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LAND of RUBBER

-AT THE

THIRD INTERNATIONAL RUBBER AND
ALLIED TRADES EXHIBITION...
~NEW: YORK

1912

WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF
THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT

ts

BRAZIL COURT

Brazil occupies no less than ten thousand square feet of space
on the Balcony Floor. The Exhibit is specially comprehensive.
There is a fine archway to each entrance to the court domi-
nated by the arms of. the Federal Government. An Information
Bureau is provided, at which all enquiries as to Brazilian rubber
will be answered. The walls are hung with statistics and maps
of the country. Close by are the offices of the Brazilian Com-
missioners and a refreshment kiosk, where the Federal Govern.
ment dispenses Brazilian coffee to visitors. One of the first
things to strike the eye is the huge recumbant figure of the
Rubber Colossus, overlooking the mighty Amazon and its in-
numerable tributaries, all of them highways of the rubber col-
lecting industry. From this point the visitor may, with the
assistance of a number of pictures, 22 feet by 12 feet, take a
bird’s eye view tour up the Amazon. Alongside these pictures
is a unique collection from the different States of Brazil of rubber
and other products, the preponderance of the rubber industry
being illustrated by a fine pyramid of caoutchouc. Dotted here
and there are life-sized models of Brazilian workmen in their
native costumes. Arriving at the entrance to the Amazonas Sec-
tion we find Dr. Pinto actually engaged in the coagulation of
latex by his new smokeless process, which manufacturers have
admitted turns out excellent rubber and which has the great
advantage over the native system hitherto in vogue, of saving an
enormous amount of both time and labor, whilst giving splendid
results. A second series of pictures affords a vivid idea of the
salient features of the State of Amazonas. In this section we
have a mountain of rubber, and a ball which weighs 1,600
pounds. There is a fine picture of a native tapping a rubber
tree and numerous very beautiful photographs. That nothing
may be wanting to the completeness of the representation of
Brazil’s great rubber industry a series of Moving Pictures is
shown in the Main Hall of the Exhibition, which visitors will
find particularly instructive after they have gone through the
Brazilian Section on the Balcony Floor.

MARECHAL HERMES DA FONSECA,

President of Brazil.

BRAZILIAN DELEGATION of the INTERNATIONAL
RUBBER EXHIBITION, NEW YORK

DISTRIBUTION OF SERVICE

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONERS
President
DR. CANDIDO MENDES DE ALMEIDA

Assistant
MAIRO BAPTISTA NUNES
Official representation, information and publicity
Vice-President
ADMIRAL JOSE CARLOS DE CARVALHO
Assistants
DR. OSCAR SAYAO DE MORAES
ADALBERTO DE SOUSA ARANHA
Disposition of Exhibits, Decoration, Etc.,
General Secretary.
DR. EUGENIO DAHNE
Assistant Secretary
MR. DILLWYME M. HAZLETT
Accountant
MR. IVO GRACA CAMPOS
Reception of Exhibits, Correspondence, Purchasing, Accounts, Payments, Etc.

STATE COMMISSIONERS
State of Amazonas
DR. MANOEL LOBATO
Commercial Association of Amazonas
MR. A. W. STEADMAN, New York Commercial Co.
MR. J. LEVY, Manaos
State of Para
Commercial Association of Para
MR. GEORGE E. PELL, General Rubber Co., New York
State of Bahia
J. DO ARGOLLO
State of Minas Geraes:.
DR. I. SANTIAGO CARDWELL QUINN

Rubber Demonstration
DR. CARLOS CERQUEIRA PINTO

OFFICE HOURS—9 to 12 A. M. and 2 to 5 P. M.
Committee Meeting of Delegation—Daily 3 to 4 P. M.

4

DR. PEDRO DE TOLEDO,

Minister of Agriculture of the Government. of Brazil

INTRODUCTION -

Brazil, with its vast and immeasurable virgin forests in the
valley of the Amazon, undoubtedly the greatest in the world,
traversed by innumerable tributaries, many of which are larger
and deeper than many of the rivers in other countries, can be
considered the largest storehouse of native rubber of the best
quality, all ready to be extracted, coagulated and applied to all
kinds of industries. No other investment of capital can be as
remunerative as that invested in the extraction of the native rub-
ber from full grown trees, already existing in large quantities of
many millions, and in zones full of natural richness.

For the culture of rubber trees of the various species, the
whole northern and central portions of Brazil are well adapted,
and will give magnificent results in the near future.

Nature has prodigally provided easy means of communica-
tion by waterways broad and deep. The climate is equitable
without great variations of temperature, which gives perpetual
summer and produces large and nearly uninterrupted harvests of
agricultural products.

The difficulties which hinder the rapid development of the
extraction of rubber are the obstructions in rivers in certain
places, at certain seasons of the year when the water is low, and
the fact that the production of rubber is so remunerative that all
the vigorous men that are thus engaged do not care to engage
in any other industry. Thus it is that living in the rubber regions
is very expensive because everything must be brought there,
even implements and foodstuffs.

These difficulties, however, have been brought to the atten-
tion of the Federal Government of Brazil, and of the States,
and in consequence an important Congress was called and pre-
sided over by the Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Com-
merce. The Legislative power also passed special laws pro-
viding measures urgently needed to better the existing condi-
tions. These laws also provide for a department under the

6

Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, to be called
“The Protection of Rubber,” which has already been formed
and is at work.

Among the various and important provisions of the law, is
the establishment of various experimental stations for advancing
the cultivation of the four différent kinds of rubber trees found
in Brazil, the Hevea braziliensis (seringa), castilloa (caucho),
manicoba, and mangabeira. These trees are all natives of Brazil
and can be cultivated from the upper regions of the Amazon to
the States of S. Paulo and Parana. That is, from the extreme
north to nearly the extreme south, one or other of these species
can be cultivated, according to the climate and character of the
soil in each region.

Various concessions and money premiums are offered to at-
tract capital and awaken activity in this industry. Certain ser-
vices, such as the establishment of hospitals, medical attention
and hygienic regulations are also provided by the Federal Gov-
ernment.

