May i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



265 



Para, Manaos and the Amazon. 



By the Editor of "Tin- India Rubber World." 



FIRST LETTER. 



All the Way from Brooklyn to Salinas. — Barbados as a Half-Way 

 House, Where One Goes in Training for Tropical Adventure. — Many Last 

 Loiks at the Beautiful Island. — The Writ3r at the Point of Invading 

 Para, tho Neck of the Amazonian Rubber Bottle. 



I HAD been planning an Amazonian trip for several years, only 

 waiting for the psychological period when everything would 

 be ready for a really profitable visit. When, therefore, during 

 the latter part of 1909, prominent Brazilians began to call at my 

 office, full of interest in rubber planting and in new methods in 

 collecting and coagulating rubber, I felt that the time had come, 

 and made rapid preparations for the journey. The really luxu- 

 rious traveler to the Amazon, if he be a New Yorker, goes to 

 Europe first, and is able to make the whole passage on a big 

 boat. It is a question, however, if he gets very much more of 

 comfort than I got on little 3,000-ton steamer of the Koninklijke 

 West-Indische Maildienst, . which sailed from Brooklyn, a well 

 known suburb of New York, on the afternoon of January 3 for 

 Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies. Certainly he does not get 

 as much Amazonian information en route. 



It is a "Sabbath day's" journey from Manhattan by ferry and 

 dock trolley to the Bush Terminal pier, from which the southern 

 boats start. Ours was advertised to sail at I o'clock. The steam- 

 ship office informed me in confidence that it got away at 2, my 

 ticket read "Sailing at 3," and we really got away at 4. 



Built in Amsterdam in 1908, commanded by Dutch officers, 

 with Curacoa negroes for a crew, and with only 13 passengers 

 and a deck load of mules, the tout ensemble was unique, and the 

 voyage gave promise of unusualness sure to appeal to one not 

 wedded to luxury and the beaten track. Escorted by tugs and 

 saluted by a mob of "dago" stevedores, we worked our way out 

 through the press of tramp steamers, lighters, and foreign ship- 

 ping, and our journey was begun. The sea was smooth, and the 

 tiny social hall and smoking room bright with electric lights, were 

 very cozy. The impress of Dutch art was upon both rooms, and 



Typical Barbadian Negro Hut. 



showed in the inlaid tables, chairs, and walls, the Dutch-made 

 rubber tiling of a pattern none but a Hollander could design, the 

 upright piano of hard action and soft tone, in a queer, stiffly 

 ornamented case, built into the side of the room, together with a 

 fascinating panel painting of a mermaid in a tail-maid suit, 

 sitting upon a rock, and alluring a low browed savage by blow- 

 ing through a conch shell. 



We had hoped for a smooth passage, and as we left New York 

 right after the great Christmas storm, yearned for warmer 

 weather, but it was not until the third day of the voyage that 

 there was any suggestion of either smoothness or warmth. A 

 following wind from the northeast chilled the air and made of 

 the Gulf stream a steaming vapor crested caldron. 



There were about the usual health seekers, in the persons of 



Sugar Mill in Barbados. 



--H&- 



Crushing Cane in a Sugar Mill. 



