he has tapped the trees and is back in his hut. He thgn proceeds 
to cook and eat a scanty meal. At about n A.M., he again visits 
the trees taking with him a vessel into which he pours the contents 
o£ the cups By . P.M., he is again in his hut. He then proceeds 
to smoke the latex he has collected during the day The latex 
cannot be left standing over night, as fermentation sets 111 e " 
line ” rubber is the result. It is almost invariably, ther cf«r e , 
smoked each day as collected. By 2 or 2.30 P.M he has generally 
finished his day’s work and can spend the rest of his time in idling, 
hunting or fishing as he pleases. O11 the following day he rests 
the " estrada ” which he worked the day before and works the 
other. An active man sometimes works four “estradas, two eac 1 
dav. Such men are known to produce as much as 1 ton of rubber 
in the season. It is on such performances as these that calcula- 
tions quoted in prospectuses of rubber companies distributed 
the United Kingdom seem to be based. They are, however, qu 
erroneous when applied generally. In a good place an average 
man will make as much as 4 kilos, of rubber in a day, but it must 
be remembered that he does not work all the year round and hat 
he loses many days when it is raining or when he thinks it is 
goining to rain. Any excuse is good enough to prevent a 
“ serinsueiro ” from goining into his “ estrada. 
The season during which the “ estradas ’ are worked lasts from 
August till the begining of January. During the remaining 
moSths of the year there is generally too much water in the forest 
to allow the “ seringueiros ” to enter the “ estradas. 
When considering the question as to whether British Companies 
have here a good opportunity for the investment of capital the 
following points should be borne in mind. Rubber is brought 
down to Manaos at the present day from beyond Iquitos in Peru, 
and from beyond Orton on the River Bent in Bolivia, and goods 
are ^hipped to there from Manaos. A glance at the map will show 
how remote are these places. It is reasonable to suppose that 
natives of the country, who well understand the matter, would not 
go and explore so far a field if workable forests existed nearer 
home The fact of theii doing so, points to the probability that 
most of the forest worth obtaining in the neighbourhood of Manaos 
has already been taken up. Of course this does not mean that a 
company could not purchase already opened up estates, in good 
condition and do good business with them. But again certain 
difficulties to be encountered should be remembered. i be great 
est of these is the quantity and quality of the available labour 
supply. A company would have to work un a large scale and 
' ave a well ordered system. The labourers to be found in Manaos 
are an extremely independent, not to say unruly class, and 
although the comparative rarity of crime up country speaks welt 
for their conduct on the whole, yet they are so unused to obey any 
sort of discipline that it would be very hard to work with an orga- 
nised estate, especially as there is practically no legal authority 
outside the towns and every mail’s will is, up country, a law unto 
himself. 
