Gums, Resins, 



106 



[August, 1910. 



cultivation to the notice of the planting 

 community. The plauters, once realising 

 the possibilities of this new undertaking, 

 took it up with their characteristic 

 energy and daring and have already 

 brought it to a surprisingly successful 

 issue with bright' prospects opening 

 ahead. Thus as a nation we have taken 

 the lead in this new cultivation. May 

 we not lose our hold upon it through 

 paying too much heed to immediate 

 gains, and too little thought to the more 

 distant future ! 



The subject has further an imperial 

 aspect. The foundations have now been 

 truly laid for making the British Empire 

 before long self-supporting in regard to 

 this valuable raw material. 



PARA, MAN AOS AND THE AMAZON. 



By H. 0. Pearson, 

 Editor of the India Rubber World. 



(From the India Rubber World, Vol. 

 XLII., No. 2, May, 1910.) 



The first letter is a description of the 

 voyage, and of Barbados, 



Second Letter. 



Travel in a Boat Consecrated to Rub- 

 ber. — The Lower Amazon and the 

 Approach to Para.— Vast Waterways 

 and the Perils of Navigating them. — Ex- 

 perience with Customs Officials. — Land- 

 iug Right in the Rubber District, and 

 Landing "Right." — Courtesies at Para. 



Our craft was first and last a rubber 

 boat and had carried millions of dollars' 

 worth of fine Para to the States and to 

 Europe— $4,000,000 in one cargo. Almost 

 from the beginning the Captain and 

 officers talked rubber. They spoke with 

 pride of Riker's plantation up at Santa- 

 rem, and said he had 50,000 trees and 

 was already tapping. Posted in the 

 chart room was the following : 



Shipments of Rubber in Manaos, 

 Para and other Ports. 



Special notice to Captains and Officers. 



.We desire to call the special attention 

 of our Captains and officers to the fact 

 that for some time past rubber cargoes 

 have come forward with the weights in 

 kilos incorrectly marked in many of the 

 cases, the result being that whenever 

 these cases are landed here broken, the 

 vessel is invariably called upon for the 

 deficiency between the foreign and the 

 English weight. 



We therefore insist upon the utmost 

 care being taken in receiving and stow- 

 ing this description of cargo so that the 



cases stand no possible chance of being 

 broken, and that a thorough search for 

 loose rubber be made in all lighters 

 before being taken away from vessel. 



It is also important that very special 

 attention be given to port of destination 

 on cases of rubber from Havre, and that 

 shipments of pelles and other loose 

 rubber belonging to various consignees 

 be entirely separate ; different holds 

 preferred. 



Great care must be taken in the 

 storage of nuts and Lisbon cargo, that 

 the immediate discharge of rubber in 

 Havre and Liverpool be not interfered 

 with. This is very important. 



We had been in the mouth of the 

 Amazon for certainly twelve hours, and 

 the yellow waves gave no suggestion of 

 saltness. We told each other the ancient 

 tale of the boat's crew perishing from 

 thirst hailing a passing vessel and beg- 

 ging for water, and getting the well- 

 known reply, " Dip it up then ; you are 

 in the mouth of the Amazon." We never 

 realised what a mean trick was played on 

 those thirsty mariners until we got a 

 deckhand to dip up some water. It was 

 exceedingly brackish and far from drink- 

 able. 



At nightfall it began to rain in tor- 

 rents, and we felt our way up to the 

 pilot boat, which lay rolling in the 

 trough of the sea in a manner that 

 suggested the greatest discomfort to 

 those on board- After a time a boat put 

 off from her side and we saw it jerkily 

 advancing over the waves to meet us. 

 That is we don't see the boat — it was too 

 dark for that; we saw the gleam of a 

 lantern at intervals when it rode on the 

 crest of a wave. The pilot, a huge two 

 hundred-pound Indian, caught the side 

 ladder and climbed aboard with sur- 

 prising agility. 



After about half an hour's steady steam- 

 ing, through sheets of rain illumined by 

 occasional lightning flashes, with the 

 lead going constantly, we anchored in 

 fifteen fathoms of water to wait for day- 

 light before proceeding up the river. At 

 five o'clock the next morning we started 

 on again, and soon it was daylight. The 

 yellowish green water had taken on a 

 deeper yellow and the morning was a 

 mixture of rain squalls and short inter- 

 vals of sunshine. The Tocantins looked 

 like one of our own great lakes after a 

 storm. In all directions were floating 

 forest wreckage and marsh grasses, and 

 in the far distance the low-lying coastline 



Soon we began to see the fishing boats 

 of typical Portuguese construction, fitted 

 with, sails, dark brown, red and blue. 

 As we got further up the river the water 