In the pages of this book will be found, fully treated, the
principal points of this important subject. From the statistical
tables published and from the exhibits displayed at the Interna-
tional ‘Rubber Exposition in New York, it can readily be seen
that the rubber of Brazil is judged the best in the world, and that
its production although already enormous is destined to be
largely increased.

DR. CANDIDO MENDES DE ALMEIDA,
President Brazilian Commission.

A MONOGRAPH UPON PARA RUBBER

HISTORICAL NOTES ABOUT PARA RUBBER

It is in Our diaries of the voyage of the Genovese Columbus,
that among the important occurrences of that notable crossing
ofthe. ocean, which gave him immortality, appeared. the: first
references, made by Herrera, to the quality of a certain gum
utilized by the aborigines.

In 1536 Gongalvo Fernandes d’Oviedo in his “Universal
History of the Indies,” published in Madrid, also mentioned the
uses which"\the indigenous tribes of North America miade of
rubber: skins in their amusements.

wikhe , Jesuit Charlevoix also refers to it and more fully. yet
does. John Torquemada who in his “Indian Monarchy,” ex-
presses himself thus: “There is a tree in this country (Mexico)
known to the natives as ulequahuitl, to whom it is of the greatest
value. This tree grows in the warm or torrid zone; and pre-
sents itself of a medium height with rounded leaves of an ashy
color,, It furnishes in abundance a species of glutinous white
liquid like milk, which makes it of great utility to them.
“The milk of the ulequahuitl is obtained by beating the tree
with ‘a small hatchet. The liquid is then seen to ooze out from
the incision made like blood from a wound. The natives gather
it into dry hollow gourds of various sizes. It gradually takes
consistency in these receptacles, until it turns into a gummy
mass, from: which it is easy to adapt it to any form which may
be required.

“Those who have no gourds, besmear their bodies with the
liquid substance, as it flows out from the tree; which in drying
forms itself into a species of membrane, which is easily taken
off and whose thickness varies according to the coating spread
over the skin. Skins very much appreciated for their elasticity
are made with this ulli. The ulli solidified serves for shields,
which thus are proof against the sharpest-pointed arrows, owing
without doubt to the pliability of the material, which does not
affect its tenacity.

“Kings and nobles habitually use shoes made of ulli. The
Spaniards of Mexico, moreover, impregnate their capes with
ulli, so as to make them water-proof, because it is proved that
such substance resists water in a marvelous manner, but melts’
before the action of the sun.”

COUNT CANDIDO MENDES DE ALMEIDA,

President of the Federal Government of Brazil Commission.

In Mexico and Central America, the name of Ule still
denotes even to-day one of the rubber trees known as_ the
elastic Castille.

After the Spaniards, the French in 1736 occupied themselves
with that substance, whose interesting properties had not up
to that date come to deserve the attenion of the Europeans.

De la Condamine sent by the French Government to Pert,
in order to measure a degree of the terrestrial meridian, was
the first to refer to the Hevéa of the Guyana. In a note that
accompanied a small sample of resinous gum of a heavy dark
color, almost black, he said to the Academy of Sciences: “There
grows in the forests of the province of the Esmeraldas a tree
known to the natives by the name of Hevé; a white resinous
liquid something like milk runs out from it after making an
incision; this substance is collected in a leaf that is laid close
to the foot of the tree and afterwards is exposed to the sun,
when it gets black at first upon its surface and afterwards by
continuous exposure to the sun becomes black in all its mass.
Torches, which burn admirably well, are made from it. It is
known in Quito, that that tree grows also upon the banks of the
Amazon and that the Mainas call it cautchi. They make
earthen moulds in the form of bottles and cover them with that
material. Afterwards when the resin gets hard, they break the
mould and thereby obtain unbreakable water-jars much lighter
than glass bottles.”

Later on he wrote: “many are the uses which the Omaguas
make of that resin in the central parts of South America,
especially among the Indians of Para where the Portuguese
gave to the tree that produces it, the name of Pauseringa, be-
cause from it ‘seringas,’ much in vogue among the Omaguas,
are manufactured ; these being little hollow balloons in the shape
of a pear, into which a tube is inserted.

“In Para it is moulded in still many different manners, they
make borracha, faces of animals, hollow or solid balls and also
apply it in the manufacture of boots which become quite water-
proof and when smoked acquire the appearance of leather.”

Fresneau, a collaborator of de la Condamine, sought to
study the vegetable plants which produced that gum, obtaining
as a result that Aublet, a French botanist, proceeded to interest
himself in the question afd completed de la Condamine’s
studies, and then classifying the hevé under the domination of
Hevea Guyanensis.

It was only in 1798 that the Ficus elastica, the first Asiatic
plant producer of rubber became known, and up till 1860 South
America, English India and Java were the only rubber-produc-
ing countries in the world.

10

ADMIRAL JOSE CARLOS DE CARVALHO,

Vice-President of the Federal Government
of Brazil Commission.

11

Much later than this—in 1885, Africa commenced to export
this article, an industry which reached its apogée after the
creation by Leopold II of the Independent State of the Congo.

In the meantime, in spite of the fact of some of the qualities
of rubber and even its applications being known in Europe
ever since the Sixteenth Century, it was only during the
Nineteenth Century, that this product conquered that position
as an article very much in evidence which it now occupies as an
indispensable material in modern industry or even still yet for
the necessities which civilization created.

Hérissant and Macquer, in 1768, discovered the first dissolv-
ing processes; in 1770, Priestley vulgarized the property of the
“borracha” in wiping out lead-pencil tracings from which the
English name Rubber is derived; Berniard, Fourcroy, Berthollet,
Grossart and others occupied themselves about this commodity,
with more or less success. Madier, in 1820, found out a me-
chanical means of cutting the rubber-blocks in order to obtain
elastic threads and three years afterwards, MacIntosh discovered
that naptha dissolved rubber and thus made cloth impervious
to the action of water.

