398 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May 1, 1912. 



EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



NEW TRADE PUBLICATIONS. 



IN THE AMAZON JUNGLE. ADVENTURES IN REMOTE PARTS 

 of the Upper Amazon River, including a sojourn among cannibal 

 Indians. By Algot Lange. With an introduction by Frederick S. 

 iJellenbaugh. With 86 illustrations from original photographs by the 

 author. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London. [Cloth, 8vo., 

 Pp. 401.] 



'T'HE story, "In the Amazon Jungle," by that intrepid traveler, 

 •*■ lecturer and writer, Algot Lange, although it has to do with 

 scene.'^ and characters in the heart of the rubber country along 

 the tributaries of the upper Amazon, is not primarily a rubber 

 story, ft is rather a book of moving adventure ; and while it 

 win not add materially to a rubber man's technical stock of 

 knowledge, it will afford him — as well as the general reader- 

 many .sensations and a succession of thrills. 



The author begins with his landing in January, 1910, at a spot 

 called Remate De Males (not to be found on many maps) at the 

 confluence of the Itecoahy with the Javary river, some miles 

 above the point where the Javary flows into the Maraiion or 

 upper Amazon. This little hamlet on the river banks is about 

 a thousand miles above Manaos, so it will be appreciated at 

 once that it is well into the rubber country. After many unusual 

 experiences, the author gets an opportunity to continue about 

 twenty days' journey up the Itecoahy to the seringal of a mil- 

 lionaire shipper of rubber. Here follow more remarkable ex- 

 periences—among them the undoing of a S4-foot river boa-con- 

 strictor. .After several months of seringal life full of exciting 

 incidents, he joins a party of six seringueros on an expedition 

 into the untracked jungle to discover virgin rubber trees. While 

 this proves to be a successful expedition in the matter of locating 

 trees, it ultimately results in a sad tragedy, as three of his six 

 companions are summarily taken off by the swift fatalities com- 

 mon in that region — one by a deadly snake bite, one by swamp 

 fever, and one by the dreaded beri-beri. The author, separated 

 from his surviving companions, and reduced by fever and star- 

 vation to the last notch of vitality, creeps through the jungle on 

 hands and knees, and finally falls unconscious on the edge of 

 a little clearing, which proves to be the camp of a cannibal tribe. 

 The weeks which he spends in the hospitable and kindly com- 

 panionship of these cannibals comprise the most interesting chap- 

 ters of his book. He describes their method of life, the ingenious 

 trap.s they set for their enemies, their method of warfare, the 

 variety of weapons they use, and the distinctly reprehensible 

 manner in which they treat the enemy after he is vanquished 

 and slain. Finally, through the generous offices of his cannibal 

 hosts, he is returned to his friends at the seringal, where he 

 seizes the first possible means to terminate his year's sojourn in 

 the country of the .\mazon. 



The story is written in a direct and simple style, which makes 

 the recital most convincing — even where it is altogether without 

 precedent or parallel among the narrations of other explorers. 

 It is a book that will appeal to all who enjoy, in print at least, 

 strange adventures in far-ofj and unfamiliar lands. The seven- 

 teen-year-old boy will find life in the Quiet town high school 

 rather drab and dull compared with this wonderful country 

 where lizards grow four feet long, and supple warriors blow- 

 poisoned arrows through ten-foot reed guns with force enough 

 to bring down the monsters of the jungle. He will probably 

 chafe for some days after reading this story over the drear com- 

 monplaceness of his surroundings; but the author can't help 

 that. He has set down the facts as they befell ; and if many of 

 them seem rather remarkable and others of them quite ridiculous, 

 that's the reader's gain. 



A consular report is authority for the statement that one 

 Hawaiian rubber plantation will have 40,000 trees tappable at the 

 end of 1912. It is expected to secure 6.000 pounds of rubber dur- 

 ing this year. From 23.000 trees recently tapped 1.200 pounds of 

 dry rubber were secured, the first shipments to Xew York realiz- 

 ing SI. 01 per pound for the best. 



