up some curious information as he jour- 
neyed by rail, or cycle, tlirouc;h France. In 
Normandy, for in.stance, he found that the bill 
for tea for a small party averaj^ed some 2.84 
francs a cup ! In Paris, he saw a placard respect- 
ing tea, opposite the Louvre, giving prices from 
7 to 17 frances per half kilo (1 1-lGth lb). The 
latter price — 13s a lb. — was. of course, for some 
special " golden orange pekoe ; while the lowest 
rate, say 5a 6d per lb., would probably only pur- 
chase au indifferent tea. (The dutyon tea entering 
France be it rememberecl, is only 9d to ll^d per lb). 
Mr. Scovell's bicycle triji began on this side of 
Pari.s, and he enjoyed it e.vtremely by Fontain- 
bleau and Autun cro.ssing thence to Lyons, and 
then trying botii sides of tlie Rhone, but staying at 
Oiange, Avignon and Avles. Between Paris and 
Marseilles, Mr. Scovell took some ten days and much 
enjoyed the trip. Of course, nothing was seenar 
heard about tea in the South of France ; but as 
regards the country generally, Mr. Scovell thinks 
there is every reason to anticipate progress in the 
consumption of Ceylon tea if it is brought pro- 
l erly under the notice of the people. 
