The descent of the floating material by the rivers is much 
less onerous, as the consumption of combustibles is thereby con- 
siderably diminished, thanks to the current which gives an easy 
impulsion to the floating material; the trips are notwithstanding 
slow, much time being lost in picking up cargo, almost exclu- 
sively rubber, on the banks of the rivers. 
The irregularity in the navigation either due to the deficiency 
of the floating. material or by the natural obstacles that the 
flooding of the rivers bring about, cause extensive prejudice, as 
it obliges the large cargoes of merchandise upon whose price 
‘high interest is collected and occasions them considerable loss 
_of goods deteriorated by their remaining for a long time in sheds 
-and by the damaging effect of heat and dampness. 
' From thence arises the lamentable dearness of life and the 
bad alimentation, with their evil results on the health of the 
inhabitants of those far-away-regions. 
The retention in the seringaes of large stocks of rubber de- 
prived of the means of transport must also not be forgotten and 
its coming simultaneously on to the market at certain times, 
being taken advantage of by speculators is an important cause 
of the fall in prices which affects the interests of producres to 
an appreciable degree. 
Regularity and frequency in navigation, permitting successive 
and regular supplies of rubber would diminish in notable pro- 
. portions the cost of production, since it would cheapen the cost 
of labor and avoid the great oscillations usual in the prices. 
In order to obtain that desideratum it is not sufficient’ to 
create new lines of navigation. nor to augment the number of 
floating material or better their conditions, but it is necessary 
to adopt certain complementary measures. Thus in the im- 
possibility of preparing from the outset minute hydrographic 
charts, a measure which would require great expenditure ; it were 
advisable in order to make navigation more secure to indicate 
by means of small light houses and illuminated buoys of acety- 
line, the dangerous points which it is desirable to avoid. 
In order to obviate the difficulties created by the formation 
of sand banks, by the accumulation of trunks of trees, and of 
obstacles of all kinds, it is necessary ‘that attention be. paid con- 
stantly to the cleansing of the rivers’ and dragging them, in 
cases where the obstructions cannot be removed by other means 
‘and the construction of railways and wagon roads connecting 
the navigable points. 
:It would be of the greatest utility to bring about the exten- 
sion and. opening up of telegraphic lines joining the producing 
centrés with the central markets, such measures would have 
‘the most beneficient results as much for the owners of seringaes 
31 