""PHE C. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio, has recently sent out 

 a little folder of 8 pages descriptive of the new Master 

 Tread tire made by this company, which in the words of the 

 folder is "the last word in non-skid tires." This tire is not in- 

 tended in any way to supersede the popular Goodrich-Bailey, 

 but is rather in addition to that tire, to please people who may 

 want something different. The distinguishing feature of the 

 "Master Tread" is its general ruggedness. The shape and ar- 

 rangement of the projecting studs on this tire suggest a chain 

 of thick, heavy rubber buttons running in a straight line along 

 the top of the tread and in zigzag lines along the edge, so as to 

 oppose varying angles of rubber against any side-slipping move- 

 ment. 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Toronto, Canada, sends 

 out a booklet of 32 pages, entitled "Rubber Belting," which is 

 the first of a series to be issued by this company covering all 

 the lines of mechanical rubber goods which the company manu- 

 factures. 



In our April number we had a paragraph describing three 

 very handsotne catalogues issued by the Boston Woven Hose and 

 Rubber Co., Cambridge, Massachusetts. These three books, one 

 describing belting, the second mats and matting, and the third 

 fruit jar rings, were of uniform size and similar in character, 

 but all distinct in design. They were all alike, however, in 

 this — that they were exceptionally fine specimens of catalogue 

 making. We have just received two more catalogues belonging 

 to the same series and equally handsome in cover design and 

 in the treatment of text. One is entitled "The Hose Book," and 

 the other "Brass Fittings." Both have covers of handsome 

 mottled effect with decorative designs, the hose book cover be- 

 ing printed in two shades of green, black and gold, while the 

 other cover is printed in brown, a light blue, black and gold. 

 The hose book contains 48 pages, printed in black and green on 

 a light green tint. It is generously illustrated, showing a birds- 

 eye view of the factory, a number of interior views, agricultural, 

 mining, construction and dredging scenes where hose is having 

 practical application, and in addition it contains many fine half- 

 tones of sections of the hose made by the company, which covers 

 practically every variety, from hose 14 inch in diameter for gas 

 and sprays to 30-inch hose for dredge and excavating work. 

 Tlie brass fittings book contains 32 pages, printed in black and 

 yellow on a stock of yellowish tint, and describes, with many 

 illustrations, couplings for garden hose, mill hose, suction, steam 

 and fire hose, beside spray nozzles and lawn sprinklers. 



The Springfield Rubber Co., Springfield, Massachusetts, which, 

 early in March distributed a very attractive catalogue of rubber 

 clothing, has lately followed that by an equally attractive and 

 somewhat larger catalogue descriptive of rubber footwear. This 

 booklet consists of 64 pages with an artistic cover, and shows 

 by a large number of handsome half-tones the variety of foot- 

 wear carried by this concern, consisting chiefly of the Boston 

 and Woonsocket brands — both of which, it will be noticed, have 

 recently taken on new trade mark emblems — the Boston showing 

 a hub trade mark, and the Woonsocket having as a trade mark 

 the head of an elephant, and being called the "Elephant Brand." 



The J. P. Devine Co., Buffalo, New York, has recently issued 

 a catalogue of 40 pages descriptive of its vacuum drying, evap- 

 orating and impregnating apparatus. This company has made 

 over 2.500 vacuum dryers for various materials and quite a num- 

 ber of these dryers are illustrated in this catalogue. The one, 

 however, which will be of special interest to the rubber trade, is 

 a vacuum drying chamber made of cast or w'rought iron with 

 surface condenser and vacuum pump, wdiich is shown on page 

 12. This dryer consists of a chamber or cylinder wliich is closed 

 hermetically at one or both ends by large doors. It contains a 

 number of steam and water-tight heating shelves or pipes placed 



