THE VEGETATION OF THE VIBGIN-FOREST. 
117 
the quantity, the value of the exported ware has steadily risen Avithin 
the last years, as may be seen by the following statement ; — 
In I860 were exported 256,967 arrobas, worth 3, 969, 086 milreis. 
1866 „ 291,091 „ „ 5,521,853 „ 
» 1867 „ 301,170 „ „ 5,937,141 „ 
.. 1868 „ 334,975 „ „ 8,003,550 
.. 1869 „ 365,354 „ „ 9,698,721* „ 
This increase of price, keeping pace with the increase of exportation, 
certainly proves that the long list of articles of eA'cry kind, for whose 
fabrication the caoutchouc is wanted, from the old goloshes first made 
by the Indians themselA^es to the protecting coats of the telegraph 
Avires, has not yet been exhausted, or, at least, that most of them 
are in increased requisition. 
Unfortunately there has not been until noAV the slightest attempt 
made to culth^ate this useful tree; and all the caoutchouc exported 
trom Para is still obtained from the original seringa groves. The trees of 
course suffer, as they naturally would under the best of treatment, from 
the repeated tapping and draAving-off of their sap, and the rubber collectors, 
therefore, must look about for new groves of the tree in the unexplored 
A'alleys of the more distant interior. 
The planting of the Siphonia elastica would be a more profitable 
inA'estment, as it yields the precious milk in the comparath^ely short 
space of tAventy or twenty-five years ; but, under the combined influence 
of the indolence of the mestizoes and the shortsightedness of the 
Government, measures to that end will be adopted and carried into 
effect only when the rubber exportation shall have diminished with 
the destruction of the trees, and Avhen European and North American 
manufacturers shall have found out a more or less appropriate substitute 
for the too costly resin. 
* The total A^aliie of the exports of Para in 1869 was 12,897,598 milreis, somewhat 
more than £1,000,000 sterling. The distribution over the different countries was as 
follows : — 
Tho TJnitod States . 5,410,015 milreis. Portugal 473,300 milreis. 
England .... 4,521,520 „ Germany 454,643 
France 1,761,178 ,, [ The Brazilian Provinces 276,908 , 
The chief articles so exported were : — 
llubber, worth 9,608,721 milreis. Fish glue, worth 107,503 milreis. 
Cacao, ,, 1,271,488 ,, Copaiva oil, ,, 101,745 ,, 
Eawhide, „ 413,220 „ Stag’s hide, „ 98,448 „ 
Brazil nuts, „ 348,474 „ Sundries, „ 724,038 „ 
Urucii, „ 133,936 „ 
