June i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



305 



Public Library, Para. 



palace of a house, with broad verandas and magnificent 

 apartments opening one into the other. He had with him 

 the secretary of the municipality, a huge, intellectual, coal- 

 black negro, who is probably the finest orator in northern 

 Brazil, and is called the "Booker Washington of South 

 America." I asked the Intendente why instead of shading 

 the streets of the city with mango trees, he had not planted 

 Hevea Brasiliensis? He answered promptly that years ago 

 there was much tuberculosis in the city; that the mango gives 

 off an aromatic balsam that is very healing, and that con- 

 sumption had practically disappeared since the trees had 

 matured. Besides, the poor people practically lived upon the 

 fruit of the tree for weeks at a time. 



The Visiting Manufacturer, who evidently had been pick- 

 ing out the wrong cabs, said to the Intendente: 



"Why don't you fine cab drivers who do not use rubber 

 tires?" 



The reply came : 



"I have done better than that ; I have taken the tax off of 

 rubber tired vehicles and kept it on the steel shod ones. Now 

 it's up to you to make better tires so that our drivers will all 

 be able to use them." 



After that we retired, the Intendente wearing the honors. 



Para has a number of daily newspapers. Two of them, 

 however, are leaders. One is owned by the Intendente, who 

 edits it vigorously and wisely. The other, the Opposition 

 Paper, with just as much vigor and great plainness disagrees 

 with everything the government does, whatever it is. Both 

 have large circulations and both are excellent papers. I 

 understand that the opposition paper said some very spicy 

 things about me because I "bowed the knee to Baal." But I 

 couldn't read them, so was able to preserve the even tenor 

 of my self conceit. 



There are a number of good clubs. The Yankee Consul 

 put me up at the Para Club, where I met the bankers and 

 steamship and rubber men — American, German, and English 

 — and had some really good exercise at billiards in spite of 

 the sultriness that evening often developed. 



Then a rubber importer in New York had written the 

 president of the Sports' Club, who invited me to their func- 

 tions. I also went to a ball at the Universal Club, which 

 must have been a very swell affair, for the streets were lined 

 with people who got their reward by seeing us go in and out. 



The resident head of "Casa Alden" also asked me to soap 

 my legs and come out to the Golf Club with him. The 

 saponaceous preliminary that he advised is for the purpose 

 of amusing "moqueens," small and active red bugs that live 

 in the grass, outside of the city limits, particularly on golf 



Salon in Theatro da Paz, Para. 



links. If one's legs are soaped the bugs get so engrossed 

 with climbing up as far as the knee, then coasting down to 

 the instep, that they forget all about biting. 



THE PEOPLE OF PAHA. 



More interesting than a city are its inhabitants. The 

 people of Para are Brazilians and Portuguese. Although the 

 former come largely from Portuguese stock they do not like 

 to be mistaken for natives of the mother country, so proud 

 are they of their own. They are a sensitive, hospitable, en- 

 thusiastic race, with a very decided genius for and apprecia- 

 tion of the fine arts. Many of the substantial business men 

 are Portuguese, and one often sees exactly the same types as 

 once made the men of Portugal the foremost explorers of the 

 world. The better class in Para are exceedingly well dressed, 

 and no politer people are to be found anywhere. 



It was "carnival week" while we were there, and there was 

 ample opportunity to see the whole city at play. As the 

 beautiful floats passed, the showers of confetti were constant 

 and the flower fights vigorous. Then in the afternoon, when 

 the rain drove the revellers indoors and the cafes were packed 

 to suffocation, a little glass atomizer made its appearance. 

 It was filled with perfume and sold for 4 milreis. How many 

 thousands were emptied in the course of a few hours who 

 can say? No one escaped who came within range, and for 

 twenty-four hours every food product in the city tasted of 

 perfumery. Through all the festivities I saw nothing but 

 good-humored fun, and was wonderfully impressed with the 

 graceful, unconscious courtesy of the people of this tropical 

 city. 



Speaking of hospitality, I wish I had space to describe in 

 detail one dinner at the home of a wealthy and cultured 

 Brazilian, a large owner of rubber lands in the Acre, that I 

 enjoyed. It would take pages to picture the cool spacious- 

 ness of the dwelling, the beautiful courtyard garden, with its 

 rare blooms and extensive orchid trellises, and the dinner 

 itself, simple and appetizingly elegant, and my host, who 

 in almost perfect English touched lightly on current events 

 in Europe and America and showed a knowledge of Paris, 

 London, Berlin, and New York that made me envious; but I 

 know I couldn't do it justice, and I must pass it simply as 

 one of my pleasantest memories. 



Every winter that great educational institution, the Ham- 

 burg-American line, gathers together some hundreds of un- 

 traveled Americans and projects them upon the people of 

 other climes. They learn many things in these voyages; 

 that is, they have ample opportunity to do so. 



Sitting at midday breakfast in the Cafe La Paz one morn- 



