Nov.  I,  1895.]  THE  TROPICAL 
OLD  DISTRICTS. 
It  is  cheering  to  read  such  accounts  of  the  old  dis- 
tricts, as  appeared  in  a late  Uhserrer.  Dmnbera 
natives  getting  their  gardens  vs'eeded,  in  expectation 
of  a crop  of  coffee,  and  Kangalla  natives  enjoying 
prospei'ity  through  the  tea  enterprizc.  Fancy  Kan- 
galla with  teleplionic  comnumicatiou,  cart  road  to 
Nitre  cave,  a Church — and  no  necessity  for  a constable 
at  that  centre  of  commerce,  Udispattu.  I hope  the 
Dumbera  natives  are  not  trusting  to  ihe  talented  Mr. 
E.  F.  Wright  and  his  cure  of  leaf  disease.  Mr. 
Wright  is  not  tho  first  man  who  expected  to  draw 
in  the  txovernment  rew'ard  of  ,flO,OOU,  but  their 
names  have  long  ago  passed  into  oblivion,  and  the 
reward  remains  in  Government  hands  still. 
COSMOPOLITE. 
TROPICAL  COLONISATION. 
We  wish  w e could  heartily  agree  in  the  views 
of  Mr.  Frederick  Royle,  but  history,  we  fear, 
forbids.  That  gentleman,  rvho  ha.s  much  ami 
varied  experience  of  tro[)ical  lands,  argues,  in 
the  N'ao  Itecien'  for  this  month,  that  the  English 
belief  as  to  the  ini[)ossihility  of  Europeans  colon- 
ising tropical  countries  is  a haseles.s,  as  well  as 
an  embarras.sing,  prejudice.  AVe  shall  have  to 
do  it,  he  says,  for  the  temperate  regions  are 
either  getting  full,  or  hiing  closed  to  immigrants 
by  the  jealousy  of  their  occupants  ; and  we 
may  therefore  as  well  reconsider  the  objections 
to  settling  in  the  tropical  or,  to  be  more  exact — 
for  the  description  wdiicli  includes  Northern 
India  in  the  tropics  is  a little  vague— in 
the  hotter  regions  of  the  globe.  Mr.  Boyle 
linds  most  of  them  unreal.  That  man  as 
a being  does  not  degenerate  physically  in  the 
hot  countries  seems  to  him  certain,  and  we 
should  admit  that  the  evidence  is  for  the  most 
part  wholly  on  his  side.  The  Bengalees  may 
be  allowing  to  be  “ a feeble  folk”— though  there 
is  great  exaggeration  even  about  this — but  the 
Arabs,  the  ISoudanese,  the  Southern  Ciiinese,  and 
almost  all  negroes  are  remarkable  for  muscular 
strength,  |)ower  of  enduring  fatigue,  and  ])hysical 
energy  in  general.  They  have  less  perhaps  of 
the  habit  of  living  than  Northern  Europeans — 
though  half  the  centenarians  of  the  world  are 
negroes — Imt  that  probably  results  from  special 
circuiiLstances,  the  English  from  the  twelfth  to 
the  eighteenth  centuiy  having  died  at  least  as 
fast  as  any  dark  tribe.  If  they  had  not,  they 
would  have  increa.sed  in  number  at  a much 
quicker  rate.  The  dark  peojdes  are,  in  fact,  <as 
“strong”  its  Europeans;  wliile  as  to  courage, 
the  Woudanse  broke  a British  square,  the  West 
Indian  negro  soldiers  can  be  entrusted  any- 
where, and  if  the  daring  of  the  South  China- 
man is  doubtful  except  wdien  he  is  a pirate, 
no  one  has  ever  (questioned  that  of  the  Malay, 
either  in  battle  or  in  the  wild  adventures  which 
led  him  to  Madagascar  and  the  islands  of  the 
I’acilic.  Nor  is  there  much  evidence  of  intellec- 
tual decay,  for  if  the  w'orld  owes  nothing  to  the 
negro,  she  bakes  all  her  creeds  from  the  men  of 
the  hotter  lands,  and  tho  (dearest-sighted  professor 
in  Euro])e  is  not  sui)erior  in  i»ower  of  subtle 
thought  to  the  Brahiidn  of  Madras.  If,  then, 
man  as  a genus  does  not  neces.sarily  degenerate 
in  the  tropics,  wdiy  should  the  white  man,  his 
most  energetic  species,  degenerate  either  ? As  a 
matter  of  fact,  there  are  families  of  Jews  w hich, 
without  mixing  their  blood,  have  retained  all 
energies,  in  Persia,  Bombay,  and  even  Bengal,  for 
centuries ; wdiile  the  people  of  Costa  Rica, 
who  are  “nearly  white,”  .are  a singularly 
hardy  peas.antry,  and  we  may  .add  the  Coqits, 
>vho,  if  not  w hite,  are  as  neardy  white  as  the  Jews, 
AGRICULTURIST. 
