Jui-v I, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORIO 



329 



A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS IN NICARAGUA. 



By The Editor of" The Iiulia Rubber VVorUr 



Wli three, tlie Importer, the Manufacturer, and the Edi- 

 tor, left Port Linion, Costa Rica, at 1.30 in the af- 

 ternoon on a hot, tropical December day. The 

 short voyage from Port Linion to Bluetields, some- 

 thing like 150 miles, was to be taken on a small, 52-ton 

 schooner owned by Helanger's, Incorporated, of Nicaragua, and 



used in trading 

 up and down the 

 coast. The 

 schooner was 

 equipped with a 

 i;asuline auxili- 

 .iry which took 

 up most of the 

 room aft and 

 made the rest of 

 it so thick with 

 fjasoline fumes 

 ihat it was diOi- 

 I ult to stay in 

 the cabin ten 

 minutes at a 

 WHARF AT BELANQER's. time, SO wc lived 



on deck. The vessel was called 

 the Sunbeam and was manned 

 by a mi.\ed crew of negroes 

 from the Fortune islands, San 

 Bias Indians, and one English- 

 man, and was commanded by 

 a Cayman islander. 



Starting out against a head 

 wind, our gasoline " Kicker " 

 put us along at the rate of 

 about four miles an hour, and 

 we sat scorching on deck un 

 til finally the sun set and we 

 turned in, still on deck, sleep- 

 ing in our clothes on a pile of 

 old sails in the stern of the 

 boat. The bed was far from 

 comfortable for one at all finical about the soft side of a plank, 

 and the Importer did not take to it a bit. He had chosen a place 

 next to the bulwarks and had only one ring bolt in the small of 

 his back, while the Manufacturer was curled in the form of an 

 S around a huge cleat and a part of the steering gear. However, 

 morning came at last and the little boat kicked along through 

 a blazing sun at first, until finally it clouded up and later, 

 about three miles to the northeast, a huge waterspout was 

 sighted. We were all so dull and drowsy that we didn't pay 

 much attention to it at first. When it drew nearer and nearer 

 and the captain furled all sail and made everything fast, we 

 thought it might be possible that we were going to have some 

 fun. It was the first time I had ever seen anything but pic- 

 tured waterspouts and I had always been a bit skeptical about 

 them ; but when it got within a few hundred feet of us I was a 

 most thorough convert. It was really a most remarkable sight. 

 The sea was quite smooth, except where the end of the great 

 funnel touched the water, and there it was broken up into cu- 

 rious little wavelets. The huge circular tube of vapor did not 



V/ATER FRONT AT BLUEFIELDS. 



go straight up, but slanted otT into an especially black cloud 

 and .ippeared to be a mile and a half in length. When it was 

 near enough, the captain began shooting In its direction with 

 an oldfashioned Colt's revolver, and the Manufacturer, getting 

 his gun, took a hand in the same game. Whether the concus- 

 sion did the work or not I don't know, but before it reached 

 us it suddenly dissolved and in a very few seconds no trace of 

 it was to be seen. 



After that we had no further excitement except the catching 

 of a big kingfisli, which helped out our table immensely. That 

 night we slept again on deck and went through several show- 

 ers. We sailed into Bluefields about 9 the following morning, 

 where the doctor passed us as " healthy, but ugly," and then 

 we went up against the custom house olTicials at the blull, who 

 fingered our belongings for anything contraband, seeming to 

 take particular delight in running grimy fingers over our tooth- 

 brushes, and to have a deep anxiety to unroll camera films, 

 and so on. We got rid of them at last and boarding a fiat- 

 bottomed sternwheeler were taken across the broad expanse of 

 Bluefields bay, landed at Belanger's wharf and at once went 

 up to La Tropical Hotel for a bath and breakfast. There was 

 but one bathroom and that was situated over the kitchen, 

 which was proved by the sign on the wall : " Don't slop water 



on the floor ; range just below. 

 Gives food a soapy flavor." 



After breakfast we went out 

 and looked over the little city 

 of frame houses, so radically 

 dilTerent from most Central 

 American towns, both in its 

 architecture and in the fact 

 that it is built on a side hill 

 where there is a certain 

 amount of drainage. We didn't 

 tarry long in Bluefields, how- 

 ever, for our flatbottomed boat, 

 Xat./r., a sternwheel freight- 

 er, was waiting, and with our 

 luggage aboard we soon start- 

 ed up through the wonderful 



LA TROPICAL HOTEL, BLUEFIELDS- 



