April % 1900. j TSE TROPICAL 
AaRICULTURIST. 
665 
KUBBER IN BOLIVIA. 
Sir Martin Conway lias just been lecturing 
before the Society of Arts, on February 2nd, 
on some of the Undeveloped Resources of 
Bolivia and from tliis we quote a very in- 
teresting chapter, as follows :— 
It is only since 1878 or thereabout that the exis- 
tence of rubber in the eastern forest rea;ion lias 
been known. Legislation was passed in conse- 
quence of the discovery, defining the manner in 
which these lands may be acquired. A small 
annual rate per estrada must be paid to the 
Government, and the lands taken up must be 
registered with a map of the area. The annual 
rent may at any time be commuted at a fixed 
rate, after which commutation the land becomes 
the freehold property of the purchaser. If the 
annual instalments are not paid the land lapses 
to the Government. Thus the MoUendo rubber 
forests ought now to be owned on an indefeasible 
title, and many of them are so owned. The titles 
of others are defective, either because there has 
been irregularity in the payment of rent, or from 
mis-description in the deeds of registration. The 
map accompanying the register often includes a 
very much larger number of estradas than the 
claimant has scheduled or paid for ; and this of ne- 
cessity, for no one can count or correctly estimate 
the number of estradas in an area which has not 
been explored in detail. Again, the maps themselves 
are inaccurately surveyed. Thus a multitude of 
questions may be made subject of dispute. In 
other cases, I am told, persons have obtained legal 
possession of a number of estradas, patched about, 
and now claim to own all the land included 
between those estradas. The question of title is 
therefore one that in any particular case needs 
close investigation on the spot. Up to the present 
time, however, none of these titles have been con- 
tested, and it does not appear to be the interest 
of any individual to contest them, whilst the 
chief interest of the Government is to induce 
men of capital to work the forests, introduce 
immigrants, develop lines of communication, and 
so increase the general trade and prosperity of 
the country. It is not likely, therefore, that the 
Government will attempt to upset titles even- if 
they are not absolutely satisfactory, provided that 
the forests in question are properly worked. 
Time fails me to speak of the 
COFFEE, COCOA, AND COCOA PLANTATIONS 
of tiie sugar estates, and the vine-yards. I 
can only deal very briefly with the india-rubber 
forests. In the great eastern plain and low 
hills that flank the Rio Beni, and still more 
in the little explored districts to the north and 
north-east, are immense rubber forests, whose 
exploitation on any large scale is for the future. 
It cannot be undertaken profitably until the route 
to the Amazon is opened up and made easy. Some 
rubber goes that way, but the difficulties and dis- 
tances are very great. That the day for this region 
will come inay be prophesied confidently, for the 
enormous and ever increasing demand for rubber 
made by modern electrical and other industries, 
renders the development of increased sources of 
supply a very important matter. From a recently 
issued United States Consular Report on the Re- 
sources and Trade Opportunities of the Amazon 
Valley, I quote the following important passage :— 
" I have learned that some accounts which have 
been written concerning rubber, although not 
entirely misdealing, have not been quite accurate. 
The impression created by the narratives of pre- 
vious travellers who have been up the Amazon is 
that the rubber production is on a constant and 
endless increase. It is not generally believed, but 
it is nevertheless a fact, that the output is not 
likely to increase to any marked degree unless a 
much larger force of rubber gatherers is sent into 
the forests than has been employed during the 
83 
past year or two. This is the opinion of the best 
informed rubber-plantation owners. Reports that 
the supply of rubber trees is inexhaustible are 
largely overdrawn. It is true that there is no fear 
of immeiliate scarcity of rubber, and perhaps tliere 
will not be for the next 50 years.. It is believed in 
well-informed circles that hereafter there will be a 
gradual but steady shrinkage in the rubber pro- 
duct, unless the present force of rubber gatherers 
is largely increased, because in the first place, the 
trees conveniently located near the banks of the 
rivers are naturally the first to be worked and in 
consequence are becoming exhausted from con- 
stant tapping, the milk extracted being weaker 
each year ; hence the shrinkage in such rubber is 
very great. In the second place, the rivers have 
all "been worked inland for a distance of about 
three miles from their banks, and, in order to 
reach the so-called unexplored rubber forests still 
further inland, it will require much more time and 
necessitate three times as strong a force. Owners 
of rubtDcr farms inform me that milk drawn from 
rubber trees five years ago possessed twice the 
strength contained in that extracted from the 
same tree today. The islands near Para are all 
over-worked. Good judges can easily recognise 
rubber drawn from overworked trees by its pecu- 
liar colour." 
If, therefore, the supply of para rubber does 
not show signs of increase, the importance of deve- 
loping other sources of supply becomes obvious. 
The following observations upon the forests of so- 
called MoUendo rubber are the result of my own 
observations and enquiries, in v.-hich I was much 
helped by Mr. M. Martindale, anEnglish gentleman, 
whose acquaintance I made in La Paz, and whose 
long experience of the country was unreservedly 
placed at my disposal. I have recently heard of 
his tragic death. He was killed by the fall of a 
tree in the Mapiri forest. 
In the European markets a certain brand of 
india-rubber is sold under the name of mollendo 
RUBBER. Of course no rubber trees grow at or any- 
wliere near the Peruvian port of Mollendo on the 
Pacific coast. The name applies merely to the 
rubber which is shipped from that port. All the 
Mollendo rubber comes from the Bolivian province 
of Larecaja, the forest-clad valleys of Mapiri, 
Tipuani. Coroioo, Challana, Zongo, Ac, which 
descend north-eastward from the Bolivian Cordil- 
lera Real. The rubber is brought over various 
passes to the Bolivian Puna, shipped from 
Chililaya on Lake Titicaca by steamer to the 
Peruvian port Puno, and carried down by the 
Arequipa railroad to Mollendo. All Mollendo 
rubber comes from the valleys above mentioned, 
and all the rubber produced in those valleys is 
exported through Mollendo. The statistics of the 
rubber exported from Mollendo thus form an im- 
partial record of the production of the Cordillera 
valleys. 
The following are the statistics of the Mollendo 
rubber exports for a series of years :— 
lb. 
1893- 4 ... ... 37,587 
1894- 5 ... ... 80,734 
1895- 6 ... ... 2.51,341 
1896 7 ... ... 292,121 
1897-8 491,087 
The statistics of the year 1898-9 have not come 
to my hands, but the output was very much larger 
than in the preceding year, and the industry is 
gradually developing. The quality of Mollendo 
rubber, as judged by its price, is nearly eijual to 
that of Para rubber, which is the best in the 
world. In the year 1898, Para rublier in the 
English market varied in price par pound from 
3s 5|d to 4s 4M, whilst Mollendo rubber vat ied 
from 3s 4d to 4s lid. Considering thr iu'ii.ji'tance 
of india-rubber at the present time, it appears 
likely that some account of this little known 
forest region may be of general interest. 
