Gums, Resins, 



484 



[December, 1910. 



the rainy season the river rises from 30 

 to 40 feet, and this was why the company 

 that had the concession to build docks 

 passed so many sleepless nights. They 

 have finally anchored huge floating docks 

 a little way off the shore, and when the 

 river rises pay out the anchored cables 

 so that the dock rises with it. Goods 

 are sent ashore from these docks on long 

 aerial cables. I was told that it costs 38 

 cents to transfer each case of rubber 

 from the pier to the dock. Not a long 

 journey, but expensive when one consi- 

 ders that that is just about what it would 

 cost to ship the same case from New 

 York to Australia. 



Nostalgia is a peculiar disease, and 

 calls for strange remedies. I got rid of 

 my mild attack by visiting the rubber 

 and gazing upon the likeness of rubber 

 men in the States. As a finish I paid 80 

 cents for one pound of American apples 

 and was cured. 



I was pretty busy, for the Rubber 

 Congress was on, and the meetings were 

 exceedingly interesting. As the detail- 

 ed story of that great Convention has 

 already been told, lam going to confine 

 myself to the more personal narrative. 

 For example, the visit of four of us to 

 the Bosque — the very extensive experi- 

 ment station on the outskirts of the city. 

 We went in carriages as far as we could, 

 then up to the broad plateau where the 

 planting was done. There were some 

 thousands of Hevea trees planted in 

 partial shade in paths cut throughout 

 the jungle. They were doing nicely, and 

 although it will take them a trifle longer 

 to mature, I believe the planting will be 

 most successful. We also examined a 

 large planting of bananas. As this fruit 

 brings 8 milreis a bunch in the field, this 

 experiment also should be most success- 

 ful. 



Then we explored. Walking through 

 wonderfully beautiful forest paths ; down 

 by the old waterworks with its big 

 cement tanks now abandoned, into the 

 great forest park that one of the former 

 governors had projected. Other and 

 more needed improvements had received 

 the city's money, and the jungle was 

 rapidly and effectually recovering its 

 own. Outside of the park we hunted 

 for wild Heveas, but found only the 

 guyanensis. There was also a vine 

 which we could not identify, full of a 

 very sticky rubber latex. 



In Manaos the labourers are practically 

 of the same type as in Para, except that 

 the Indian mixture seems a little more 

 evident. One is nearer the great wild 

 tribes of the upper rivers, so that the 

 blowguu with its poisoned arrows, neck- 



laces of human teeth, and feather head- 

 dresses are often brought in. Occasion- 

 ally,too,specimens of the real wild Indian 

 may be seen. A young Englishman 

 whom I met had spent some mouths up 

 in the Putamayo district and brought 

 down with him a nine-year-old boy as a 

 body servant who was a veritable sav- 

 age. Friendly and smiling he was when 

 all went right, a murderous little tiger 

 it things went wrong. He would accept 

 reproof from his master, but from no 

 one else. One day a man servant struck 

 him, and his master returned two hours 

 later to find the boy sitting in the court- 

 yard, a loaded Winchester across his 

 knees, and all the servants hidden in a 

 hastily barricaded room from which 

 they dared not emerge. Had the offen- 

 der shown himself the boy would 

 certainly have shot him. 



A Commercial Leader. 



The President of the Commercial Asso- 

 ciation, although he bore a German name, 

 was not phlegmatic. Indeed, he had 

 abjured Teutonia and was a Brazilian 

 of the Brazilians. Athlete, sportsman, 

 bon vivant, business man, he defied cli- 

 mate and care, was always on the move 

 and kept others moving also. It was he 

 who charted the Supremo., a typical 

 little river steamer, and took a few of 

 us up to the Rio Negro for a day's jaunt. 



The " black river " for miles and miles 

 up into the interior is nothing less than 

 a chain of great lakes, and my host un- 

 folded a weird scheme for navigating it 

 my means of boat aeroplans, which, like 

 gigantic flying fish, should skip from 

 lake to another. He made it appear 

 quite feasible, and if such a thing is ever 

 done will be just the one to furnish the 

 courage and dash to put it through. 



Our first pleasurable experience on 

 this voyage was breakfast served on an 

 ingenious table, which, when not in use, 

 folded its legs, rose to the ceiling and 

 hung high above our heads. The meal 

 was excellent— a freshly caught river 

 fish, a wonderful salad, fruit, and coffee. 



Out of sight and sound of the city the 

 solitude was oppressive. It may have 

 been that the jungle covered shores 

 that lost their charm, or — and this is 

 more likely — it may have been the total 

 absence of bird and animal life for 

 which the Rio Negro is noted. 



Soon we entered an estuary, and after 

 an hour or more of steady steaming 

 sighted a clearing that indicated our 

 near approach to "Paradizo" ranch. 

 Hardly had we got ashore before we 

 saw rubber trees, and many of them. 

 Much to my surprise they were planted 



