OumSt Resins, 



388 



[November, 1910. 



The launch turned back and we en- 

 tered the dim tree-shaded channel. In 

 some places it was so narrow that there 

 was barely room for the oars ; in other 

 places it was from 10 to 20 feet wide. 

 The water was the same yellow brown 

 tint that the whole Amazon affects. 

 From the start we saw rubber trees — old 

 settlers that had been tapped for gener- 

 ations, their trunks swollen, scarred 

 and disfigured by thousands of macha- 

 dinho strokes. Often pole stages had 

 been erected about them, crude contri- 

 vances to allow the rubber gatherer to 

 reach hitherto untapped surfaces, 



Here I saw for the first time the curious 

 little surface swimming fish, with a 

 pair of bulging eyes in the top of the 

 head to view the upper world, and 

 another pair underneath to view the 

 nether world. 



As we got further into the island the 

 waterway broadened. We passed many 

 little river huts, and occasionally met a 

 canoe whose occupants courteously and 

 gravely bade us bom diet. The curv- 

 ing stream, fringed with palms, huge 

 " Mocco-mocco " plants with white calla 

 like blossoms, and great seiba trees, was 

 wonderfully beautiful. 



Of animal life we saw little ; of birds 

 there were parrots and hawks ; of 

 animals, one black monkey ; and of 

 insects, great blue butterflies, and one 

 huge bird catching spider as big as a 

 saucer. 



As we were emerging to the river on 

 the other side of the island a sudden 

 shower fell, and we all held a tarpaulin 

 above our heads until it was over, It 

 was then that my companion exclaimed 

 that a wasp had stung him. The wound 

 didn't look like a bee sting, as there 

 were two little punctures, close together. 

 Being on the back of his hand he was 

 advised to suck it as a precaution, which 

 he did, and no inflammation followed. 



The rain having ceased, the tarpaulin 

 was put away, when somebody said 

 " there goes a centipede," and we caught 

 a fleeting glimpse of something that 

 looked like an elongated earwig which 

 ran into the Visiting Manufacturer's 

 pocket. It was rather a trying experi- 

 ence, but he never turned hair and sat 

 perfectly calm, while the Exporter with 

 a pair of small scissors very gingerly 

 turned the pocket inside out, but did 

 not find a cent or a pede, either. A 

 moment later the insect was discovered 

 in the fold in his trousers, and very 

 dexterously nipped with the scissors and 

 thrown overboard. Then we all breath- 

 ed a sigh of relief, for the bite, though 

 not dangerous, is apt to give one fever 

 for a few days. 



Dr. Huber and the Musee Goeldi, 



I had visited the Musee Goeldi many 

 times while in Para, and each time was 

 more impressed with the natural wonders 

 of Brazil, The museum is crowded with 

 birds, insects, reptiles, animals or, rather 

 their carefully preserved cadavers— and 

 a week of careful looking would not 

 enable one to observe in detail a half of 

 what is there. The result is the visitor 

 goes away with a misty and mixed re- 

 collection of moths as big as shingles, 

 flies the size of one's hand, beetles bigger 

 than mice, great lizards, monstrous 

 alligators, and snakes of all sizes, colored 

 in infinite variety. Birds grotesque, 

 birds beautiful ; animals unbelievably 

 strange, and fish of such infinite variety 

 that imagination itself pauses helpless 

 in stunned surprise. 



In cages, dens and enclosures surround- 

 ing the museum buildings are also 

 housed a goodly number of living re- 

 presentatives of those in the cases 

 inside. Not that I spent all my time 

 either in the museum or the zoological 

 garden, for there is the botanic garden 

 also. And furthermore there is Dr. 

 Jacques Huber, who knows more about 

 the Hevea species than anyone else in 

 the world, who has gathered many of the 

 typical sorts about him, and is steadily 

 observing them day by day as they 

 develop into mature trees. 



The doctor by the way, in the course 

 of many conversations, suggested a new 

 theory for the greater " nerve " in 

 smoked rubber than appears in the un- 

 smoked. He explained that a pelle, from 

 the time it is formed, undergoes a 

 natural, continuous, solidifying pressure, 

 caused by the evaporation of the water 

 from the outside layers and their con- 

 sequent contraction. Unsmoked rubber, 

 on the other hand, put up either in 

 sheet or rectangular block form, experi- 

 ences no such pressure. The theory 

 seemed to me worthy of note. I re- 

 member that in Panama, in gathering 

 Castilloa rubber, we rigged some crude 

 presses to get the water out, and in some 

 instances, where the rubber was left tor 

 a long time, its strength was greatly 

 enhanced. 



As I have said, the worthy Doctor 

 knows the Heveas. He has quietly, 

 patiently, and persistently specialised 

 on them for years. And it was with 

 exceeding interest that I heard him state 

 that the Hevea brasiliensis is, after all, 

 the one producer of really high grade 

 rubber. He knew them all from the 

 Brasiliensis to the Spruceana, and 

 named twenty varieties and their 

 characteristics off hand. One that was 

 new to me was the Randiana, named 



