DATE GARDENS IN NORTH AMERICA (SEE PAGE 291) 
is to be 'feared in some districts working 
Tnuch evil upon these helpless tribes, 
whom they have forced into a sort of 
slavery. Rubber has become an article 
■of great commercial value, and, as the 
owners of automobiles know, it has be- 
come a commodity in which there is a 
great deal of speculation and of which 
the price has latterly tended to rise. 
This enormous area is traversed by 
gigantic rivers, but the navigation of 
these rivers is interrupted at some 
points, and at some of the important 
points where it is interrupted engineers 
are at work constructing railroads. A 
year ago I had the pleasure of meeting 
an American engineer in Bolivia who 
was at work on the shore of one of these 
rivers for the purpose of opening up its 
territory by making a line from the lower 
navigable parts to the upper. This 
enormous region, almost as large as the 
United States, leaving out Alaska — for 
it includes a very large part of Brazil 
and large parts of Bolivia, Peru, Ecua- 
dor, Colombia, Paraguay, and Argen- 
tina — is very hot and it has a very wet 
climate. 
In the rainy seasons the great rivers 
that traverse it rise so that they flood 
279 
