July i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



343 



SMOKING RUBBER ON A SERINGAL IN THE AMAZON COUNTRY. 

 [In the Foreground are Shown Some Large Pelles of Rubber, Just Smoked.] 



The securing of laborers is the most difficult part of the under- 

 taking. To get a rubber estate in the Amazon valley is easy. 

 Million of acres of land with rubber trees are without owners. 

 The land costs nothing, the government exacting a fee only when 

 it is registered. 



A VISIT TO ONCAS ISLAND. 



One of the leading exporters in Para is a wonderful producer 

 of artistic photographs. It is natural that he should have taken 

 boat journeys through the islands and up and down the great 

 rivers, not only in search of rubber knowledge but in pursuit of 

 his own particular fad. It was most gratefully, therefore, that 

 I accepted his invitation to take a launch trip to Isla des Oncas, 

 the great island that lies some miles to the south of the city. 

 This isiand is cut in two by a narrow natural canal which at high 

 water is navigable by canoes and rowboats. To catch the tide 

 meant an early start. So I awoke the Yankee Consul and the 

 Visiting Manufacturer at 4 o'clock, and after coffee we hastened 

 down to the water front, arriving just as the Exporter appeared, 

 with several porters laden with eatables and drinkables. 



To cross to the island we embarked in a little three-cylinder 

 kerosene launch and soon were chuff -chuffing across the bay for 

 the "Island of Tiger Cats." Once over to the mangrove fringed 

 shore we coasted up and down until finally the sharp eyes of our 

 pilot detected the little opening of the channel. We were then 

 transferred to the rowboat that had been trailing behind. 



The launch turned back and we entered the dim tree shaded 

 channel. In some places it was so narrow that there was barely 

 room for the oars ; in other places it was from 10 to 20 feet 

 wide. The water was the same yellow brown tint that the whole 



Amazon affects. From the start we saw rubber trees — old set- 

 tlers that had been tapped for generations, their trunks swollen, 

 scarred and disfigured by thousand of machadinho strokes. Often 

 pole stagings had been erected about them, crude contrivances to 

 allow the rubber gatherer to reach hitherto untapped surfaces. 



Here I saw for the first time the curious little surface swimming 

 fish, with a pair of bulging eyes in the top of the head to view 

 the upper world, and another pair underneath to view the nether 

 world. 



As we got further into the island the waterway broadened. 

 We passed many little river huts, and occasionally met a canoe 

 whose occupants courteously and gravely bade us bom dia. The 

 curving stream, fringed with palms, huge "mocco-mocco" plants 



Steamer "Rio Ituky," on the Jurupary. 



