Excerpt from The Adaptability of the White Man to Tropical America

I case arises from the unequal distribution of the rainfall dur ing the various seasons of the year. For instance, portions of the vast grassy plains, or Llanos, of the Orinoco Valley are almost impassable at certain seasons, because they are flooded by the heavy equatorial rains. Yet, during the long dry season, which here prevails during our winter months, those same plains become so dry that in many places it is impossible to get water except by digging deep wells. The difficulties which here confront agriculture are so great that the native races have never succeeded in surmounting them. In fact before the introduction of cattle, agriculture was quite impossible for another and wholly different reason. There was no means of breaking up the sod, which is an essential prerequisite, if crops are to be raised. Even the white man has found agriculture so difficult that he has rarely attempted it, and has utilized the plains only for cattle raising. This also is beset with many difficulties, because of the superfluous supply of water and mud at some seasons, and the drought at others. In still other regions, although a fairly dense growth of jungle covers the ground, the water supply presents a serious difficulty, for during the long dry season most of the springs disappear; hence deep wells are necessary and these are a difficult matter for prim itive people, not well equipped with iron tools. This, it is true, has little direct influence upon the white man, but indirectly, as we shall soon see, it adds its quota to his difficulties.

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