The adaption of rubber to industrial purposes such as the
manufacture of shoes, physical and surgical appliances, elastic
cloths, railway-buffers, machine-springs, etc., was fairly in full
swing when the discovery of the vulcanizing of rubber by
Goodyear sprung up, an occurance which came to revolutionize
the insipient industry and enormously enlarge the scope of the
commercial application of that product, which thence forward
came to’ assume exceptional importance. The vulcanizing
method consists in the mixing of a certain quantity of rubber
with sulphur and in the exposure of that mixture to an elevated
temperature and to a high pressure during a certain space of time.
The rubber transforms itself considerably; the property of in-
definite hardness is lost, but presents greater resistency to the
forces of compression and lengthening-out, supports excessively
low temperature and becomes less sensible to the action of
ordinary dissolving ingredients.

In Brazil already existed up to 1840, a rudimentary industry
of shoe manufacturing and in the water-proofing of various
objects. The great demand for rubber caused by the develop-
ment of the industry in foreign countries and consequently
the very high profits that the extraction of rubber in the
Brazilian “seringaes” or native rubber-forests presented, de-
stroyed all that initiative and Brazil passed into the position
of a mere producer of the raw material. In order to appreciate
with what devotion the country lent itself to this occupation,
sufficient is it to contrast the 31 tons exported in 182” with the

36,547 exported in 1911.
12

DR. EUGENIO DAHNE, Be 98

General Secretary of the Federal Government -
of Brazil Commission, :

13

RUBBER-PRODUCING PLANTS — BCTANICAL
DESCRIPTION —-PRODWCTIVENESS —
REGIONS IN WHICH THEY: EXIST

At the present moment, more than 800 species of rubber-
producing plants are known to exist, these being distributed
among the tropical regions of the world. Trees of large size,
climbing plants and flexible creepers containing the precious
latex in their branches, trunk and roots, those vegetable growths
from the double point view of quantity and quality of rubber
produce have not an equal importance. The species worthy of
mention belong to four great families:

1.—Euphorbiacan, Hevea, Micrandra, Manioh. 2.—U]macean,
Castilloa and Ficus. 3.—Apocynacean, Landolphia, Hancornia,
Kickxia Carpodium and Clitandra. 4-—Asclepiadaceas, Cal-
lotropia, Cynanchum.

The production of rubber in America is principally furnished
by the heyveas, micandra, manioh, castilloa and hancornia; that
of Asia; ne the ficus; and that of Africa by the landolphia,
clitandfa and kickxia.

In the Amazonian region of Brazil, there exist about 21
species of heveas; of these the principal is the hevea braziliensis,
which under.the name of “the Para rubber-tree” deserves to be
classed in the front rank of all the other lactiferous plants in
the world. ;;The hevea braziliensis furnishes the most highly
esteemed quality of rubber, and it is the value of that product
which determines the prices of all the other species of rubber
brought on to the market.

The heveas are powerful trees of from 20 to 30 metres high,
the trunk which is cylindric in form and. of a light ashy color,
generally attains a diameter of from 0™80:to 1™20; the branches
only commence to grow at about 15 metres from the ground.
The leaves fall in June, but are speedily substituted by others;
it is during this period that the trees break into flower.

They: grow in the valley of the Amazon, which within
Brazil embraces the State of the’ Amazonas, the federal ter-
ritory of Acre, almost all the State of Para, the Nortn of Matto
Grosso and of Goyaz and a part of the South of Maranhao, or say
about 5,000,000 of square kilometres.

Their habitat as a general rule is a low and warm region
whose temperature varies between 25° and 30°; without sudden
changes during the course of the-year and they favor by prefer-
ence the watery soils, just swampy, damp and even marshy;

14

however, at the head-waters of some rivers, they also live and
develop themselves perfectly well in dry and elevated land. In
the Amazonic forests, the average proportion is of one hevea-;
tree for 80 trees of other species.

The milky latex circulates from the root to the leaves, exist-
ing, however, in greater abundancy in the trunk, up to a height
of abou: 2 metres from the ground. The heveas in Brazil are
generally known by the term “seringueiras” and the forests in
which they are found are denominated “seringaes.”

The average production of a “seringueira” during the
harvest season, which extends over the space of 6 months, is
of 5 kilos of fine rubber and 750 grs. of sernamby.

The species most appreciated besides the hevea braziliensis,
are the hevea de terra firme, of which Dr. E. Ule treats in his
recent studies, and which are found on the frontiers of Matto
Grosso, the hevea do Rio Negro, called “seringa. verdadeira”
(the real seringa), the hevea benthamiana and the hevea dukei,
Hub, from the region of the Japura, all of them furnishing ex-
cellent products.

In the valley of the Amazon exist the micandras, belonging
to the same family and producing a rubber of a superior quality,
since it is sold under the name of Fine-Para. The production
of these trees goes to the market includéd in the category of
hévea, owing to its similarity to this latter. The micranda
syshenoide which is the most known species, is found on the
Lower Amazon, in the innumerable islands at the estuary of
the great Amazon River: in the valleys of the Madeira, the
SolimGes, the Japura and the Purts; the natives give it the
names of tapygu, curupita murupita and seringarana. .They
are leafy reg hliose trunk is of from 0™80 to 1™ in diametre and
from 20 to 2 metres high. They grow as well in the low lying
marshy soil as in the elevated lands, whence comes their denomi-
nation of tapuru da vargem and tapuru de terra firme. The
tapuri is as lactescent or milky as the hévea and the latex
which it renders is equally rich, seeing that it gives 50 per cent.
of fine rubber. \

The trees whose product, the caucho, occupies the second
place in the general exportation of rubber from Brazil although
as a matter of fact it only commenced to come into the Brazil-
ian markets in the year 1896, belong to the family of the
Ulmaceas. These are the Castillas which up till a short time
ago have been classed as of the same species as that which
grows in Mexico and Central America—the Castilla: elastica,
but studies made by professor O. Warburg show that they age
distinct species which was thence forward denomiyated
Castilla Ulei, Warb. vi ema

15

He ‘castill6a” is a tree of large ‘proportions, reaching to
a «height of from 12 to 18 metres; its trunk with a diametre of
from 060 to 0™90, is of an ashy gray color, smooth and spar-
ingly branched. The leaves are large, greater, indeed, on the
new plants than on the full grown trees and its fruit is of an
oily’ nature.

