CONCLUSIONS.

I. The settlement of Europeans in tropical highlands is physiologically conceivable.

II. Field-labour should be excluded.

III. Permanent settling and propagation (colonisation), will, probably, not be accomplished till after several centuries have elapsed.

IV. For economic reasons such settlement is at present not practicable.

On the Suitability of Mountainous Regions and of Islands in the Tropics for European Settlement.

BY

CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, C.B.

The questions as to whether the mountains and islands of the tropics are suited for the continuous residence of generations of people of pure European descent, and whether such inhabitants would suffer mental or physical deterioration, from the point of view of established facts only. They are surrounded by difficulties due mainly to the absence of all experience as regards some regions and to the want of reliable statistics as regards others. It is, therefore, best, in the present state of our knowledge, rather to take stock of our present meagre knowledge with a view to further research than to attempt to form decided opinions.

The various mountain systems of the tropics require separate consideration and separate treatment, because they differ widely from each other in extent, in the height of the fever line, in soil, rainfall, and other circumstances which affect the health, physical condition, and general welfare of their inhabitants.

It will be found that the history of the tropical mountains of the old world furnishes little or no information to help us in our inquiry, because they have either not been settled at all by any European race or they have been settled for too short a time to supply any useful deduction.

The Cameroon Mountains, on the western side of Africa, offer some land, at a height of 7,000 feet above the sea, but it has not yet been thoroughly explored and no settlement has been formed on it.

On the eastern side of the African continent the mountainous region is far more extensive. The whole mass of high land embracing the Abyssinian highlands, the little-known region immediately to the south, Kenia, Kilimanjaro, and Ruwenzori, may probably be considered as a continuous lofty plateau, and in that case it is of vast extent; but

there is very little accurate statistical information within our reach relating to any part of it except Abyssinia. This Abyssinian plateau, from 8,000 to 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, certainly enjoys a delightful climate, apparently well adapted for European settlement. It has been known to European travellers for upwards of three centuries; many Europeans have passed the greater part of their lives in the country, and 14 children of pure blood were born in Theodore's time.* But they did not remain in Abyssinia, so that we have no materials for forming a judgment respecting the adaptability of the mountains of Western Africa for European settlement.

Turning eastward, we next come to the western ghauts of India, the Himalayas being outside the tropics. The northern portion, in the Bombay Presidency, is deficient in height and width, and is exposed to the heavy rainfall of the S.W. monsoon. The Nilagiri hills are free from these objections. Rising to a height of 8,600 feet they have an area of 200,000 acres well above the fever range, with a mild and delicious climate and a moderate rainfall of 50 to 60 inches. But here, again, the country has been occupied by Europeans for so short a time. that there are no facts sufficient to enable a conclusion to be formed respecting the Nilagiri hills. It is only 70 years since the first house was built by Mr. Sullivan at Utakamand, and though many European children have been born and even brought up on those charming hills the time is insufficient to furnish us with conclusive details as to the possibility of continuing the European race there permanently and without loss of physique and other deterioration, but medical opinion is against it. If British India fails to help us in this interesting inquiry we cannot expect fuller information from the hills of Burma and Malacca, from Madagascar, Ceylon, New Guinea, and the Eastern Archipelago. In Java it has, I am informed, been ascertained that Europeans cannot exist longer than for three generations. The tropical portion of Queensland has not been colonized long enough to afford material for our discussion.

This rapid glance over the tropical hill regions of the Old World seems to prove that we must look westward for the necessary data. In America there is a mountainous region extending almost continuously from tropic to tropic and of great width, containing numerous cities far above any deleterious tropical influences and with areas sufficiently extensive to sustain large populations. The region of the Andes has been inhabited by people of European race for upwards of 350 years, so that here we might fairly hope to find information which would throw light on the subject we are discussing. Yet even here it will be found that it is very difficult to obtain facts in sufficient number and of the needful accuracy to enable us to arrive at really reliable conclusions.

A great deal has been written on the subject of the effect of American conditions upon the peoples who have come from Europe

* One child of Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal, four children of Mr. and Mrs. Flad, five children of M. and Mme. Bourgaud, four children of M. Zander, the rest half-castes.

to live a life of many generations in the New World. The problem is a very complicated one, for it is difficult to separate the effects of climate from those brought about by diversity of habits of life and of food. As regards the United States it has been treated in a masterly way by Professor Shaler of Cambridge, Massachusetts. But the States are outside the tropics, and I only feel justified in alluding to the seaboard Slave States as being nearest to the tropic of Cancer. As regards the people of English descent in those States the average of their weight, as given by Mr. Shaler, is equal to that of Englishmen within 4 lbs., the average of chest capacity is equal within a decimal, and the average height is considerably above that of Englishmen. So far as these statistics go they favour the hypothesis that descendants of Englishmen have not deteriorated on the verge of the tropics.

The lofty region extending from the northern frontier of Mexico to the southern limit of Peru, and broken only at the Darien Isthmus, is the only quarter whence we can derive information which will yield us even an approximate answer to the question under consideration. Mexico may well be compared with Italy and Spain as regards climate, the plateau being 7,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea, and owing to the narrowing of the distance between the oceans enjoying a better climate than the dry region to the northward. To the south and east the lowlands gradually gain on the plateau until south of the Tehuantepec Isthmus, and as far as Darian, the whole region is unfit for the uses of a European people. But in South America the plateau at once resumes its lofty character: and for a distance of 2,000 miles there is a cool and temperate region, a great part of which is admirably adapted for the growth and raising of all kinds of food required for the development of a healthy European race.

