30 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



lation,and is not dependent on an imported, and there- 

 fore costly, labour-supply. The trees have been so badly 

 treated in the past that the yield is seriously affected at 

 the present time. 



The second section, from Santarem eastwards for 

 about a thousand miles, and including the Rivers Tapa- 

 joz, Madeira, and the lower portions of the Purus and 

 Jurua, is free from any tidal influence. It is only sub- 

 ject to inundation between the middle of March and 

 the end of May, as the result of the annual rains during 

 the wet season and the increased volume of water caused 

 by the melting of the snows in the higher Andirie ranges. 

 Throughout this area systematic efforts have been made 

 to organize and regulate the rubber industry on method- 

 ical lines as far as the surrounding circumstances per- 

 mitted, and, faulty as the outcome has been, it is a 

 model of progress compared to the conditions existent 

 in the Lower Amazon territory. The districts of the 

 River Madeira afford the best example of the industrial 

 development that has taken place during the last fifty 

 years. 



On the properties situated along the River Madeira, 

 and to a lesser extent on the Purus and Jurua, perma- 

 nent buildings erected at considerable cost indicate the 

 profitable nature of the rubber industry in the past. 

 These are frequently constructed of stone, brought from 

 long distances at great expense, and roofed with tiles 

 imported from France or Portugal. In many cases 

 where the slightly higher elevation of the land per- 

 mitted, quite extensive gardens have been laid out, and 

 stocked with flowering plants and fruit-trees obtained 

 from Rio de Janeiro or elsewhere. Since the rubber 