“These trees grow in considerable quantities at the sources
or head-waters of the affluents of the Amazon on the latter’s
right bank, such ds the Jurua, the Purts, the Madeira, the
Tapajoz and the Xingu, and on its left bank in the valleys of
the Japura, the Ica, the Rio Negro and the Trombetas Rivers.
Abundant “cauchaes” or forests of cautchou trees exist also in
the region of the River Tocantins and of the Araguaya.

The ‘‘castilloa” is found therefore in the same regions as
those in which the “seringueiras” flourish; it exacts a warm
climate, a clayey or clayey-silicious soil, but does not thrive in
swampy ground or such ‘as is easily inundated during the
rainy season.

The latex is found as much in the bark as in the alburno
and each tree felled produces on afi average about 50 litres of
latex or say from 18 to 20 kilos of rubber.

_ “Ceara” is the mundial denomination of another quality of
Brazilian rubber, the rubber of the Manicoba tree. The mani-
coba manihot glaziovii i is a handsome tree 10 to 15 metres high,
and a native of the Northeastern region of Brazil. -1t$ trunk
presents a diarhetre of from 20 to 50 centimetres and it possesses
few branches; its wood-fibres are weak and light. The cortex,
which possesses lactiferous vessels in abundance, is protected
by ‘a silicose layer, easily removable. It is a plant of rapid
‘gtowth.

~~" According to a essing made by Dr. Ule, there are
“four species of manioh, the m. glaziovii, the m. piauhyensis, the
m. dichotoma and the m, heptaphylla, the which exist almost
throughout all Central Brazil, being specially abundant in
Ceara, Piauhy and Bahia.

. Little exigent, it thrives in regions where the temperature
oscillates between 22° and 36°, on low-lying ground and it
develops itself well in lands of great altitude, in which the
thermometric average temperature is about 1B’, resisting even
the hoar-frost. ,

‘It is indifferent to this tree whether the climate be damp or
dry, as long as the soil is dry.

The species most appreciated are those from Piauhy and »
the Jequié (“sertdo or back-woods of Bahia). Those of Piauhy
present two varieties: the white and the black species, the white
being the most renowned. They are of small size, with abundant

16

foliage and thick bark and darkish stem and give plenty of
the milky latex, the average being 1,200 grammes per tree.
Those of the Jequié, which grow between the rivers Paraguassu
to the north and of the Contas to the south, are a shrub-tree
whose trunk does not exceed 30 centimetres in. diametre. The
bark is fine and of light clear color; it produces about 500
grammes of rubber.

The mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa) is a slender and
crooked shrub-tree, 3 to 4 metres high, and ‘abounds on the
high-lying table-lands or plateaux in the interior of Brazil.
The trunk has:a diameter of. from -0™30 to 0™85; is scantily
leaved; the fruit is eatable.and has a very agreeable taste.

A plant of an extraordinary resisting power, it defies the
inclemency -of the: climate, the absence of rains, the scarcity of
humidity and. of nourishment from the soil. It predominates in
the catingas of the Northern States, in the carrascaes of Goyaz
and ‘in the cerrados of S. Paulo, which means to say, that it is
found from Maranhio to S. Paulo, now in the Interior, as in the
mountain-range of the Mangabeiras between Maranhao and
Goyaz, in the central Chapada of Minas, in the Parecis of
Matto Grosso and in S. Paulo in the zone comprised between
the Paranapanema River and the Rio Grande, tributaries of the
Parana River, and again on the littoral, which is the case from
Bahia northwards as far as Ceara.

There are several different varieties of this plant, there being
no indications, however, tending to point out any one of these
preferable to another with regard to the question of its yield..
The latex is of a bluish tint, its richness in rubber varying
greatly. Each mangabeira supplies on an average one kilogram
of rubber. : ”

. Besides the plants mentioned, there are still many others
in Brazil which furnish rubber, but which continue to grow
without being taken advantage of, on account of the little profit
they give. :

To speak only of those which exploited on a small scale
have yet supplied the Brazilian markets with an appreciable
product, we may yet mention the Massaranduba, Mimosups
elata, and Frei-Allem, gigantic trees found from the Amazon and
Para to Rio de Janeiro and Minas, abundant in the milky latex,
which being coagulated produces a rubber very similar to gutta-
percha, to which it serves as a substitute in all the latter’s most
important applications; and the Sorva, Couma utilis, Muell. Arg.,
which grow in Parad and'in the Amazon valley, the latex: of
which, the leite de sorva, enters, with a small coefficient into: the
production of rubber in these two States. Bo etl

17

IV—EXTRACTION OF RUBBER, METHODS
AND PROCESSES

The great organic and biologic differences which exist be-
tween rubber-trees, exact divers processes of preparation in
order to obtain a complete utilization of the productive capacity
of each.

It is, however, interesting before entering into a description
of the different processes adopted in Brazil, to here state what
the chemists think as to what rubber really is.

Rubber is a carburate of hydrogen which in the shape of
white globules more or less elongated, are found suspended in
the milky latex. The composition of those globules, although
even yet, badly defined, is represented by the formula (C” H”) ».
Rubber is generally considered as a derivative of the Isoprina,
into which it transforms itself when submitted to the action of
dry heat, as Bouchardat demonstrated by his experiments in
1879. Treating the isoprina in a strong solution of chloridic
acid, an interesting body is obtained, which reminds one of
rubber on account of its elastic properties. Wallach, Tilden,
Weber, Harries and others gave themselves up to accurate
studies upon the composition of rubber; neverthless, up. till
to-day, however, no definite result has as yet been arrived at.

The latex, a thick liquid which has the appearance of animal
milk, circulates in special vessels, distributed diversely in the
organism of certain plants.

