98 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



away to vanishing-point for the lack of labourers to 

 keep it alive. 



After the rubber is weighed, it is shipped to Manaos 

 or Pard with as little delay as possible. The matter of 

 transport presents no difficulty so far as the Lower 

 Amazon and its affluents are concerned, or in connec- 

 tion with the districts of the Madeira and those of the 

 lower portions of the Purus and Jurua. Bolivia has an 

 outlet always open by way of the railway to San Antonio 

 or Porto Velho, on the Madeira. Throughout all these 

 districts a regular service of steamers belonging to the 

 Amazon Steam Navigation Company, and also many 

 vessels privately owned, provide ample space for all 

 cargo requirements. The conditions in the Acre terri- 

 tory and the upper rivers are more complicated, for 

 there navigation is interrupted for six months in the 

 year by the insufficiency of water to permit the passage 

 of steamers through the numerous cataracts. 



The cost of transport is a constant source of com- 

 plaint, and the charges undoubtedly are extremely high. 

 This is due in great part to the heavy expenditure for 

 wages, the dearness of fuel, and to the Federal Govern- 

 ment regulations in regard to the crew to be carried on 

 coasting and river craft. The rates vary according to 

 the distance, but an average cost struck for the whole 

 Amazon Valley brings out the charge for transport by 

 water at about one halfpenny for each pound of rubber 

 in a crop of 40,000 tons. 



On many properties where the estradas are far distant 

 from the central homestead, a further expenditure is 

 incurred for transport of the rubber to the point of 

 shipment. In some districts creeks are available for 



