done with the necessary care, and if the weight has been affected 
by water, or by any other extraneous body. 
If the rubber presents itself with an uniform aspect, per- 
fectly smoked and sufficiently elastic, it is classed ‘‘fina.” If, 
however, any points present spongy parts proceeding from 
coagulation of the latex anterior to the smoking process, it is 
styled “entre-fina.” To the agglomeration of residue which con- 
geals freely, the name of “sernamby”’ is given. 
There is still the ‘“borracha fraca” little elastic, whose 
mercantile value is put in the same category as “sernamby” and 
which does not come from the latex of the hevea. 
This work being finished, the rubber is bought in accordance 
with the quotations of the day, based upon prices coming from 
England and from the United States, but as has already been 
explained, this quotation is not always respected. 
There is another anomaly to which it is advisable to refer: 
whilst the “entre-fina” and the sernamby are quoted abroad at 
least at 200 réis and 1$800 réis less than the “fina” the markets 
of Belém and Manaos show a difference of 800 réis and 2$000. 
There are other abuses which also take place in the classify- 
ing of the rubber, which gives as a result that the buyers prefer 
to do business upon inferior qualities, because these offer a 
larger margin for profits. 
The rubber is exported in American pineboxes which can 
hold nearly 150 Kilos. The dearness of manual labor in the 
Amazon territory makes it difficult to take advantage of the 
innumerable species of timber-woods in which the valley of the 
great river is so abundantly rich. 
In the remaining markets of the country where the rubber is 
negotiated, the price is regulated by the quotations in Para. 
These local markets are of little importance and in nothing do 
they distinguish themselves as to the relative transactions in 
rubber, from the general mass of business. The class of aviadores 
or merchant-trader does not exist. Each producer sends his 
stock to his agent or representative or sells it to the first buyer. 
The rubber is collected from either manigoba or mangabeira. 
In the commerce of those products, the markets of Bahia and 
Fortaleza stand out the most prominently, to which places a cer- 
tain appreciable portion of cultivated plantation rubber converges 
every year besides a great quantity of native rubber. 
37 