The following are the results of the analysis obtained fran
the latex of the hevea braziliensis by Seelingmann, Scott and

Bamber: Seelingmann Scott Bamber

WEE adc sel, 5B a 56% 22 - 32% 55" 55%
Rubber ..scsvsc encase 32% 38% 138% 41" 32 %
Proteine ...........005- 2% to 3% 2°% a i)
RESil..: esudeaceee eee wea traces 3°% ~ QN%!
ASH .aeveceavese dun ea 0°% - O'%!
Suga: | cschesGutiass eaowy 4"% O"%!
Oily substances. ....... 9° % traces Sond

Specific weight: Seelingmann, 1.019. Bamber: 1.018. °°

It is advisable to note, that the proportion of water may
vary a great deal, influenced sometimes by the season being
either wet or dry, and at other times by the weakness or vigor
ofthe tree at the occasion of its being tapped.

The quantities of proteine, resin and ash are dependent on
the chemical composition of the soil, those quantities affect the

18

quality of the rubber, which is the more elastic, resistent and
durable the smaller the proportion of those elements.

In the coagulation of the latex, the resin incorporates itself
in the rubber, it becoming difficult to separate it, which, how-
ever, is necessary; the proteine or albuminous matter is the
cause of the developing of the bacteria which occasion the
putrefaction of the manufactured article.

The method employed in Brazil in the extraction of the latex
and in the preparation of rubber from the. heveas trees, is the
same as that which was taught by the natives and it is a re-
markable thing, that due to the excellency of the product result-
ing therefrom, it is considered even to-day as the best system.

The great production of rubber in Brazil, is due to the ex-
ploitation of the natural seringaes. A “seringal” or, better said
“seringaes”’ in the plural sense, are the forests where the hevea
trees flourish among other numerous specimens of luxuriant
vegetation, and in those regions everybody, i. e., all the able-
bodied men, occupy themselves with the extraction of rubber
and are known as “seringueiros.”

In order to exploit the “seringal,” operations are commenced
by the construction on the bank of the river, at a place easy of
access for navigation, of a large rustic edifice with out-buildings
and various sheds. The general edifice serves as a dwelling-
place for the owner or his representative and includes a general
store or shop with a tavern which does business in selling all
the necessary articles required in or connected with the life
of exploiting the “seringal,” a store-house for depositing the
rubber and an office or counting-house. The sheds are the
rudimentary habitation-huts of the “seringueiros” and are some-
times constructed in the interior of the forests, so as to facilitate
to a greater degree the work which they have in hand.

As soon as the forest is explored and the seringueiras dis-
covered, estrades are opened, these being winding roads cut in
the undergrowth and brush-wood with the “facdo” (a species of
large pruning-knife). and these roads connect a 100 or 150 rub-
ber trees and they lead back to their original starting point. At
sunrise; that is to say, at 6 o’clock in the morning, the ser-
ingueiro armed with a “tercado” a sort of speer, a fowling-piece
or sporting-gun, a small axe or hatchet, a pail and a large num-
ber of “tigelinhas,” commences his work. The hatchet is the
instrument employed for tapping the trees; it takes the form
of a common pole-axe, being, however, generally of cast iron
and with the edge of the blade blunt rather than sharp, and
from 3 to 4 centimetres broad. The tigelinhas are small vessels
or cups of tin-plate with a capacity of about one hundred
grammes and of a conical shape cut off at the top.

19

The seringueiro commences by striking the trees with the
hatchet, whose handle is about a metre long, which permits of
his making incisions at about from 3 to 3%4 metres from the
ground. That operation has for its object to make the latex
ascend from the roots; the milk that oozes out is utilized as
“sernamby.” Two days afterwards, the regular extraction com-
mences, a hatchet with a shorter handle being then used.

To bring this extraction about, “seringueiro” makes the
first incision at two metres from the ground, but those incisions
must not pierce the cambium and the “wood and are as a general
rule made at an inclination of 25°. At the lower part of the
incisions made by the blows, the “‘tigelinhas” are fixed, whose
sharp and cutting corner penetrates easily into the bark of the
tree. The seringuerio operates thus upon all the trees of his
road, and this work which occupies him about from 2 to 3 hours
being completed, he takes the pail capable of holding 10 litres
and recommences his round, gathering into that receptacle the
milk contained in the tapping cups, which now empty are boxed
one into the other and deposited close to the trunk of each tree.

After that second round and‘in order that the milk shall not
become deteriorated, commences the most delicate operation,
that of the smoking process.

For that’ operation, the seringueiro is supplied with a
“boido,’ a kindof ‘earthen funnel-shaped chimney, a form
made like a spatula or putty-knife and a kind of basin “cuia,”
like a dry gourd, made from the half of the fruit of the
cabaceiro (crescencia cuyeté). :

The fire made with ‘blocks of urucury (Ataléa ‘speciosa
Martius) or with fire-wood of massaranduba, rich in oily sub-
stances, being kindled, the seringueiro ‘places’ the “boiao” upon
it, the function of this latter being to canalize the smoke so that
it escapes at the top, which is open.

Through the loop of a cord hanging near to the “boiao” the
form is passed and sustained by the “seringueiro” who gives
it a gyratory movement; with the “cuya” or gourd, he pours
the latex into the part scooped out of the spatula, which he
carries off immediately to the smoke. The latex thickens and
forming ’a thin skin upon the which another coating of latex is
poured out, which is also passed to the smoke. Those successive
and alternate operations form the skins, large balls of rubber,
weighing from 20 to 60 kilos, which are the type exported from
Brazil. The smoke acting as a solidifyer and at the same time
a disinfectant by the presence of creosote, acetic acid, etc., kills
all the bacteria that produce putrefaction and hastens by its heat
the evaporation of the water:

The rubber thus formed is of a superior quality, but. when,

20

however, the curds still deposited in the basin, are incorporated
with it, the quality becomes damaged, being then quoted as
medium fine. The portion of milk which remains adhering to
the receptacle or which surrounds the boiao and which thickens
freely, is reunited into one single skin, and constitutes the
“sernamby.” ;

On the following day the work recommences, the seringueiro
making new incisions about 7 centimetres below the first, and
continuing thus until he reaches the ground.

To that series of blows in the vertical sense, 35 on the
average, is given the name arreacéo. In each seringueira 2
of these arreagdes can be made per year.

