96 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



The local or Para rubber is exported in 

 of the following weights : — 



Weight of Case 

 for Shipment. 

 Kilos. 



Islands — 



Fine and extra fine 

 Coarse 

 Cameta 



Tocantins, Caucho ball. 

 Up-river — 



Fine and extra fine... 



Coarse 

 • Caucho ball 



Caucho slab 



^Optional. 



Caucho slab is sometimes, I believe, shipped in 

 bulk in the slabs of raw rubber just as it is pre- 

 the forest from the trees. 



170 

 300 

 300 



160 to 170 ( i 



The area of the Consular District of Para is 

 given at 1,360,000 square miles, and the popu- 

 lation at 1,200,000 or less than 1 per square 

 mile. This division is equal in extent to one- 

 third of the whole of Brazil ; but owing to 

 rubber, it is by far the most productive 

 per head of population. The total value of all 

 Brazilian exports in 1905-06 equalled 8(54 mil- 

 lions of milreis or 34 per head of a population 

 of 254 millions. During this year the Amazon 

 Valley exported in value 2404 millions of milreis 

 or equal to 224 per head ! The Amazons is 

 known by the settlers as the Red-Mar or river 

 sea, or the Mediterranean of South America. 

 This grand system of inland navigation is not 

 explained by the great volume of freshwaters 

 coming clown in the Amazon ; but by tho sea 

 penetrating along the dead-level of the Amazon 

 Valley which extends from the Andes to the 

 Atlantic. At Manaos, 867 miles beyond the port 

 of Para, the Customhouse jetty is only 81 feet 

 above sea level ; but ocean-going vessels of 3,000 

 tons now navigate all the way to Iquitos in 

 Peru close upon 2,300 miles from the Atlantic: 

 and we read that Messrs. Booth & Co., Limited, 

 of Liverpool, can book passengers there not 

 only for Iquitos, but put them in the way of 

 1,000 more miles of navigation in launches and 

 canoes on Peruvian rivers beyond Iquitos, and 

 finally of crossing the Andes and descending 

 by railway to Lima on the West Coast. This 

 was done not long ago by an English gentleman, 

 his wife and a medical man who reached Lima 

 10 days after, leaving their canoe on the banks 

 of the riverPachetea. Sixty years ago, the great 

 bulk of the population were pure Indians, and 

 the "lingua general " (a composite tongue) was 

 almost universal. Today, pure Indians have 

 quite disappeared from the river and waterways 

 and are only to be found in small numbers far 

 in the interior; and Portuguese and a mixed 

 race, Indians and Negros, all speaking the Portu- 

 guese tongue, universally prevail throughout 

 the rubber regions. The actual rubber workers 

 are called " seringueiros." so-called from the 

 Portuguese term for the latex, which is " se- 

 ringa.' Wonderfully small is the band who 

 actually collect the enormous total of Amazonian 

 products put on the markets of the world, valued 

 in 1906 at £13,684,264. There is a constant How 

 of pure Portuguese as well as of Brazilians into 

 this Amazonian region ; but the population does 



not much increase, because of the heavy mort- 

 ality from yellow fever, especially. Para itself, 

 00 miles south of the equator, is a line tropical 

 city of from 130,000 to 180,000 people of whom 

 25,0.0 are pure Portuguese who hold all the 

 shops. Manaos has 52,000 people with a similar 

 proportion of Portuguese. In 1907, Para re- 

 corded 3,741 deaths against only 2,752 births. 

 The city has seme beautiful avenues, fine com- 

 mercial streets, charming squares and gardens, 

 and mango trees grow freely in the suburban 

 streets. Electric trams, lighting and gas are 

 due to British enterprise, there being 35 miles 

 of trams. Water supply in quality good ; quan- 

 tity sometimes runs short. Cost of living is 

 abnormally high. At one time rice was exported 

 from the Amazon region : now rice is imported 

 and sells very high. 



In 1850, the State of Para had only 16,000 

 people : the increase is solely due to Rubber. 

 The first record of this product in export 

 occurs in 1830, when 156 tons were shipped. 

 In 1840 this had risen to 388, and in 1850 to 

 1.467 tons. In 1861 the export was 2,118 tons, 

 in 1870 it equalled 6,591, in 1880 the figure 

 was 8,679, and in 1890 16,394 tons ; while here 

 is the latest return given in the Consular- 

 Report : — 



In 1897-98 these figures had increased to 

 22,218 tons and in 1899-1900 to 28,695 tons. 



The figures for subsequent years are as 

 follows :— 



The following figures — 1900-08— represent the 

 total export from all the Amazon region, and 

 include rubber from the Acre Federal terri- 

 tory, Peru and Bolivia. 



Total Rubber Exports from Amazon Valley 

 during the Years 1900 07. 

 Crop year — Tons. 



27,650 

 29,971 



1900- 01 



1901- 02 



1902- 03 

 1903 04 



1904- 05 



1905- 00 



1906- 07 



1907- 08 



32,590 



34,680 

 37.540 

 36,200a 



a The figures for April, May and June, 1908, 

 are only estimated to arrive at this total. 



Next, we may quote remarks following on 

 figures for consumption which have a peculiar 

 significance to Eastern planters of rubber : — 



It is estimated that the quantity of rubber 

 annually used in the world's industries re- 

 presents a value of 25,000,000/. The annual 

 consumption has been for the last four years 

 as follows : — 



Tons. 



1903 ... ... 50,384 



1904 ... ... 55,275 



1905 ... ... 61,397 



1906 ... ... 65, 000« 



a Estimated. 



When it is reflected that almost the whole 

 of this great quantity represents a production 

 from non-cultivated sources, it is legitimate to 



