368 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August i, 1903. 



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LA TRINIDAD. FIVE YEAR OLD RUBBER AND COFFEE. 



the States need not (ear that northern markets will ever seri- 

 ously seek them. 



At 2 o'clock that afternoon, as it was raining only a little, we 

 loaded our belongings on a mozo, and started to walk the track 

 to the railroad camp, 12 kilometers away. We got there finally, 

 boots covered with mud, damp, perspiring, and weary, and were 

 welcomed to the engineer's quarters, that consisted of five box 

 cars fitted up as dwellings, full of material comforts, and in- 

 habited by several young and friendly Americans. 



The head of this engineering household was Mr. F. M. Ames, 

 chief engineer of the Vera Cruz and Pacific railway, who has 

 for seventeen years been at work railroad building, all the time 

 in the tropics. Indeed he headed the corps that surveyed the 

 National Tehuantepec road, cutting his way through the densest 

 sort of jungle, and establishing camps where now are thriving 

 settlements. Mr. Ames knew the country, the people, and the 

 animals, and we were soon launched into talk about the wild 

 dwellers of the forest. Of the cat tribe, there are quite a num- 

 ber of large and active specimens. The leader of all these is 

 the ounce, or as the natives call it, the " tigre," and next to him 

 come a great variety of spotted cats, diminutive specimens of 

 the jagua tribe. They never attack man, and when hunted, in- 

 variably take to a tree, although before doing so they often stop 

 and finish a dog or two, which they are fully capable of doing. 

 They are more or less of a nuisance, about plantations, as they 

 have a great fondness for turkeys and chickens. 



Many of the smaller mammals of the temperate zone are 

 also very common, such as foxes, rabbits, skunks, squirrels, 

 black and brown, and monkeys. This latter animal, I regret 



to say, was conspicuously missing at the time of my visit, the 

 story being that a year or two before they had taken yellow 

 fever, and nearly all of them died. 



It was during this most interesting chat that supper was 

 announced, and we were soon luxuriating on ham and eggs, 

 hot biscuits, and fine coffee that the Chinese cook knew how 

 to prepare to perfection. I could not help remarking that 

 the Chinaman was already considerably in evidence as a cook 

 in the cities, at railway camps, and on plantations. Indeed, 

 there are many who believe that the labor problem for the 

 planter will be solved by the importation of a sufficient number 

 of them. It is the general judgment, however, that while they 

 may be taught to clean the rubber from weeds and vines, and 

 to do a certain amount of cultivating, they will not be of much 

 use either in forest clearing, or in tapping. In addition to this, 

 the prices that the Chinese companies want for securing coolies 

 is at the present time much too high to allow of their profitable 

 use. 



Mr. Ames, his two assistants, Messrs. Jones and Hawkins, 

 my companion and I spent a very pleasant evening in what 

 perhaps might be called the parlor car, and later adjourning to 

 the sleeping car, forgot everything earthly until awakened in 

 the early morning by the shrill whistling of a locomotive. This 

 was the signal for breakfast, and an early start. In due time 

 we boarded a flat car in front of the engine, and were off for 

 Santa Rosa. We sat in a row on the extreme front of the car, 

 ready to jump if it left the track. Along the route the worthy 

 chief showed us where such slight mishaps had occurred, ex- 

 plaining that, until the coming of the dry season, and it was 



