32 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



through them is difficult when the rivers are high, as 

 the ravines and depressions fill with water, and the 

 majority of the pathways and roads become impass- 

 able. One rule established for many years past in the 

 districts immediately adjoining the River Madeira, and 

 generally adhered to by the collectors, is that the rubber- 

 trees shall be tapped only for some 10 feet from the 

 ground. This condition is not observed elsewhere in 

 the Amazon Valley, overhead tapping to a height of 

 20 to 30 feet being a common practice in the delta, 

 on the Jurua and Purus, and in the national territories 

 of the Acre. 



A small resident population is found in the vicinity 

 of the River Madeira, and a certain proportion of the 

 collectors and labourers employed are drawn from this 

 source ; but in all other districts in this section the work 

 of the rubber industry is carried on exclusively by 

 labour imported from Ceara and the adjacent States. 

 Foodstuffs for the maintenance of the labourers are 

 cultivated to some extent in this district, but it is the 

 only example of any systematic effort to raise a supply 

 of the common necessities of life for local consumption 

 to be found throughout these regions until the recent 

 fall in the price of rubber forced property owners to pay 

 some attention to this important factor in the industrial 

 situation. The general conditions on the Madeira have 

 been influenced by the additional traffic caused by the 

 transport of men and material for the construction of 

 the Madeira- Marmore railway between 1907 and 1913. 

 Ocean steamers frequently made the journey to Porto 

 Velho with cargo for the railroad, and many thousands 

 of labourers of various nationalities were imported for 



