Amusement

An amusing snippet from (page 174 of) the book about global warming over the last half billion or so years by Stephen Ward, last noticed at reference 1.

It seems that living in the tropics is pretty grim and most of the people condemned to live in them make use of what we call recreational drugs to get themselves through the heat of the day.

So in Fiji and the Western Pacific generally they use kava. Which has got a lot stronger by the time you get to the New Hebrides.

As we move across to Micronesia, the Philippines and Indonesia they use betel, sometimes supplemented with marijuana.

Across to India, the Middle East and North Africa where they use khat. While the equatorial regions to the south are lightened up by a tropical profusion of choice.

To the West Indies for more marijuana. And ending up in central and south America where they have coca.

And on top of all this heat, you also have lots of malaria. And no doubt other unpleasant tropical complaints.

I think Ward has been a bit careless with his facts here, but it makes an amusing story, and I dare say that there is more than a grain of truth in it. Beware of life on a tropical islands; they are not the paradises they might seem from a distance! Which accords with the rather mixed tales I have read from those westerners who have tried it over the past hundred years or so.

PS: there is, furthermore, no mention of opium, once fairly freely available in parts of the Far East. No mention of the alcohol, nicotine and caffeine favoured in cooler climes.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/09/a-message-from-plos.html.