405 



ii. The price depends upon the cost and expenses of opening the seringal on pub- 

 lic lands. No tax is imposed on the worker. Once opened and worked it becomes 

 the property of the person who has cleared it, and he can sell it to another. The cost 

 of production must, of course, vary with many circumstances and be greater in one part 

 of the country than in another. The producer in many cases sells his product to the 

 country store, sometimes taking merchandise in return. Sometimes they are hired in 

 gangs. The price of farinha de Mandioca, which is their main food, must enter largely 

 into any estimate of cost. Taking one year with another, I made an estimate six or 

 seven years ago that 12 cts., or 14 cts. ($6 or $7), p. A. of 32 Ibs. would pay wages to 

 the workman. Since then the cost of living has increased, and without being able to 

 make anything like an exact calculation, I should think 20 cts., or $iop. A. of 32 Ibs., 

 would leave good wages, one year with another. The price has ranged much higher 

 than this. The export last year was 370,000 A. of 32 Ibs. each. 



It must be remembered that the Brazilian arroba is 32 Ibs. ; not like the Spanish, 

 28 Ibs. 



There are three qualities of rubber : 



Fina : The smoked rubber above described. 



Entre-fina : Sells for about $1.50 p. A. less than the fina. It has often a layer 

 of coagulated milk unsmoked, or it may have some adulteration or dirt. 



Sernamby consists of the thin skin which dries in the clay cups or trickles over and 

 hardens on the tree. These pieces are rolled in a ball and stuck together with un- 

 smoked milk. In the English markets it is called " negro head." It sells usually at a 

 difference from fina of say 10 cts., or $5 p. A. 



I may be permitted to say one word in reference to the effect produced upon the 

 condition of the people by the abundance of this valuable natural production. 



In my opinion it would be better for the people if the tree did not exist in its 

 native state. As it is not cultivated, the laborer does not see in its yearly growth the 

 increasing fruit of his industry. He is not, therefore, encouraged to industrious habits, 

 or induced to fix his habitation permanently on the soil that has become his own by 

 right of the labor he has bestowed on it, and which, in increasing value, he may trans- 

 mit to his children. On the contrary, he is tempted to neglect regular labor, to live 

 from hand to mouth as best he may through one-half of the year, looking to the rapid 

 gains of the rubber season for the payment of his debts. The surplus is for the most 

 part dissipated in orgies, and the most of the workmen leave the seringals with little 

 or nothing to show for their work. 



This, of course, would not be the case were the tree regularly cultivated after Mr. 

 Romero's idea. It remains to be seen whether such cultivation would compete in 

 cheapness with the natural product. I think it would where land can be had for the 

 asking. 



This, I believe, is all I can say to meet Mr. Romero's inquiries. If I mistake not, 

 I have already replied to most of the above questions in answer to a letter addressed 

 me by the Mexican Legation recently in New York. 



Very truly, JAMES B. BOND. 



NEW YORK, February 26, 1873. 

 M. ROMERO, ESQ., Mexico. 



DEAR SIR : 



I have much pleasure in acknowledging receipt of your kind favor of Dec. 2ist, 

 and of the Correo in which your report is published. I have no kind of objection to 

 the publicity given to the meagre information which I had it in my power to contribute, 

 and write now principally to say that on my recent visit to Para, from which place I 

 returned three days since, my friend, the U. S. Consul, placed in my hands a letter 