are  still  the  most  competent  race  in  the  valley  of  the 
Nile.  Neith(3r  the  Ptolemies  nor  their  soldiers 
degenerated  in  Egypt  and  there  are  Spanish 
f.amilies  in  Mexico  ,as  strong  and  .as  able  as  ever 
their  progenitors  were  in  Old  Spain.  Why  then, 
asks  Mr.  Boyle,  should  not  .some  S^ate  try  the 
experiment  of  a tropical  Colony,  which,  if  it 
succeudeu,  \\  ould  ojieii  such  vast  regions  to  Kiivoiiean 
immigi.ation,  nay,  might  even  produce  a race 
greater  than  any  now'  existing,  for  Mr.  Boyle 
.sym]>athises  a little  with  the  n.aturalist,  Mr.  Bates, 
who.  .after  years  sjieiit  in  the  forests  of  Br.azil’ 
chielly  in  the  valley  of  the  Amazon,  foiiml 
himself  so  fascinated  by  the  vi«-oiir  of 
Nature  in  the  tropics  that  he  wrote: “The 
well-bal.anced  forces  of  natuie  ni.aintaiu  here 
a laud  .surface  .and  a climate  that  seem  to  be 
tyj)ical  of  mundane  order  and  beauty I hold  to 
the  opinion  th.at,  though  hiim.anity  can  re.ach  .an 
.advanced  degree  of  culture  by  battling  with  the 
inclemencies  of  nature  in  high  l.atitudes,  it  is 
under  the  equ.ator  alone  tliat  the  r.ace  of  the 
future  will  att.aiii  to  conqilete  fruition  of  in.an’s 
beautiful  heritage,  the  earth.” 
It  is  a splendid  dream,  because  it  opens  u])  new 
and  almost  inlinite  qiossibilities  for  the  w liite  race 
now  doinin.ating,  though  it  does  not  colonise,  all 
the  continents  ; but  we  fe.ar  a dream  only.  His- 
tory is  opposed  to  Mr.  Boyle.  To  begin  with, 
that  must  have  been  a powerful  instinct  or  a 
most  operative  law  w'hich  originally  divided  man- 
kind, so  that  the  wdiite  race  was  confined  to 
Europe,  that  the  black  race  populated  Africa, 
and  th.at  the  huge  bulk  of  A.sia,  the  most  fertile 
and  tempting  of  .all  the  continents,  w.as  filled 
with  yellow'  and  brown  men.  scientilic  theo- 
rist would  cert.ainly  s.ay  that  some  immutable 
law  of  convenience  alone  could  have  produced 
that  result,  which,  amidst  all  the  endless  muta- 
tions of  history,  has  remained  substantially  un- 
changed. Europe  and  Asia  have  fought  foi'  ever, 
but  the  bulk  of  the  populations  have  remainerl 
Euiojie.an  ami  Asiatic,  while  the  great  Roman 
invasion  of  Northern  Africa  and  the  Vandal  in* 
vasion  which  follow'ed  it,  .alike  ended  in  the 
triumph,  more  or  less  complete,  of  the  brown 
r.aces.  Historians  suggest  no  explanation  of  this 
c.ardinal  f.act,  nor  is  .any,  we  think  possible,  e.x- 
cept  that,  w'hatever  the  me.aning  of  the  mysterious 
law  of  race  and  science  in  no  way  .accounts  even 
for  colour— the  white  peoples  llou'rish  best  witliin 
strictly  temperate  regions.  They  can  flourish 
in  (he  highlands  of  the  trojnes,  but  they  do  not 
re.ach  their  highest  level,  and  tend,  when  at- 
t.acked  for  ages  by  autochthons,  to  recede,  as 
they  have  done  in  Egypt,  and  .are  doing  in  many 
])aits  of  bpauish  America.  It  i.s  ju'obably  true 
th.at  they  can  labour  in  the  tropics,  for  tlm  white 
mechanics  of  the  Southern  States  of  the  Union 
live  and  work  there,  and  possible  that,  , as  govern- 
ing (j.astes,  they  would  iu  the  tropics  develop 
maivellous  energy  ; but  they  almost  certainly 
vyould  not  advance  as  raiikily  as  in  Euroiie. 
Lnglishmen  aie,  wo  think,  for  some  unknown 
leason,  liabiLually  untair  to  Spanish  Americans, 
wlm,  vyhether  pure  or  cros.sed,  have  produced 
men  of  singular  daring,  energy,  .and  power  of 
endurance  ; who  have  built  great  cities  .and  re- 
cl.aimed  great  regions  of  tho  earth  ; and  who  have 
besides  a power  of  absorjition  and  attr.action 
cickiio\\  Jeu^od  by  nil  who  settle  in  Spanish 
America,  Italians  nuire  especially  ; l>ut  it  would 
be  foolish  to  say  that  the  owners  of  Brazil  or 
Central  Americ.a  oi'  Me.xico  show  .any  symptom.s 
of  develoqnng  into  the  siqierior  race  of  mankind. 
I ure  or  cro.ssed,  an  optinust  would  hardly  .s.ay 
of  them  that  they  were  better  than  their  ances" 