That process which with small variations is employed in all
Amazonia, produces, as is known, the best rubber in the world.
A seringal may contain in accordance with its size from 40
to 800 roads. Each seringueiro exploits 2 roads; in which he
works alternatively. The daily gathering varies between 2
and 8 litres of milk, but an average of 5 litres can-be taken
for a road which contains 120 seringueiras of 35 centimetres
diametre. As each arreagdo has 35 incisions and the seringueiras
supporting 2 “arreacgdes,” we have thus for each road 70 days or
140 days for the 2 roads; 700 litres of milk produce 400 kilos
or in other words 1.666 grammes per tree.

There are “seringaes,” however, in which that average is
considerably greater, a medium of 3 kilos per. tree not being an
exaggeration in some rivers.

Contrary to the almost sedentary life of the seringueiros, the
extractors of the caucho (known as caucheiros) are of nomadic
habits, and this is so by reason of the barbarous process em-
ployed in the exploitation of those trees which is a ruinous one.

The extraction of the latex of the “‘castill6a” can be done in
the same way as that of the latex of the heveas; the caucheiros
allege, however, that the cupim introducing itself into the
wounds made by the incisions soon causes the death of the
plant. Thus they argue that if the tree is condemned, the best
way is to cut it down so as to obtain the greatest benefit possible
out of it, by the complete utilization of the latex which each
tree contains. That reasoning, however, has no foundation

in fact

The exploitation of the castilléa is done in the following
manner: the “caucheiro” penetrates into the forest and marks
each castillda tree that he finds, with a cut from his knife, which
incisions correspond to a sign of possession for extraction later
on. Once he has discovered a certain number of these trees, he
constructs a temporary wooden hut for himself and then begins

el

his work. In the first place he clears the brush-wood around
each tree and cleans away the undergrowth from the ground, he
then opens small cavities in the lower part of the trunk into
which he fixes the “porringers,” small vessels made of tin, which
are to receive the latex. This done he strikes the tree with
oblique “entalhas” of from 1 to 1% metres. in length, canalizing
the latex which commences to run from the extensive wounds, by
means of mud gutters. At the end of 24 hours the little tin
vessels are full and their contents are then all poured into a pail,
the ‘“caucheiro” commencing thereafter to cut down the tree,
so as to get the full benefit of the latex, existing in the superior
part of its trunk. The tree as a general rule is cut at a point
above that where the incisions were made, the tree thus re-
maining suspended above the ground at one end by the lower
part of the trunk, where it remains fixed and at the other
by its own branches. Along the whole length of the trunk at
about a distance of an arm’s length from each other, new cir-
cular incisions are made and in corresponding cavities on the
ground are placed the receiving cups. The latex thus gathered
is collected into a pail.

The thickening is done with a solution of common soap
about 125 grammes to a pail of water, two pailfulls of that solu-
tion being necessary to thicken 30 litres of latex. They also
employ the juice of a liane called vetilla which by the description
given seems to belong to the convolvulas family—the Ipomea
patatas.

The thickening process takes place in rectangular holes of
1 metre long and half a metre broad, whose clayey sides are
well paved and into them the latex is poured, care being taken
that it is then covered up with palm leaves to prevent the entry
of rain water. They thus obtain the caucho planks (rubber in
cakes), which arrive in the market full of impurities, that de-
preciate its value very much and it is not at all a rare thing
that water exists in cavities in the interior of it, thereby in-
creasing the weight and making the transport dearer.

The portions of the latex which flow out along the length
of the trunk or fall into the cavities after that the cups have
been taken away, thicken itself freely and form the “sernamby”
of caucho, to-day much appreciated in the rubber markets, be-
cause of its being purer and not offering errors in weight.
Each adult tree furnishes on the average-from 50 to 56 litres
of latex or in other words nearly 30’kilos of rubber. Each cake
of the size above mentioned weighs nearly 60 kilos; it is thus
necessary to cut down three trees so as to obtain one cake.

The trees cut down sprout and commence to grow again, but

22

eight years are necessary to elapse before they can be exploited
anew. :

No accord has so far been established as to the best methods
of extraction to be employed for the different species of mani-
coba, nor as to the period most appropriate, the duration of the
tapping or the yield of the wild trees or planted trees of dif-
ferent ages. :

The system adopted for the natural manicgoba, consisting in
the tapping of the subterranean organs, has been applied to culti-
vated manicoba; the incisions are made in a transversal sense
and have the form of a V with the angle more or Jess rounded.

The latex is gathered in the ground, at the bottom of a small
cavity, opened up on the occasion of the discovery of the parts
destined to be tapped; as a rule the worker covers the bottom
of the cavity with a coat of clay in powder, in order to pre-
vent the penetration of the latex and its mixing with the sandy
soil; the employment of tigelinhas is desirable or of pots of
glazed clay, refractory to rust.

The latex thickens during the day, forming a sort of flat
ball or biscuit of rubber, which goes on augmenting as the
tapping process is multiplied. At the end of a week the rubber
which has been obtained, is gathered together and washed in
cold water, with a view of eliminating the remains of the serum
and other impurities. This method, although primitive, permits
of the production of pure rubber. The trunks and branches
of the manicgoba are also cut; however, such system occasions
great inconvenience. The extensive flaws heal up with dif-
ficulty, as the bark of the tree is relatively thin the lactiferous
vessels are located in the deep layers; it is not a rare thing
that the death of the tree is caused thereby or that the attack
of rodent insects or mushrooms is thereby facilitated. It may
be of importance to note, that the incisions made simultaneously
on the trunk, the branches and the underground parts, speedily
exhaust the manicobeiras; and so the system of an alternate
cutting is preferable.

The tappings are practiced during the first six months of the
year.and-extend themselves over a period of from 50 to 60 days.
Owing,to the lack of data, the average yield of production, which
varies according to the age of the trees, cannot be determined,
however, the average production of the planted manicobas may
under reserve, be calculated to reach during the space of 60 days
120, 180, 240, and 300 grammes per tree of 2, 3, 4 and 5 years
respectively, in accordance with a calculation made by Dr. L.
Zehnter.

