January i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



111 



the dry season they lead a wandering life along the river from 

 the Ituchy to the cachoeiras (rapids of the Purus). They go 

 from place to place, in little dugout canoes, carrying their huts 

 with them. In the rainy months, when the sand bars are cov- 

 ered with water, they retire to the lakes, where they live on 

 raftc of dead logs tied together and floored with strips of palm 

 wood. They are a humble, cowardly race, and live in deadly 

 fear of their neighbors, the Hypurinas. 



Two days of slow steaming brought the party to Hyutanihan * 

 just below the rapids, and to the end of their journey. On a 

 plateau 1 50 feet above the river stood a dozen palm thatched 

 cabins of the rubber gatherers, in a clearing of several acres, 

 now no longer cultivated. The people, patron and all, were 

 from Ceaia, and now, as there was too much rain for rubber 

 working, were busily engaged, some making canoes, others 

 handsawing planks under ashed near the beach, and still others 

 cutting wood for fuel for the steamers. As the party arrived a 

 large tapir was being brought in, killed in the forest for food. 



A trail some 25 miles in length had been cut by hunters for 

 rubber and nuts, across to the little river Marmorea Miri, which 

 enters the Purus 60 miles below. Starting out on this trail Mr. 

 Steere came to the settlement of Paulo Xavier, a patron, with 

 three or four rubber gatherers. He told the explorers that at 

 the end of the trail would be found a deserted rubber station, 

 but no canoes, and the party returned to Hyutanihan. To that 

 station two men came next day — a Cearense and a Hypurina 

 Indian — over the same trail, after mail (!) and food. They pur- 

 chased a turtle, weighing 70 or 80 pounds, which the Indian 

 carried home, alive and kicking, on his back. Mr. Steere 

 walked with them to Xavier's place, mentioned above, where 

 the three men and the turtle got into a canoe and rowed down 

 a small stream to the Marmorea, spending the night in a vacant 

 barracdn of handsawed lumber, surrounded by three or four 

 thatched cabins, the former owner of which had failed at the 

 rubber gathering business and gone down the river to work for 

 someone else. The following day the party went up the Mar- 

 mored, shortening the distance in more than one place by row- 

 ing the canoe through the forest, and avoiding the bends in 

 the river, it being the season of high water. There were forest 

 trees 80 feet high covered to the top with festoons of red and 

 white morning glory (Convolvulus) flowers. 



Just before night we came to " San Joao," the seat of Senhor Joao 

 Nogueira and the only living rubber camp on the Marmorea. The sta- 

 tion w.is a new one. having been established but two years, but several 

 acres were cleared along the river and planted to corn and manihot. The 

 patron, Senhor Joao, like the rest, was living in a palm thatched barrack, 

 but was getting out timber for a better house. Several men were at 

 work under a shed making a big canoe to transport his rubber down the 

 Marmorea to the Funis and market. He seemed glad to see a stranger 

 'n this remote part of the world and did his best to make my stay pleas- 

 ant. My hammock was hung that I might rest after my cramped ride in 

 the canoe, and one of the few chickens he had saved from the vampire 

 bats was sacrificed for my supper. Several monkeys of different species 

 were running about or were chained to the walls. 



Senhor Joiio the next day offered to guide his guest to where 

 wild Indians could be found, and they started afoot through a 

 deserted rubber trail, accompanied by the Cearenses, but com- 

 ing to where the road was flooded they happened to meet a 

 naked Indian paddling a little bark canoe through the woods. 

 The four pedestrians climbed into the boat with the Indian, 

 causing it to sink until the water came into the ends, but the 

 boat was patched with clay and the party proceeded for several 

 miles when they were able again to proceed on foot. In the 



afternoon they reached a deserted village, or rather village 

 house, of Jamamadi Indians. Formerly it had sheltered 130 

 people, who maintained a considerable plantation, but all had 

 died of black measles introduced from a visitor down the Puriis. 

 Half an hour later another Jamamadi settlement was reached, 

 where the American and his party spent the night. Mr. Steere 

 had in his pack an assortment of little looking glasses, bright 

 colored handkerchiefs, and beads, which he was able to barter 

 for a complete outfit of Indian weapons, ornaments, utensils, 

 and household goods — articles of native use of which he was 

 in search. There appear to be now only two or three small 

 settlements of the Jamamadi in existence, all on the Marmorea, 

 their number having decreased rapidly since the coming of the 

 rubber gatherers. 



The journey back to " San Joao," part of which was made in 

 the same canoe manned by the naked Indian, was made more 

 difficult on account of the load to be carried, including a large 

 gray monkey in a cage. Mr. Steere himself carried a bundle of 

 arms, so long that it constantly struck the trees along the path. 

 On the way they passed a communal house of Hypurina In- 

 dians, all of whom appeared to be away on a hunting expedi- 

 tion. These people are reputed cannibals and are more war- 

 like than the Jamamadi. They do not, however, attack the 

 white settlers, and some of them have been employed in rub- 

 ber camps. 



Senhor Joao had estradas open for 50 rubber gatherers, but had 

 only 1 5 or 20 men employed and little chance for getting more, 

 the station being 50 miles from even the rude settlements of 

 the Puriis. Resides, the location seemed unhealthy, and, 

 Mr. Steere left his supply of quinine for some of the men who 

 were suffering from fever. The above notes record practically 

 all of Mr. Steere's contribution to the subject of the sources of 

 rubber, the remainder of his work being devoted to his observa- 

 tions of Indians who have not been " spoiled " by civilized man, 

 with studies of their language and customs, including photo- 

 graphic views. 



♦ * * 



The Puriis has been called the most important of the af- 

 fluents of the Amazon ; it certainly has been the most produc- 

 tive of rubber, not to mention the great quantity which comes 

 down the Acre, from Bolivia, into the Puius and thence 

 to Manaos. In the year ending June 30, 1903, the Purus 

 brought over 13,000,000 pounds of rubber (exclusive of Caucho) 

 to Manaos, counting the Bolivian product. In the calendar 

 year 1902 the Puriis brought, from Brazilian territory alone 

 (including Caucho), nearly 11,000,000 pounds. This heavy rate 

 of yield has been maintained for years, but only by means of 

 the rubber gatherers constantly removing their camps further 

 up the river, and the conditions of life show little improvement, 

 the workers always being " pioneers " wherever they may hap- 

 pen to be engaged. The Puriis was explored by Chandless for 

 1000 miles above the highest point mentioned by Mr. Steere, 

 and it has many tributaries navigable for long distances, but 

 through the rubber districts along those streams the same soli- 

 tude prevails, except here and there where a trading station at 

 certain seasons attracts a considerable transient population. 



•This point, according to the Baron de Maraju's " As Regioes Amazonicas." is 

 about 805 miles above the Amazon. 



The American Asbestos Co., with $1,000,000 capital and 

 headquarters at Montreal, has been incorporated in Canada to 

 conduct a mining business, with special reference to asbestos. 

 The company is composed principally of Boston people, in- 

 cluding H. M. Whitney, one of the leading capitalists of that 

 city, who is its president. The company has acquired the Kerr 

 asbestos mine, at Black Lake, and purposes treating the pro- 

 duct with electricity. 



