579 



there are no provisions on the ground, and on the Beni i under- 

 stand that the proprietors of rubber camps are obliged to import 

 a good quantity of food products. If it is suggested that farm 

 laborers be colonized to cultivate crops for food supplies, I can only 

 ask who is going to do the colonizing, and where are the colonists 

 to come from ? The native population will prefer to lead the lives 

 that they have been accustomed to and will be next to impossible 

 to control by foreigners who do not understand their ways. If they 

 are able to earn as much at cultivating beans and farina as they can 

 at cutting rubber, the crops which they grow will not be cheaper 

 than imported food. There are no European peoples who can 

 stand working in the climate of the Amazon valley. Something 

 might be done with coolies, but it is a difficult matter to arrange 

 with the Government of British India for their introduction into 

 South America. There has been talk of importing Chinese, but 

 they would likely all turn traders and desert the rubber camps. 



" I am convinced, therefore, that for a good while to come the 

 safest way to deal in rubber is through the establishment of trading 

 houses at the principal centres, as at present, and buying such 

 rubber as may reach the market, from whatever source.'' 



In answer to a question as to whether the existing rubber fields 

 on the Amazon were showing indications of becoming exhausted, 

 Air. Witt said : 



" All the fields which yield rubber other than Caucho still seem 

 to produce the usual output. It is probable, however, that in some 

 districts on the Lower Amazon, the trees have ceased to yield, and 

 the fact that more rubber has been shipped this season from the 

 State of Para than last season may be due«to the fact that the rub- 

 ber workers have gone into new territory. In some cases, the men 

 may have worked harder, as we call it, forced by the low rubber 

 prices ruling now. The increasing total production of the Amazon 

 Valley is due, of course to the general widening of the district gone 

 over in the search for rubber. 



" One thing which indicates that the trees in the districts which 

 have longest been worked are becoming less productive, is a fact 

 that the rate of shrinkage in the Islands rubber received at Para 

 gradually becomes greater, i remember that in 1885, a shrinkage 

 of 6 per cent, was expected in Islands rubber and the ra'e has 

 gradually increased until now a shrinkage of 14 per cent, or even 

 more, is not unusual. And meanwhile there has been no impor- 

 tant improvement in means of transportation between the Islands 

 districts and Para. Evidently, there is a smaller percentage of 

 solid rubber in the milk than when the trees were fresher, and with 

 the same amount of smoking as formerly more moisture is retained 

 in the rubber to be lost during shipment. In other words, while 

 the trees apparently yield as much milk as formerly, the real pro- 

 duction of rubber per tree is less."' 



Mr. WlTT spoke of the rapid exhaustion of Caucho in all the 

 districts where the Peruvians went in search of it, and it was his 

 impression that the trade of Iquitos, largely based upon Caucho, 

 was not, for this reason, showing any increase. There was a pos- 



