producer. In order to study this question it is necessary to con- 
sider the condition under which the rubber estates are at present 
being explored . and worked. 
The Hevea Braziliensis, is, as has already been stated, scattered 
through the Amazonian forests. In some places it is much more 
frequently met with than in others. Nothing but actual explora- 
tion and trial will enable the most experienced person to form any 
reliable opinion as to the value of a block of forest. The manner 
in which explorations are conducted is as follows : — An individual 
who enjoys a certain amount of credit in Manaos charters a small 
launch and freights her with a cargo of food, clothing, and imple- 
ments necessary. He then proceeds to search in the low class 
hotels and boarding houses at Manaos and 1 ara, or perhaps he 
may even go to the State of Ceara whence the labouring classes 
are chiefly recruited, for a number of men with whom he intends to 
work his estate. These he engages, not on wages but on the con- 
dition that he will barter his goods for the rubber they extract. 
Most of these labourers draw a considerable advance before they 
can be persuaded to go up country. With this cargo and crew he 
proceeds to the district where he intends to work. Having arrived 
at a place which he considers promising, he despatches some of 
the most practised labourers, or “ Seringueiros, ” as they are here 
named, to explore the forest, find the rubber trees, and open the 
paths between them. With the remainder he builds a store, known 
as the “ Barracao, ” in wdiich he stores his goods, and which be- 
comes a rendezvous or nucleus for the colony The men all this 
time are living at their own expense, the price of supplies given to 
them being debited to their account, to be paid for in rubber latter 
on. The forest having been explored, the trees located and con- 
nected by paths, known as “ Estradas," the men select which they 
are going to work. Each “ Estrada " makes a loop, visiting gener- 
ally some 100 or 150 trees, and returning to the starting point, 
generally on the bank of a river or stream navigable for canoes. 
Each man builds his own small hut, or “ Baraca,” whefe he lives 
and from which he works the two “ Estradas" which he has selected. 
From time to time he pays visits to the central store to obtain 
goods, and deliver the rubber he has collected. This the owner of 
the store, or the “ Patron ” as he is termed, buys from him at a 
price, generally fixed by the “Patron" himself and credits him 
with the amount as a set'off against the goods that have been sup- 
plied to him. As the “Seringueiros" can, as a rule, neither read 
nor write, the opportunities of an unscrupulous “Patron" are 
great. As the end of the season, that is to say, in January, most 
of these men return to Manaos. A fresh lot is generally taken up 
by the “ Patron " each year. 
The labourer or “ seringueiro ” spends his day much as follows. 
Hisincr from his hammock just before day break he takes a cup of 
black^coffee. He then proceeds to tap the trees in one of the 
“estradas, ” affixing at the same time the cups to catch the latex 
as it exudes. The' necessary cups a”e placed at the foot of each 
tree at the time that the “ estrada ” is being opened. By 9 A.M. 
