120 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



The planted area in the East may be taken approxi- 

 mately as 1,500,000 acres, containing from 180,000,000 to 

 200,000,000 trees. In the Amazon Valley no secure basis 

 exists for an accurate estimate of the number of trees, but 

 there is no reason to suppose that the figure of 200,000,000 , 

 constantly put forward in official statements is an 

 exaggeration. Indeed, many well-informed persons are 

 of opinion that the total greatly exceeds that number. 



In the East the industry was founded from seed taken 

 by Mr. Wickham from the River Tapajoz in 1876^ 

 resulting in the reproduction of the white variety, and 

 yielding rubber classified as " weak " (fraca) in the 

 markets of Manaos and Para. In the Amazon Valley the 

 species principally utilized are the black (preta), the white 

 (branca), the red (vermelha), and the Itapuru (Hevea 

 Guayanensis). The first of these stands out -pre- 

 eminently for the resilient quality of the rubber it 

 yields, while the product of the remaining three species 

 is designated as " weak " (fraca), and sold on the Brazi- 

 lian markets for 20 per cent, less value than that of the 

 black (preta) variety. 



It is needless to refer to the yield of rubber from the 

 castilloa, always designated in Brazil as caucho, for it 

 exists in such small quantities in the East that it is not 

 a factor of any importance when discussing the com- 

 parative production of Brazil and the Orient; more- 

 over, the exportation of this rubber from the Amazon 

 Valley will be a thing of the past in the course of a few 

 years, for reasons explained in the section dealing with 

 the general conditions of the Brazilian industry. 



In the East the rubber-tree is planted upon many 

 different classes of soil, and with the aid of careful 