On these lofty highlands. descendants of Europeans have been established, as I have said, in considerable numbers, for upwards of three centuries and a half. In Peru, which is the Andean country of which I have the most personal knowledge, the number of pure-blooded Europeans, according to the census of 1793, was estimated at 136,300. Since that date, no careful attempt has been made to enumerate the different races separately. Europeans have been arriving ever since the conquest, and there has been an immense admixture of Indian blood. The Incas were a civilized people, the marriages with Spaniards were numerous from the first, and while in Virginia we only hear of the single marriage between Mr. Rolfe and the Princess Pocahontas, in Peru several Spaniards of the highest rank took Inca wives. At the same time others retained the purity of their blood; and here we may seek an answer to our question as to what influence a residence in a mountainous region, within the tropics, for several generations, has had upon their descendants. I do not myself believe that man is, in a direct way, greatly affected by mere temperature; I agree with Mr. Shaler that his adaptable body aided by the precautions suggested by experience, may, within certain limits, defy this element of climate. The real question is how far temperature and rainfall affect the products of the soil upon which his well-being depends. Now, on the Peruvian highlands, there is a climate

not only admirably adapted for the healthy growth and development of Europeans, but for the production of all the food supply that they need.

The difficulty is to find the Peruvians of pure European descent whose progenitors have lived in the tropics for several generations. There is, of course, the same difficulty as regards every other peoplel Each one of us had 256 progenitors eight generations ago, and to ascertain the nationality of every one of these even as regards one individual would, in most cases, be an impossible task-how much more if those of a number of people were required, whence to derive an average. But there are in Peru, as in Europe, a certain number of reliable pedigrees preserved, with descents from the end of the 16th and early part of the 17th century, and with marriages showing at least European names in each generation. With this we must be satisfied, at least for the present. A considerable number of such pedigrees are in existence. I have seen and examined five, and I possess one.* Moreover I have been acquainted with the living representative in each case. In one instance the original settler in South America was an Italian, in three others he was a Catalonian, and in two he was a Basque. I can, therefore, speak from personal knowledge respecting six families which have been settled on tropical highlands for upwards of two centuries, and are, so far as it is possible to ascertain, of pure European blood. In these instances there has certainly been no deterioration either physically or mentally. The height, the chest development, the fresh complexion, the powers of endurance are all well maintained. The homes of these families are in or near cities at heights of from 8,000 to 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, their members have led out-of-door lives, and have been well nourished on practically the same food as sustained their ancestors in Europe, with the addition of maize and potatoes. A more extensive investigation would considerably enlarge the number of such families, not only in Peru, but also on the plateaux of Quito, Bogota, and Mexico. It must, however, be admitted that, in by far the greater majority of cases, there is more or less admixture of Indian blood in the South American families of European descent; while, on the other hand, fresh blood from Europe has continually arrived throughout the period of settlement in the New World.

There are German and Basque colonies in the Peruvian highlands, but they have not been established there long enough to enable us to form conclusions from their experiences.

The data on which we are able to base even a provisional conclusion are meagre and far from satisfying. Still they are far and away more satisfactory than any that can be furnished respecting any of the other mountainous regions of the tropics. Such as they are, the conclusion I derive from them is that, under favourable circumstances, the mountain systems which cover large areas in the tropics are well adapted for the healthy growth and development of generations of Europeans of pure blood. The climate is suitable, all the food supplies most conducive to their well-being are cultivated and raised, and we have at least some proof

* Tello y Cabrera, Astete, Novoa, Quiñones, Ochoa, Justiniani,

of the fact that European settlers do thrive for generations on tropical plateaux of large area. My impression is that isolated or knife-like mountainous regions of comparatively small area in the tropics may be, and no doubt are, well adapted for sanatoria, but that they are not suited for continuous European settlement, because they are too much under the influence, in various ways, of the adjacent low lands.

PEDIGREE of the PERUVIAN BRANCH of the JUSTINIANI FAMILY.

The suitability of the numerous islands in the tropical seas for European settlement is a question so closely allied to that of the mountainous regions, that it cannot well be overlooked. The fresh sea breezes enjoyed by islands offer great advantages which may or may not be counterbalanced by other less favourable effects of their positions. But it is difficult to believe that Europeans are unable to form permanent settlements under the delightful climates of Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, and other Pacific groups. I have myself known men of pure English parentage who were born and brought up at Tahiti and other islands, and whose moral and physical development was quite equal to that of their progenitors. But I am not aware of instances of residence in any of the Pacific Islands for more than three generations.

There are, however, very remarkable instances of the settlement of white people in the West Indian Islands, not only at Barbadoes, but also at Tuagua, one of the Bahamas to the north of Hayti, and within the tropics. The people formerly known as "red legs," and now more commonly as "poor whites," in the island of Barbadoes, are of perfectly pure blood, and have resided in the tropics for two centuries. They are the descendants of rebels who were sent out to be sold as slaves