price was kept up high, much above that which might be called 
a remunerative price, that inversion of the law of economics is 
a very curious one, because, in this case, it is not the producer 
who imposes the price, but the buyer who does so. ; 
The difficulties which the merchant-trader had to fight 
against, have been increased lately with the advent of the 
“regat6es,” a species of barter-commission travelers on the rivers. 
This ‘trade is exercised by individuals acting for their own ac- 
count or as agents of the merchants and who go up the rivers 
with merchandise, doing business at sight in exchange for 
money or rubber, diverting in this way a large part of the trans- 
actions until now exercised through the inter-medium of the 
merchant-traders. 
The principal causes of the precarious position of the 
“aviadores” or merchant-traders are the lack of adequate capital 
and the want of banking facilities and other establishments of 
credit which might come to their aid. 
The export houses, however, operate with the greatest firm- 
ness. They discount the drafts for the rubber bought, in the 
agencies of the English banks, and with the product of this 
operation pay the merchant-traders, and as these drafts are at 
90 days sight, it is only after the rubber is sold in New York 
or in Liverpool that they satisfy their indebtedness, thus traffick- 
ing almost covered from any risk whatsoever. 
The aviador or merchant-trader receives the rubber by the 
weight which it shows at the moment of being unloaded; if the 
trip is a long one the shortage in weight of the rubber may be 
as much as 15 per cent.; if, on the other hand, there has been 
no time, owing to the shortness of the trip, for such a-thing to 
happen, it is certain that on its being magazined or stored-up, 
it will continue to quebrar, i. e., diminish in weight. Thus, there- 
fore, it is to the interest of all parties concerned to sell it and 
export it as soon after its arrival as possible, which, however, 
does not mean to say that the question of shortage is not an 
element which comes into play in making the estimate of its 
yalue. 
The classifying of the rubber is done upon the occasion of 
its sale, this being an operation which necessitates a long ex- 
perience and practice in the knowledge of the article. 
Two workmen with iron instruments which they call “gatos,” 
take hold of the skin (smoke-cured roll or ball) by the orifice 
which is left in its shape on its being made, at the same time that 
a third workman cuts it down the middle with a sharp instru- 
ment called a “tracado.” By this means it is easy to ascertain 
if the manufacture of the internal coatings or layers has’ been 
‘36 