The actual cost price in the plantations does not exceed 1$500
per kilo, and might be reduced through an improvement in the

23

systems employed; the cost price of rubber from the native mani-
coba is higher, due to the dearness of labor and of freights.

There is so’ far no process which may be called the best for
extracting rubber from the mangabeira; the process in use varies
with the region, all of them, however, leading to the complete
extinction of the plant.

Under the pretext of the cupim destroying the plant, attack-
ing the incisions that have been made, the latex is usually
extracted at a small height from the ground. In the “sertdes”
or wild woodlands of Bahia, Pernambuco and Parahyba, the
extraction is done by making a spiral cutting from the thickest
branches to the ground, where the cavity is made for receiving
the latex.

Nevertheless, the incisions with the cup attached is now
being employed, in the same manner as is customary with the
seringueira; for that purpose, the exploiters make horizontal
incisions or in shape of a V, with a small instrument called an
alegre, penetrating the entire coating of the bark, in the full
length of the trunk, from the thickest branches down to the
base, about 45 centimetres distance one from another.

The latex is thickened, sometimes simply with water in the
proportion of 3 to 1, and at other times with chlorate of sodium
alone, or with a mixture of alum, as is customary in Bahia and
in S. Paulo, or now again by the action of alum-stone, double
sulphate of aluminium and of potassium as is done in Per-
nambuco, Parahyba, and Rio Grande do Norte. All those pro-
cesses present serious inconveniences, such as the entry of water
augmenting the weight, the baneful effects and dampness arising
from the use of a large proportion of salt, or the loss of elasticity
due to the last mentioned process, which turns the rubber cracky
and resinous. The smoking process seems in every way to
be advisable whenever the richness of the milky-latex in rub-
ber is perfectly comparable to that of the hevea.

Whilst it is affirmed that the production per tree is from 3
to 5 kilogrammes it is more prudent to calculate the average
capacity: of each tree as at 1 kilogramme.

24

THE ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF RUBBER
EXPLOITATION

The economic organization of the exploitation of rubber in
the Amazonic valley still remains in its rudimentary condition,
continuing almost exactly on the same lines as those adopted
when the production of this article—one of:the principal sources
of the wealth of Brazil—first began to open up.

This unaltered condition of affairs in the modifying of the
economical processes, is the consequence of the continuance of
certain conditions such as the existence of vast regions still
entirely unexplored; the progressive penetration of the serifi-
gueiros guided by the course of the rivers into far away regions
where rapid mearis of communication are completely lacking,
the scarcity of labor, and the necessity of capital being embarked
in the extraction of rubber,

The régime of private property is still limited, and does not
extend beyond a few kilometres into the Interior, starting from
the banks of the’rivers, since the greater part of the lands still
continue to be the property of the States either of Amazonas or
of Para, and—in the territory of the Acre—of the Federal
Government.

With the object of peopling ide rubber- Sroitictae regions
endeavors are being made’ to facilitate the acquiring of prop-
erties by furnishing their owners with adequate guarantees of
protection, special Public Departments having ‘already been
created in the State of Amazonas and’ Para devoted to the fiscali-
zation of the régime of lands; and the régime of lands in the
Acre Territory is about to be regulated at once by the Federal
Government in accordance with the determinations set forth in
the new economic measure known as the Rubber Defense Act.

The proprietory question originated itself in the concession
of lands granted‘ under ¢ertain ‘conditions such as that of its
effective exploitation and cultivation, colonization, etc., and by
the legitimation of the possession. These last were established
in the following'manner: —

The explorer who penetrated into the forest in search of
geringaes, examined the ‘banks of the ‘river by which he went
up and when he verified the existence of a favorable zone, he
landed and after a careful exploration: under the direction of
specialist-workmen called ‘‘‘matteiros” (foresters) he settled
down and' gave himself up to the exploitation of the ‘ ‘seringal” ‘he
selected.

25

That occupation of virgin ground and its being made use of
constituted the act of possession, the first step towards acquir-
ing the property. In order to definitely assure the dominion of
the lands selected, it became necessary to obtain a title of owner-
ship from the Government of the State in which these lands
were located, this being drawn up only after that the respective
marking out and survey by an authorized engineer or sur-
veyor, the depositing of the respective plans, the verification
that no anterior rights or claims existed on the part of third
parties, as also the payment of the respective taxes being satis-
fied, which last averaged about 5$000 per hectare.

Only after that all these formalities had been complied with,
was the concession granted definitely, and the possession con-
sidered as complete. The title deeds of the property with the
respective specifications is registered in special blocks, which
will serve as proof in case of future dispute and will furnish
authentic documents in place of the property-titles. that may
have been mislaid or lost. Once the concession legalized and
the possession marked out, the property rights are considered
irrefutable. :

The dominion of the lands being assured, their usefulness
will depend upon the co-existence of two essential factors—
labor and capital.

In the regions of the Amazonian valley, sparingly peopled
by the want of direct immigration, the work is done by the
natives and principally by Cearenses, people from Ceara.

Under the general designation of Cearenses are comprised
the populations of the northeast of the country from Bahia to
Piauhy, a strong race endowed with rare energy. Having
immigrated from their native state fleeing from privations to
which the periodical dry seasons reduce them, they arrive com-
pletely without the means of subsistence, it being necessary for
the owners of the “seringas’” who contract their services to take
measures for their transport, alimentation and maintenance in the
seringaes until with the delivery of the rubber collected, they
find themselves in a position to liquidate the debts that they
have contracted and the expenses that have been occasioned.

On the other hand in their turn the owners of seringaes not
disposing of capital are placed under the necessity of raising
loans with which to defray the exploitation of their lands. These
resources are furnished them by the traders, part in money and
part in merchandise, these traders being known as aviadores
whilst the proprietors are called patrons or aviados.

.The extensive credits opened by the traders constitute acts of
confidence, being guaranteed more by the activity and initiative
of the proprietors of the seringaes, than by their respective

26

properties; the heavy burdens with which these loanings or
advances of money are weighed down, have their origin in the
risk which is run by advancing such capital, due to the diffi-
culties of collecting the debts contracted and the far distant
nature of the lands given in guarantee. It frequently happens
that the traders do not dispose of sufficient means for carrying
out all these lending operations in which case they fall back
upon the exporting houses, who advance them the necessary
money, against a contract to hand over the rubber at a certain
date and at prices previously fixed.

