2 RUBBER 



become common, and their power of usefulness will 

 quickly come to be taken as a matter of course. In 

 this way is all wonder being banished from the earth 

 by the civilization you're so pleased to call wise. But 

 I'm not here to preach to you. Come, I wiU take you 

 to a country where everything is yet as Dame Nature 

 made it. It is a country full of possibilities, abounding 

 in natural wonders whose discovery may create many 

 and many a mighty change in the everyday life of 

 the world at large. More than this, I will promise 

 you nothing. You shall see what you see. Let us 

 away." 



We are whisked across the sea. At length we are 

 hovering over a seemingly boundless forest, which 

 appears to defy even a single ray of light to pry into 

 its secrets. As we get nearer to the treetops, we notice 

 that parts of the country beneath us are open to the 

 sky. A river, inset with islands and sandbanks, com- 

 pletely severs the forest ; a goodly number of streams 

 fight their way into it on either side, now boiling with 

 rage as their passage is interfered with by a stubborn 

 array of rocks, now dashing headlong over a sheer 

 precipice, now corkscrewing a long way round to avoid 

 impenetrable barriers ; and, in addition to the breaches 

 made in the forest fortress by these waters, there are 

 patches of grassland openly rejoicing in the sun. 

 Mother Witch assures us that in parts of its course the 

 chief river is five, ten, or even as much as fifteen miles 

 wide ; that the sandbanks and islands we see in it are 

 of enormous size ; that the patches of grassland cover 

 acres and acres of ground. Of course, she knows what 

 she is talking about, so, in accepting her word about 

 the size of the openings, we are better able to realize 



