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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 1910. 



Musee Goeldi — Administration Building. 



Musee Goeldi — Reservoir. 



with white calla like blossoms, and great ceiba trees, was won- 

 derfully beautiful. 



Of animal life we saw little ; of birds there were parrots and 

 hawks ; of animals, one black monkey ; and of insects, great blue 

 butterflies, and one huge bird catching spider as big as a 

 saucer. 



As we were emerging into the river on the other side of the 

 island a sudden shower fell, and we all held a tarpaulin above 

 our heads until it was over. It was then that my Companion 

 exclaimed that a wasp had stung him. The wound didn't look 

 like a bee sting, as there were two little punctures, close to- 

 gether. Being on the back of his hand he was advised to suck 

 it as a precaution, which he did, and no inflammation followed. 



The rain having ceased, the tarpaulin was put away, when 

 somebody said, "There goes a centipede," and we caught a 

 fleeting glimpse of something that looked like an elongated ear- 

 wig which ran into the Visiting Manufacturer's pocket. It was 

 rather a trying experience, but he never turned hair and sat 

 perfectly calm, while the Exporter with a pair of small scissors 

 very gingerly turned the pocket inside out, but did not find 

 a cent or a pede, either. A moment later the insect was 

 discovered in the fold in his trousers, and very dexterously 

 nipped with the scissors and thrown overboard. Then we all 

 breathed a sigh of relief, for the bite, though not dangerous, is 

 apt to give one fever for a few days. 



DR. HUBER AND THE MUSEE GOELDI. 



I had visited the Musee Goeldi many times while in Para, 

 and each time was more and more impressed with the natural 

 wonders of Brazil. The museum is crowded with birds, insects, 

 reptiles, animals — or, rather, their carefully preserved cadavers 

 — and a week of careful looking would not enable one to observe 

 in detail a half of what is there. The result is the visitor goes 

 away with a misty and mixed recollection of moths as big as 

 shingles, flies the size of one's hand, beetles bigger than mice, 

 great lizards, monstrous alligators, and snakes of all sizes, 

 colored in infinite variety. Birds grotesque, birds beautiful ; 

 animals unbelievably strange, and fish of such infinite variety 

 that imagination itself pauses helpless in stunned surprise. 



In cages, dens, and enclosures surrounding the museum build- 

 ings are also housed a goodly number of living representatives 

 of those in the cases inside. Not that I spent all of my time 

 either in the museum or the zoological garden, for there is the 

 botanic garden also. And furthermore, there is Dr. Jacques 

 Huber, who knows more about the Hevea species than any one 

 else in the world, who has gathered many of the typical sorts 

 about him, and is steadily observing them day by day as they 

 develop into mature trees. 



The doctor, by the way, in the course of our many conversa- 

 tions, suggested a new theory for the greater "nerve" in smoked 

 rubber than appears in the ' unsnioked. Me explained that a 



pelle, fro. 11 the time it is formed, undergoes a natural, continuous, 

 solidifying pressure, caused by the evaporation of the water 

 from the outside layers and their consequent contraction. Un- 

 snioked rubber, on the other hand, put up either in sheet or 

 rectangular block form, experiences no such pressure. The 

 theory seemed to me worthy of note. I remember that in 

 Panama, in gathering Castilloa rubber, we rigged some crude 

 presses to get the water out, and in some instances, where the 

 rubber was left for a long time, its strength was greatly enhanced. 

 As I have said, the worthy Doctor knows the Hcveas. He has qui- 

 etly, patiently, and persistently specialized on them for years. And 

 it was with exceeding interest that I heard him state that the 

 Hevea Brasiliensis is, after all, the one producer of really high- 

 grade rubber. He knew them all from the Brasiliensis to the 

 Spruceana, and named twenty varieties and their characteristic-, 

 off hand. One that was new to me was the Randiana, named 

 after the orchid collector Rand whom New Englanders will re- 

 member and regret. A very thrifty specimen of this is in the 

 gardens, but it gives no latex. It is this eminent botanist's 

 opinion that many other Heveas will be discovered, and he is 

 ever on the outlook for them. 



Br. Jacques Huber and His Tapping Knife. 



