944 
Mr. Churchill continues: “The great demand for rubber and 
the ever-increasing prices for it have the natural nm of m: 
the bulk of the people to this remunerative indus 
he demand for rubber continues the ccna as ; regards iie 
[oe el of deriociitiivad industry will be comparatively 
insignifican 
It follows shit the rich lands of the Amazon valley are practically 
untouched except to tap the wild rubber trees growing upon them. 
Non rly all the necessaries of life are imported from other countries. 
The town of Para or Belem the headquarters of the great rubber 
industry of the Amazon HERR is on the right bank of the river 
Guama and about 100 miles from the sea 
It is not on the banks of Á Amazons, but is connected with the 
latter by a labyrinth of narrow channels through which passes all 
the shipping between the outer world and the numerous 
i inland. T i 
comm: ctically the whole Am region and the 
peace) where is transacted the Ein Titii rn bot per i in 
the world. 
gei ing to Mr. Churchill, during the year 1897, the dis- 
tribution of Amazonian rubber from Para was as follows :— 
Zaiid Kingdom in VA ie 8,843 tons. 
Fra ii i i 2010- 
Ital M^ Am n 05... 
U. S. America bet eR ee Be. lu 
Total ica MEME. ses 
LOCALITY, SOIL, AND CLIMATE. 
Para is in about south latitude 1°, but the district of the same 
Northern Brazil the rubber trees are abundantly found. The 
climate has been often described and is remarkable for its uni- 
formity of temperatyre, usually not exceeding 87° F. at mid-day 
or below 74° at night. The greatest heat recorded is 95°, and the 
mean for the year is 81°. 
The rainfall occurs principally eben the months from ery 
to June, the maxi cimum eing in April when it reaches 15 inches 
wet seaso 
the dry. The in country is covered with dense moist forests, 
and the soil near the numerous and gigantic rivers is deep, 
heavy, and very Medo. During the wet season much of the low- 
lying country near the Amazon’s mouths is flooded. _In the due 
with lad a low A filled with a ES gk D mad. The 
forest here, in which caoutchouc-collecting was ec rousl 
on, was 80 or 100 feet high, and very damp and unhealthy, pis 
