August i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



381 



teeth, and feather headdresses are often brought in. Occasionally, 

 too, specimens of the real wild Indian may be seen. A young 

 Englishman whom I met had spent some months up in the Puta- 

 mayo district and brought down with him a nine-year-old boy as 

 body servant who was a veritable little savage. Friendly and 

 smiling he was when all went right, a murderous little tiger if 

 things went wrong. He would accept reproof from his master, 

 but from no one else. One day a man servant struck him and 

 his master returned two hours later to find the boy sitting in 

 the courtyard, a loaded Winchester across his knees, and all 

 the servants hidden in a hastily barricaded room from which 

 they dared not emerge. Had the offender shown himself the boy 

 would certainly have shot him. 



A COMMERCIAL LEADER. 



The president of the Commercial Association, although he 

 bore a German name, was not phlegmatic. Indeed, he had 

 abjured Teutonia and was a Brazilian of the Brazilians. 

 Athlete, sportsman, bon vivant, business man, he defied 

 climate and care, was always on the move and kept others 

 moving also. It was he who chartered the Suprema, a 

 typical little river steamer, and took a few of us up to the Rio 

 Negro for a day's jaunt. 



Custom House at Manaos. 



The "black river" for miles and miles up into the interior is 

 nothing less than a chain of great lakes, and my host unfolded 

 a weird scheme for navigating it by means of boat aeroplanes, 

 which, like gigantic flying fish, should skip from one lake to an- 

 other. He made it appear quite feasible, and if such a thing is 

 ever done he will be just the one to furnish the courage and 

 dash to put it through. 



Our first pleasurable experience on this voyage was breakfast 

 served oh an ingenious table, which, when not in use, folded its 

 legs, rose to the ceiling and hung high above our. heads. The 

 meal was excellent — a freshly caught river fish, a wonderful salad, 

 fruit, and coffee. 



Out of sight and sound of the city the solitude was oppressive. 

 It may have been that the jungle covered shores had lost their 

 charm, or — and this is more likely — it may have been the total 

 absence of bird and animal life for which the Rio Negro is noted. 



Soon we entered an estuary and after an hour or more of 

 steady steaming sighted a clearing that indicated our near ap- 

 proach to "Paradizo" ranch. Hardly had we got ashore before 

 we saw rubber trees, and many of them. Much to my surprise 

 they were planted in regular rows and were big, young, and lusty. 

 I had heard only the day before, from one well versed in rubber, 



that the Hevea Brasiliensis would not grow up the Negro. Yet 

 here it was. This planting, although 20 feet above the water as it 

 then stood, was subject to inundations and apparently suffered 

 no harm, while further up the slope were trees equally large and 

 healthy that were above high water mark. The Botanist of our 

 party soon discovered a borer beetle that was industriously punc- 

 turing many of the trees, and we all fell to and helped him to 

 coax larva; out of their holes for later entomological examination. 

 If I know anything about that Botanist, and I think I do, he will 

 make that particular breed of beetle sorry that it ever tackled 

 rubber trees. 



Later we visited the comfortable ranch houses, saw them make 

 cassava, admired the beautiful flower gardens, filled our pockets 

 with Hevea nuts and turned toward our boat and Manaos. It 

 was on this excursion that we tried "cupussu," a drink made 

 from a creamy, pulpy fruit that is deliciously refreshing. The 

 proper way to imbibe it is to slowly sip a goblet of it, then swal- 

 low half a pint of gin to head off the cramps, then a cup of 

 black coffee to head off the gin. One of our party who despised 

 gin and did not care for coffee was the busiest man in all Brazil 

 for 24 hours after finishing his goblet. 



THE PRODUCTS OF AMAZONIA. 



Perhaps the most interesting of the sights in Manaos was the 

 double exhibition of Amazonian products. I call it double be- 

 cause there was first a rubber exhibition arranged by the Com- 

 mercial Association for those attending the Congress, and in 



Manaos Commercial Association. 



the same building a varied collection of native products that 

 were to go to the World's Fair at Brussels. In the former were 

 specimens of fine and coarse Para rubber, of caucho, and a great 

 pelle of rather sticky rubber from the Hevea Guyanensis. One 

 enterprising and wealthy seringueiro had prepared block, crepe, 

 and pancake rubber after the fashion of the preparation in the 

 Far East, and it certainly was as good as any plantation rubber 

 in the world. There were also gathered and shown all of the 

 tapping and coagulating tools and utensils used in Brazilian rub- 

 ber gathering. 



What the country had done agriculturally and industrially 

 was shown in the wonderful exhibits of cereals, textiles, coffee, 

 cocoa, and woods of all degrees of hardness, beauty of polish and 

 variety of grain. There was also ornate feather work, gorgeous 

 native embroideries, and wonderful hammocks. 



These exhibitions were opened by the Governor in person, and 

 all came in frock coats and tall hats. As each visitor entered the 

 door, the Police Band, which was lying in wait in an alcove, 

 burst forth with a brazen crash of welcome, while the new- 

 comer, trying to look dignified and free from self consciousness, 

 wabbled through the vestibule and lost himself in the crowd 

 where he could watch the next fellow do the same thing. 



