December, 1910.] 



485 



Saps and Exudations. 



in regular rows and were big and lusty. 

 I had heard only the day before, from 

 one well versed in rubber, that the 

 Hevea brasiliensis would not grow up 

 the Negro. Yet here it was. This 

 planting, 20 feet above the water as it 

 then stood, was subject to inundations 

 and apparently suffered no harm, while 

 further up the slope were trees equally 

 large and healthy that were above high 

 water mark. The Botanist of our party 

 soon discovered a borer beetle that was 

 industriously puncturing many of the 

 trees, and we all fell to and helped him 

 to coax larvae out of their holes for 

 later entomological examination. If I 

 know anything about the Botanist, and 

 I think I do, he will make that parti- 

 cular breed of beetle sorry that it ever 

 tackled rubber trees. 



Later we visited the comfortable 

 ranch houses, saw them make cassava, 

 admired the beautiful flower gardens, 

 filled our pockets with Hevea nuts, and 

 turned toward our boat and Manaos. It 

 was on this excursion that we tried 

 " cupussu," a drink made from a creamy 

 pulpy fruit that is deliciously refreshing. 

 The proper way to imbibe it is to slowly 

 sip a goblet of it, then swallow half a 

 pint of gin to head off the cramps, then 

 a cup of black coffee to head off the gin. 

 One of our party who despised gin and 

 did not care for coffee was the busiest 

 man in all ' Brazil for 24 hours after 

 finishing his goblet. 



The Products op Amazonia. 



Perhaps the most interesting of the 

 sights in Manaos was the double exhibi- 

 tion of Amazonia produsts, I call it 

 double, because there was first a rubber 

 exhibition arranged by the Commercial 

 Association for those attending the Con- 

 gress, and in the same building a varied 

 collection of native products that were 

 to go to the World's Pair at Brussels. 

 In the former were specimens of fine 

 and coarse Para rubber, of caucbo, and 

 a great pelle of rather sticky rubber 

 from the Hevea guyanensis. One enter- 

 prising and wealthy seringuero had 

 prepared block, crepe, and pancake rub- 

 ber after the fashion of the preparation 

 in the Par East, and it was certainly as 

 good as any plantation rubber in the 

 world. There were also gathered and 

 shown all of the tapping and coagulating 

 tools and utensils used in Brazilian 

 rubber gathering. 



What the country had done agricul- 

 turally and industrially was shown in 

 the wonderful exhibits of cereals, tex- 

 tiles, coffee, cocoa, and woods of all 

 degrees of hardness, beauty of polish 



and variety of grain. There was also 

 ornate feather work, gorgeous native 

 embroideries, and wonderful hammocks. 



These exhibitions were opened by the 

 Governor in person, and all came in 

 frock coats and tall hats. As each 

 visitor entered the door, the Police 

 Band, which was lying in wait in an 

 alcove, burst forth with a brazen crash 

 of welcome, while the new comer, trying 

 to look dignified and free from self- 

 consciousness, wabbled through the 

 vestibule and lost himself in the crowd 

 where he could watch the next fellow 

 do the same thing. 



Conditions op Living in Manaos. 



I do not find the heat too oppressive. 

 It got up into the 90's sometimes, and 

 there was the usual fight against the 

 mildew which proved it to be somewhat 

 damp. Mine host, his wife, and the baby 

 all came down with severe colds while I 

 was there, which I believe was wholly 

 due to the dampness. I do not expect to 

 make Manaos my permanent residence, 

 although one might do worse, bub if I do, 

 my sleeping quarters will be on the 

 second floor, and not on the ground floor, 

 for that is where one takes cold, and a 

 cold once taken in the tropics is as hard 

 to cure as a sprained disposition. 



Another thing, every window and door 

 in my home should have screens, even if 

 none other in city followed suit. The 

 yellow fever mosquito is a city dweller, 

 and if he was driven out of Panama by 

 screening and by a little sanitation, he 

 can be out of Manaos. The Government 

 is alive to it, but the people, foreigners 

 and all, seem indifferent. While I was 

 there the Inspector Sanitorio sent out a 

 circular illustrated with pictures of 

 mosquitos, which was passed from house 

 to house. It was, however, in Portu- 

 guese, and I was unable to decide 

 whether the Culex, kneeling in prayerful 

 attitude, or the Anopheles, standing on 

 its head as if to turn a joyful somersault, 

 was the one to avoid. 



At first I kept close tabs on the death- 

 rate in the daily papers through my 

 companion. I showed him the Portu- 

 guese word for fever, and his statistics 

 grew larger day by day. Finally, I dis- 

 covered that he believed that Fevereiro 

 (February) meant fever. Therefore, if 

 it happened to be the 20th of the month, 

 dispatches of the day before would ap- 

 pear throughout the paper '• Fevereiro 

 19." Adding them up he got a daily 

 death-rate of something like 350, and 

 sure to increase to the end of the month. 

 It speaks much for his self poise that he 

 was not at all startled, even if I was. 



