THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1889. 
lects the sap into a large tin bucket, which is then 
carried to the smoking place and deposited in an im- 
mense copper cauldron. For the smoking fire certain 
substances are greatly preferred to others, probably be- 
cause of some curdling ferment which the smoke con- 
tains. The most preferable is the fruit of the muticu 
palm! This is an abundant species in most sections, 
and exceedingly useful. Its leaves serve for thatching, 
its bark fibres for cordage, its tender heart portion for 
making an excellent salad, and from its nuts is ex- 
pressed an oil which is valued as a substitute for 
butter, and which is said to have no rival as a dressing 
for the hair. . t 
Next to these the smoker prizes the outer husk ot the 
Brazil nut. In any case he inverts over the fire a large 
earthen bowl so as to exclude the air. A small opening 
is made for the exit of the dense smoke which results. 
The sap in its original condition exactly resembles milk, 
and indeed it is a true milk in its composition. Fatal 
accidents have resulted from this dangerous resem- 
blance, for the milk taken into the stomach soon be- 
comes converted into a mass of rubber. Into tbe 
cauldron he dips a small wooden paddle, shaped like a 
spoon, but with plain surface. In an instant he has 
the dripping utensil over the column of smoke, turning it 
skilfully and rapidly so as to prevent the running away 
of the precious fluid. As soon as it is firm enough to 
stay without running it is again dipped, and the pro- 
cess repeated until upon the paddle a ball of rubber of 
from fifteen to seventy-five pounds has been formed. 
This is then slit up and removed from the paddle. It 
afterwards loses much weight by drying, and if sold 
at once a large discount mu3t accordingly be made. 
The daily yield of a tree is about 2 or 3 gills, and it is 
estimated that from 25 to 75 pounds of rubber per 
week should be obtained for each man employed. It 
is clearly, therefore, a question of men, and the rubber 
gatherers are willing to pay good prices to 
Inyone who will bring these men to work upon 
their estancias. So sure a business is rubber 
gathering that almost any merchant of Para will loan 
money or advance goods to anyone who is going up 
the river to gather rubber, the amount being in 
regular proportion to the number of men that he is 
taking with him. I know of one man who boasts tbat 
his rubber station yields him a gross income of $500 
daily But he has two hundred men. Rubber gather- 
ing constitutes by far the most importaut industry of 
the Amazon valley. It is in fact several times greater 
than all the other industries combined. 
An important industry during January and February 
is the collection of Brazil nuts. These nuts begin to 
fall as early as October, but the regular season is in 
the months named. The tree flouri-hes just where 
the rubber tree is found, and during the season all 
other work, even rubber gathering, is given up for 
this work. The nuts, as we know them, are contained 
from ten to twenty together in a large case resembling 
a cocoa, which has to be cut open before the nuts 
can be obtained. The work of collection is by no 
means a safe one, the heavy cases often falling from 
a height of one, even two hundred feet, and instantly 
killing anyone upon whom they may fall. The collec- 
tors often protect the heads and shoulders by means 
of heavy umbrella-like shields. Statistics of the ex- 
tent of the export of these nuts are quite surprising. 
The amount reaches to entire ship-loads. They are 
not only used for eating purposes. Brazil nut oil has 
many uses in the arts. In their own country they 
form a much more important article of food than 
among us. Variously prepared they enter into the 
composition of many delicious table dishes. Nor are 
they without medical interests. In tbat mild climate 
Brazil nut oil serves a purpose very similar to that of 
cod liver oil among us. I have seen undoubted re- 
coveries of consumptive patients to whom nothing 
except unlimited quantities of this oil had been ad- 
ministered. But it would scarcely do in our climate. 
Referring to the vegetable wealth of Hrazil, it is to 
be considered that as yet it is almost wholly unknown, 
notwithstanding the vast revenues that it has already 
yielded to that country. The history of all other 
countries has boon tbat very shortly after the dis- 
covery, the settlers have begun to develop their agri- 
cultural resources. Not so in Brazil, at least in the 
Amazon valley. Beyond a small — a very small — frac- 
tion of the food supply necessary for its own people, 
this valley furnished no agricultural products. All the 
energy and enterprise of those who have resorted there 
has found full scope in culling out the richest of 
Nature's unaided productions, dnd even in this direc- 
tion we have merely entered upon a knowledge of 
her vast resources. 
In the precious woods of Brazil alone there is an 
industry capable of enriching a nation. Some author 
has begun a simple enumeration of the useful woods 
of Brazil, giving only their names and synonyms in 
alphabetical order. Thus far he has only progressed 
through a few of the first letters of the alphabet, 
aud the rusult is a good- sized volume. So abundant 
are these hard and fine woods thit the difficulty is 
to find a coarse or soft wood sufficiently easy of being 
worked to serve for buildiDg purposes 1 have ob- 
served that the valuable portion of moss of these 
precious wood is confined to a small portion of the 
heart ; the sap wood surrounding it being of a very 
different colour as well as very much softer. 
Another peculiarity of these Brazilian species of 
woods is that they are not gregarious, as ours are. 
That is to say, we do not find a forest made up 
largely of one or several species, but all sorts grow 
together, not more than one or two of a given kind 
being obtainable in one place. This increase greatly 
the difficulty and expense of collecting them. Two 
enterprising firms are said to have established saw mills 
on the island of Maranho, in the mouth of the Amazon. 
From here they send out little tugs to bring in the 
passing logs, which constitute their only supply. 
The fibre plants of Brazil are already attracting a 
great deal of attention, and I expect they will yet 
revolutionize the woven fabrics of the world. Their 
name is legion, and they represent many diverse fami- 
lies, and it can hardly be that among them there are 
not some equal or superior to any now in U3e. 
The discovery of aniline dyes has ruined the trade 
in those of the vegetable origin, otherwise the forests 
of Brazil would have furnished a mire which the 
workings of centurie? would not have sufficed to ex- 
haust. Many times in pressing our botanical collec- 
tions we would find our papers, and even our clothing:, 
beautifully and permanently dyed by the roots, bark 
or leaves of the plants that we had collected. Again 
we would observe a streim or pool deeply tinged by 
the exudation of some log that had fallen into it. 
The food plants of Brazil, if we include those intro- 
duced, includes about everything known to tropical 
countries. Introduced fruits soou run wild. Thus the 
peanut, the yam and the cocoa, origin of the chocolate, 
may he found escaped in every direction. The cocoa 
especially attracted our attention, for we found entire 
forests of it in some places. Of coffee we find several 
native species, and wild specimens of the Arabian 
species are not rarely met with. One of the native 
species has white seeds, as has also a native species 
of theobroma. No food plant flourishes more abun- 
dantly than the cassava, there called mar.dioca or 
yuca. Of this there are several species, one of which 
occurs wild in the greatest abundance. The plant is 
in the euphorbia family, near rubber, and produces 
large sweet potato like tubers. In its fresh condition 
it is a deadly poison, but when cooked it furnishes a 
wholesome food. The best varieties, baked in the 
ashes, are equal to our best potatoes. From these roots, 
after they have been macerated almost to the point 
of putrefaction in order to destroy their poisonous 
principle, a starchy food, mandioca, is obtained, which 
answers in Brazil the purposes of bread. 
I close my remarks with a brief account of the 
drugs of this interesting country. Should any genius 
ever be born capable of writing a complete history 
of the medicinal plants of Brazil, it would probably 
constitute the most interesting and important con- 
tribution of its class. Indeed, the elaboration of tbe 
medical flora of even one of the Brazilian provinces 
would be the work of a lifetime. Each tribe of 
aborigines and each community of settlerj has its 
