579 
there are no provisions on the ground, and on the Beni I unoei- 
stand that the proprietors of rubber camps are obliged to import 
a good quantity of food products. If it is suggested that farm 
laborers be colonized to cultivate crops for food supplies, I can only 
ask who is going to do the colonizing, and where are the colonists 
to come from ? The native population will prefer to lead the li\es 
that they have been accustomed to and will be i?ext to impossible 
to control by foreigners who do not understand their ways. If they 
are able to earn as much at cultivating beans and iarina as they can 
at cutting rubber, the crops which they grow will not be cheaper 
than imported food. There are no European peoples who can 
stand working in the climate of the Amazon valley. Something 
might be done with coolies, but it is a difficult matter to arrange 
with the Government of British India for their introduction into 
South America. There has been talk of importing Chinese, but 
they would likely all turn traders and desert the rubber camps. 
“ I am convinced, therefore, that for a good while to come the 
safest way to deal in rubber is through the establishment of trading 
houses at the principal centres, as at present, and buying such 
rubber as may reach the market, from whatever source.” 
In answer to a question as to whether the existing rubber fields 
on the Amazon were showing indications of becoming exhausted, 
Mr. Witt said : 
“ AH the fields which yield rubber other than Caucho still seem 
to produce the usual output. It is probable, however, that in some 
districts on the Lower Amazon, the trees have ceased to yield, and 
the fact that more rubber has been shipped this season from the 
State of Para than last season may be due to the fact that the rub- 
ber workers have go»e into new territory. In some cases, the men 
may have worked harder, as we call it, forced by the low rubber 
prices ruling now. The increasing total production of the Amazon 
Valley is due, of course to the general widening of the district gone 
over in the search for rubber. 
“ One thing which indicates that the trees in the districts which 
have longest been worked are becoming less productive, is a fact 
that the rate of shrinkage in the Islands rubber received at Para 
gradually becomes greater. I remember that in 1885, a shrinkage 
of 6 per cent, was expected in Islands rubber and the ram has 
gradually increased until now a shrinkage of 14 per cent, or even 
more, is not unusual. And meanwhile there has been no impor- 
tant improvement in means of transportation between the Islands 
districts and Para. Evidently, there is a smaller percentage of 
solid rubber in the milk than when the trees were fresher, and with 
the same amount of smoking as formerly more moisture is retained 
in the rubber to be lost during shipment. In other words, while 
the trees apparently yield as much milk as formerly, the real pro- 
duction of rubber per tree is less.” 
Mr. Witt spoke of the rapid exhaustion of Caucho in all (he 
districts where the Peruvians went in search of it, and it was his 
impression that the trade- of Iquitos, largely based upon Caucho, 
was not, for this reason, showing any increase. There was a pos- 
