THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



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Tlic word caoutchouc means rulibcr of any and every kind. 

 Indeed it is a synonym for india-rubber. Caucho, on the other 

 hand, is a specific trade name of world wide acceptance for the 

 product of the Caitilloa Ulei. 



RUBBER CONDITIONS IN PERU. 



"Peruvian fine" Para, as well as Peruvian "weak," is very 

 plentiful in the .Amazonian basin, and it usually comes out by 

 way of Iquitos. .-\ftcr the Para rubber became a real factor in 

 Peru, laws were passed and concessions granted for rubber bear- 



Straw Bo.\ts on Lakk Titu \ca. 



I'l.AN (IF .\ "SkRINGAl" in PeRU. 



[Hut I — With 15 cslradas, employing 7 men. Hut 2 — With 12 isliadas, 



employing 6 m:?n. Hut 3 — With 5 cstradas, employing 2 men.] 



ipg lands. These laws arc of two sorts. One form of contract 

 is for the leasing of the lands containing rubber trees; the other 

 for the renting of cstradas of 150 trees each. For the first, the 

 concessionaire pays a royalty of a trifle less than a cent a pound 

 for the rubber extracted (2 soles per quintal) which is collected 

 with the export duty. Under the second form, the government 

 cliarges about 10 cents a year for each hectare [about 2K> acres] 

 tf land upon which the estate is situated. 



The Peruvian government allows these contracts to become 

 effective only when the land is viewed by an expert surveyor 

 and approved. Tt also demands a guarantee from the conces- 

 sionaire in the way of the purchase of interest bearing bonds, 

 which are held for the purchaser's account, the interest being 

 paid to him. The government has been exceedingly generous 

 v.ith those taking up lands and has voted many valuable con- 

 iissions to the companies that have constructed roads. 



The great rubber city in eastern Peru is Iquitos, for a long 

 time of not much commercial importance, and only a collection 

 of palm-thatchcft hduscs occupied largely by Indians. By the rise 

 of the caucho industry, however, it became the place where rub- 

 ier gathering expeditions w-ere outfitted, and where the rubber 

 was brought for shipment down the Amazon. That great river, 

 by the way, is called Marai"ion there, and is navigable some 

 ,?oo or 400 miles beyond. In other words, there is a good 

 navigable waterway from Manaos up the Amazon for about 

 1,600 miles. More and more steamers go to Iquitos and, even- 

 tually, it will be a city of great commercial importance. The 

 Peruvian montana, which covers perhaps 100,000 square miles. 

 is as rich as ;iny part of the tropical world, and when its quarter 

 of ,T million Indians, manv of wdiom are excellent workers al- 



