ESTABLISHMENT OF SETTLEMENTS 189 



would be possible. How can any enterprise be expected 

 to give satisfactory results in a country which might 

 well be called the Land of Strife, where, during the last 

 five years, there have been no fewer than three serious 

 revolutions resulting in changes of government, without 

 taking into account risings of a less important nature ? 

 Let us assume that a change would come over the spirit 

 of this restless race, and that most of the men would 

 make up their minds to work, leaving the question of 

 government in the hands of a few — and this is a bold 

 assumption — then the profitable development of the 

 country's resources would become possible. But even 

 then it would be some time before a forest product, 

 even so valuable a one as rubber, situated in a region 

 devoid of population and difficult of access, could be 

 made to pay. 



The first step towards the successful working of the 

 rubber on the Nichare would be the establishment of a 

 settlement or settlements like La Prision and Temblador, 

 which are practically self-supporting, on the banks of the 

 river. Expeditions such as ours, where every necessary 

 has to be carried over a great distance, are far too costly to 

 give profitable results. Considering that it takes ten days 

 to reach Pozo Bravo from La Prision and two to return, 

 some idea can be formed of the expense incurred where a 

 large number of men have to be paid and fed for utterly 

 unremunerative work. Besides, the men after days of 

 paddling against the strong current, and the still harder 

 work of hauling the boats through the rapids, are tired 

 and disheartened when they reach their destination. But 

 the greatest of all the benefits to be obtained by the 

 establishment of settlements such as La Prision and 

 Temblador in an uninhabited and unexplored region. 



