i7i 
From the Niger District we get rubber varying from sr.uall 
balls of fine white rubber of excellent quality, known as “ White 
Niger Niggers,” down to a soft pasty substance which looks like 
bad honey and smells abominably. This is known as “ Niger Flak*?,” 
and is worth about Is. 2d. per lb. 
These descriptions might be multiplied indefinitely, but sufficient 
has been said to show in how many various shapes raw rubber 
arrives in the home market, and what a very wide experience is 
necessary to successfully judge the relative values of the different 
kinds. 
One point in connexion with the values of the different varieties 
is, however worth attention— namely, that values do not move to- 
gether. For instance, the price of hard cure fine Para may be 
going up when the price of Red Niggers is going down, and v'jce 
versa ; each grade may be said to be a market to itself. There 
is, of course, some sort of relative proportion, but nevertheless 
each grade practically fluctuates by itself. The market reports of 
the auctions last Tuesday show that pale crepe was fetching at the 
auction as much as 10s. 3 l 4 d., while hard cure fine Para was 
selling at 9s. 9% d. ; a fortnight before the respective values were 
9s. 7d. and 8s. iod. per lb. 
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 
The world’s present sources of supply for crude 
approximately as follows: — 
The River Amazon with its tributaries 
Other districts of Brazil 
The Federated Malay States— Ceylon, Sumatra, &c. 
(plantation rubber) 
The Congo Free State and the French Congo 
Portuguese West Africa 
The West Coast of Africa, excluding the Congo and 
Portuguese West Africa 
Rangoon, Penang, Borneo, &e. (wild rubber) 
East Coast Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, &c. 
Mexico, the East Indies, and Central America 
rubber are 
Tons. 
39,000 
2.800 
4.600 
5.600 
2,900 
9.500 
1,200 
800 
1.500 
67,900 
The figures given above are necessarily for the most part 
estimated as with the exception of the exports from the Amazon, no 
exact records are obtainable of the production of the various districts, 
nor is it possible to obtain a complete record at the different ports 
of arrival, as statistics of some of the ports can only be obtained in 
an unclassified form, and from other ports no accurate statistics at all 
are obtainable. 
PRINCIPAL USES. 
It is only feasible to give a general idea in an article of this kind 
as to the uses to which the different grades of rubber are put, because 
as a general rule it might be laid down that rubber which can be used 
in any high-class work, such as motor tires, elastic thread, surgical 
