THE PRINCIPAL RUBBER DISTRICTS 39 



rubber industry, and entirely dependent on that source 

 of wealth for their existence. The population consists 

 for the most part of labourers imported to work on the 

 rubber-producing properties, and they seldom become 

 permanent settlers on the land. There are many tribes 

 of wild Indians in these districts, but they come little 

 in contact with the civilized portion of the community, 

 and retire from the waterways to the interior of the 

 forests as soon as settlements spring up on the banks 

 of the rivers. They show determined hostility in many 

 cases to the advance of civilization, but only attack 

 isolated groups or solitary individuals. 



