Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/573

 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY 555

however, in the warm isothermal zones and very little in the temperate zones.

The Chinese prosper in the Malay archipelago, in Australia, in California, in the Antilles, and in America, where, since the abolition of slavery, they have tended to replace the negro race, and even to give competition to the white laborers, and this has led to defensive and protective legislation.

In general, the Malay archipelago, Cochin China, and India, except the elevated plateaus of central India, are fatal to Euro- peans.

Egypt is unhealthy. No conquering people has been able to maintain itself there except by continually renewing the popu- lation through immigration. Even the mortality of the negro is excessive in that country. The Mamelukes have ruled there for five hundred and sixty years, but without furnishing continuous lineage. The present population has conserved the antique type, like the flora and fauna, with however in certain centers a cosmopolitan character which is rather the result of juxtaposi- tion than of fusion.

An acclimated population may, however, be imperfectly adapted. Adaptation is therefore something more general than acclimatization. The imperfectness of the latter may be due to particular causes, and especially to social causes. The mortality of the African negroes is considerable in their own country. The country supposes a high birth-rate, otherwise their race would become extinct. The probable causes of the excessive mortality are their natural indolence and lack of the necessities of life. They succeed in America. In the Antilles, and in the United States before the war of secession, they were cared for like valuable merchandise. In 1808, the date at which their importation into the United States ceased, they numbered only 400,000; in 1860, 4,000,000; and then, according to the eleventh census, 7,628,360, or 12 per cent, of the total population. Since the war they have partly returned to their former indolence, and their increase is diminishing.

The Europeans acclimatize badly in the cold regions. The negroes die there rapidly. The blond population of Iceland