August, 1910.] 



107 



Saps and Exudations. 



became calmer. Did I mention that it 

 was growing warmer all the time ? It 

 certainly was hot, and those who were 

 to remain on board the boat dining its 

 stay in port were already getting out 

 mosquito bars. The captain explained to 

 me the reason for anchoring the night 

 before. It seems that this coast is afflict- 

 ed with unusual and strong currents. 

 He pointed out a bank which a huge 

 freight steamer skirted by unlucky 

 chance one dark night, running her 

 bilge keel upon it, and turned turtle 

 almost instantly. Then, too, he showed 

 us the reefs where only a short time 

 before another huge freighter had been 

 wrecked, the captain blowing out his 

 brains when be found his vessel was a 

 total loss. Soon we sighted some of the 

 many islands with which the waterway 

 is fllle d, and then almost at once got our 

 first glimpse of the water front of the 

 great Rubber City. 



In coming on to Para everything is in 

 so large a scale that one gets no idea at 

 all of the wonderful configuration of the 

 country. The view is confined to wide 

 expanses of muddy water, low shores, 

 densely overgrown with tropical forests, 

 and a few islands. A bird's eye view 

 would show islands big and little by the 

 ..thousands, rivers of all sizes coming in 

 I rom every point of the compass, almost; 

 creeks, lagoons, waterways, the whole 

 lower country a gigantic plaiu rising 

 but a few feet above tide level, sparsely 

 settled, the riot of vegetation crowding 

 every inch of space, and even stretching 

 far out into the quiet earth-laden 

 waters. 



We passed in safety the little Portu- 

 guese built fort that guards the entrance 

 to the habour, skirted the shore where 

 the great plant of the Port of Para is 

 located, and finally dropped anchor 

 about a mile from the piers. When the 

 great tropical contractors, the Pearsons, 

 finish their work, Para will have a fine 

 system of granite quays, at which 

 steamers may discharge and load, and 

 passengers go ashore over a gangplank. 

 Until this is done, cargoes are handled 

 in huge» lighters covered with movable 

 sheet iron awnings, and passengers go 

 ashore in launches, tugs or row-boats. 



I had heard many stories of the vigi- 

 lance of the customs officials, and that 

 everything paid duty. I, therefore, 

 took only hand baggage for the first 

 trip ashore, and even then would have 

 had trouble with the camera had not a 

 Smoking Room Friend explained in 

 profuse Portuguese that I was inti- 

 mately connected with the intendents 

 (mayor) and had come from New York 



purposely to get his photograph. Both 

 federal and state customs officers, who 

 were aboard almost as soon as the anchor 

 was down, passed me at that. They don't 

 take any chances, however ; a passenger 

 going ashore even for a tew minutes 

 cannot return to his boat without a 

 permit from a shore official, and one's 

 luggage may remain in the custom house 

 until the Amazon freezes over, if the 

 officials do not choose to bestir them- 

 selves. At least so everybody says. 

 To finish my own custom house exper- 

 iences, a newspaper friend went next 

 day, picked out my luggage, got it 

 passed and up to the hotel within two 

 -hours. He did this by reading again 

 and again to the bored official a personal 

 estimate of the Editor of the India 

 Rubber World that he himself had 

 caused to be put in the daily papers. In 

 self defence the customs man marked 

 the luggage. 



The shore tug on which we embarked 

 took us within a hundred yards of the 

 shore and then tied up to one of the 

 huge lighters, where we were to be 

 transferred to a small rowboat. We 

 saw a couple of porters jump on the 

 lighter, walk around its shelf-like edge, 

 and disappear on their way to shore. 

 Rather than wait for the boat, I 

 followed and svished I hadn't, for the 

 other side of the lighter was made fast 

 to what was once a long wooden pier, 

 but the planking having all been 

 removed, there remained au uneven, 

 rotting nail studded skeleton with the 

 yellow water looking surprisingly dirty 

 and deep underneath it, I got ashore 

 all right, but the broiling sun and my 

 exertions put me iu a perspiration that 

 would fill a Turkish bath attendant 

 with envy. 



We landed right in the rubber district. 

 There was rubber everywhere, on the 

 sidewalks, iu the streets, on trucks, in 

 the great storehouses and in the air — 

 that is, the smell of it. We didn't pause 

 to see the rubber men then, however, 

 but went up a narrow street to the 

 electric car lirie, swung aboard, and 

 were soon at the the Cafe Da Paz and 

 located in a comfortable room. 



Breakfast is at 12 o'clock, noon, in 

 Para, and while I was enjoying that 

 meal, I took occasion to chat with au 

 American commercial traveller who 

 came to Brazil once a year. It makes 

 me proud always to see evidences of 

 Americau enterprise in foreign countries, 

 so I asked him a few questions. 



"Do many commercial travellers 

 strike this port ? " 



