June i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



307 



aboard the boat, and they were likely to get away, I went 

 on hurriedly: 



"Oui, yes, si, Senor, you wish the trolley tram. The zip 

 car. It is run by zee door. Go out to Sousa. It's quite a long 

 ride out to Sousa and a pretty one, and if you stay aboard the 

 car it will bring you back, saving a transfer." 



I got interested in describing these details and forgot my 

 accent. Just as I finished one of the inquirers said: 



"You speak very good English." 



"So do you," said I. 



"But I come from Boston," was his retort. 



"So do I," was mine. 



I forgot to say that before I left my table two tourists 

 sitting at another facing me were enjoying huge glasses of 

 excellent Brazilian beer. One of them, desirous of knowing 

 the brew, held his glass aloft (he wore cotton gloves, by the 

 way, to protect his hands from yellow fever mosquitoes) and, 

 addressing me cordially, said: 



"Pilsener? Is this Pilsener beer?" 



"Thank you," I replied, courteously; "I drink only zee 

 champagne. I should be glad of a little bottle." And I 

 beckoned to his waiter, while he gulped the remainder of his 

 drink and bolted. 



THE CENTER OF THE RUBBER TRADE. 



The center of the rubber interest in Para is, very naturally, 

 where the houses of the great importers, or rather exporters, 

 are located. These are on the water front and are not only 

 easily located by the pleasant smell of rubber with which 

 the air is permeated, but during crop arrivals by the great 

 quantities of rubber arriving and departing in bulk and in 

 cases, often temporarily piled everywhere and anywhere. The 

 carelessness with which this valuable product is handled 

 would be a shock to any member of the Rubber Stealings 

 Committee. Evidently there is no rubber thievery in Para. 



A narrow street running from the water front up into the 

 city, known as "Wall street," is where most of the rubber 

 purchasing is done. When a steamer arrives with rubber 

 for the various aviadores they gather on this street or in an 

 open room that leads off from it, and the representatives of 

 the big buyers being present, the various lots are disposed of. 

 There are brokers, but they do only a fraction of the business. 



Each of the rubber houses em- 

 ploys a very capable body of men 

 who receive the rubber, cut and ex- 

 amine it, and pack it in boxes for 

 shipment. The cutting of the rub- 

 ber is an absolute necessity, as 

 some lots are badly adulterated. 

 This adulteration takes three forms : 

 One, in which a milky juice called 

 "tabatinga" is added to the latex, 

 giving a short fibered rubber that is 

 wholly without nerve. The second 

 is the addition of "farinha," which 

 increases bulk and weight, but also 

 makes the rubber very short and 

 pasty. The third is a mixture of 

 sand and farinha, which is perhaps 

 the worst of all. Wherever farinha 

 is present, if the rubber has stood 

 for any length of time, myriads of 

 little ants are found in the pelles, 

 living on the starchy contents. All 

 of these adulterations are quickly 

 detected by the cutters, who are 

 very expert and who promptly 

 throw out a hall that contains layers 

 of this sort. 



THE WALL STREET OF PARA. 



To refer again to "Wall street," time was when all the 

 rubber buying was done in a saloon there, but that is a thing 

 of the past, and while some is still sold in the "street," most 

 of the purchasing takes place in the offices of the great 

 operators. Most of the rubber is shipped in cases made of 

 American pine. I saw a few boxes made of native wood, but 

 the lumber was heavy and brittle and not to be compared 

 with the imported white pine, either for safety or ease in 

 working. 



The rubber warehouse men are perhaps the best paid of 

 any laborers in the city. They receive about $4 a day, and 

 extra for night work and Sundays. When rubber is arriving 

 they work willingly night and day, often drenched to the 

 skin by heavy tropical downpours, which they don't seem to 

 mind in the least. But the laborers are not the only hard 

 workers. When the gum is arriving the exporter, if he is in 

 the market, is kept exceedingly busy. A single small steamer 

 coming in from the Islands, where she stopped at perhaps a 

 hundred landings, may have rubber from 200 or 300 shippers, 

 consigned to 75 or 80 different houses. All of these interests, 

 seringueiros and aviadores, knowing more or less about the 

 market, are intent on getting the best price and also on the 

 passing of any doubtful rubber without question. To do his 

 own house justice and to satisfy the sellers keeps the exporter 

 very busy, and he often works nights, but not out in the 

 pouring rain. 



The price at which rubber is sold in Para and Manaos 

 dominates the spirit of the people, and in boom times, when 

 money is plenty, it is spent most lavishly. A rich Brazilian, 

 even if it is only temporary wealth due to a sudden rise in 

 the rubber market, will buy anything, from an automobile to 

 an opera troupe, and plank down the cash with joy. 



Para, being the mother of rubber export, has not been 

 without twinges of jealousy over the wonderful development 

 of her daughter, Manaos. She never wished the child to 

 come out of swaddling clothes, because she saw a decrease in 

 rubber revenues as a result. Therefore "Manaos is unhealthy 

 and not a place to visit"; "everything in rubber worth seeing 

 can be seen at Para," et cetera. 



Manaos also affects to scorn Para. "She's old-fashioned 

 and conservative"; "her rubber forests are rapidly being ex- 



Barracks and Corps of Municipal Fire Department, Para. 