4¢Thus is established a successive dependency of the seringueiro
on the owner of the property, this latter in his turn on the
merchant-trader and finally of the merchant-trader upon the
exporting house.

Thereafter it is seen how grievously the system of want of
capital acts on the whole system on the exportation of rubber
and the long series of intermediaries. 2

Let us see now what is the capital which the owner of the
seringal requires to possess for an exploitation of say 200 roads.

A seringal with 200 roads exacts altogether the work of 100
men, whose engagements in the region where they reside and
their transport as far as the “seringal” costs on an average
40 :000$000 and to each one of them is supplied a sum of 850$000
destined to defray the costs of purchase of the indispensable
material for making a commencement with the work of exploita-
tion; out of an initial sum estimated at from 75 :000$000 to
80 :000$000 including casual expenses.

Arrived at their destination, the seringueiros, as they find
themselves comyletely without means, continue to be a burden
on the budget of their contractors during the period of the clear-
ing the forests of brush-wood and undergrowth, and the cutting
of roads, which are the preliminaries to the gathering in of the
rubber. Up till the date of the final delivery, which takes place
_from 6 to 7 months afterwards, the proprietor expends nearly
100 :000$000 with the feeding and maintenance of the serin-
gueiros, which is but the preface to a total sum of 180 :000$000
inscribed on the books of the aviador or merchant-trader as
being the indebtedness of the owner of the seringal.

This latter in order to meet the charges of the up-keep of the
seringueiros, establishes ‘“‘vendas” or selling-stores, by means of
which he supplies not only the goods of first necessity for con-
sumption, but also the tools, utensils and, indeed, everything
that is required for the proper exploitation of the “‘seringal.”

These “vendas” or supply-stores are stocked by the mer-
chant-trader of Belém and Manaos, who send them periodically

in steamers or steam launches, the necessary merchandise. Ac-
27 i

cording to the season of the year, the rainy or the dry season,
the greater or less the distance to be navigated, in short, in
accordance with the condition of navigability of the rivers, the
trips are made fortnightly, quarterly or perhaps only twice a
ear.

The merchandise dispatched is debited to the owner of the
“seringal” at the invoice price, augmented by the high expenses
for insurance, freight and a commission which varies from
20 to 30 per cent. according to the time-term stipulated for the
payment in cash or the delivery of the rubber.

The owner of the “seringal” in his turn re-sells in retail the
merchandise received, putting on a high profit to its original
price; the seringueiros who already pay interest at the rate of
20 per cent upon the advance of the 350$000 which is made to
them at the time of their being contracted, are obliged to supply
their needs exclusively in the store of the proprietor of the
“seringal” and to hand him the rubber which they may have
gathered in payment thereof.

The initial supplying of the utensils amounting to 200$000
added to the cost of the journey which runs for account of the
seringueiro himself, absorb the 850$000 of the advance; and
his expenses, whilst the extraction of the rubber is proceed-
ing—which lasts for 6 or % months—totals up to about
1:000$000, so that when he comes to hand over the rubber, he
is already responsible to the proprietor of the “seringal” for an
amount of about 350$000 including the payment for the renting
of the road explored.

His production being on an average of about 400 kilos (in
certain regions it is much greater), the worker finishes his en-
terprise with a very small profit and it is not a rare case that he
is not able to satisfy all his indebtedness, a circumstance, this
latter, which keeps him continually dependent upon the owner
of the “seringal.”

On handing over the rubber, the conditions of payment are
adjusted and these are generally made in one of the two fal-
lowing ways: either the seringueiro sells the rubber directly to
the proprietor of the “seringal” at a reduction of one-third upon
the prices ruling in the markets of Belém or Manaos; or he en-
charges him to sell it in the referred-to market with a discount
of 35 kilos of rubber or with a discount'of from 10 to 15 per cent.
of the net price of such sale, given in payment of the renting of
the road exploited.

-. This defective economic organization of the exploitation of
rubber has, as its consequence, the high costs of production
which to-day oscillate between 3$000 to 8$500 per kilo. This

28

disadvantageous situation, however, is not a permanent one and
may be remedied.

We shall leave for a special chapter the explanation of the
means recently adopted for bettering the condition of the serin-
gueiros, augmenting their productive capacity and recompensing
them more justly for their work.

TRANSPORTS AND FREIGHTS

The problem of transports and freight continues to be one of
the most palpitating questions in Brazil, notwithstanding the
great progress in this particular made during the last 10 years.

The considerable increase in the mercantile marine. and the
incessant construction of the numerous railroads of penetration,
have not been able to,keep pace with the extraordinary develop-
ment of the country and its notable economic expansion, the
national commerce continuing to feel the want of further means
of transport and to suffer from the very high rates of freights.

In Amazonia, the difficulty of communication has become
still more felt because. of the, vast region and territories em-
braced in this great State, sparingly peopled and whose centres
of production are located so far distant from the exporting mar-
kets of Manaos and. Belém de Para.

.Watered in eyery direction by innumerable great. rivers,
tributaries of. the great river—the Amazon—the greatest in the
world, the Amazonic region still remains to a very great part
unexplored, inestimable riches susceptible of being extracted,
lying unutilized, in virtue of the deficiency in navigation; in fact,
if the principal rivers are navigated regularly to some extent,
even though sparingly, others leading to immensely rich regions
are very rarely navigated by either ship or boats, which might
assure the transport of the products gathered. |

Many and divers are the circumstances which concur towards
bringing about this state of affairs, but the most important in
resumé is that of the want of capital for the construction of
ships and the establishment of regular lines of fluvial navigation
as also the obstacles offered either by the irregular courses of
some rivers obstructed by waterfalls, shoots and rapids, or simply
obstructed by the trunks of trees, and other materials or by the
diminutive volume of water during the dry seasons which makes
impossible navigation of even ordinary draught. |

One of the most interesting phases of the Amazonian problem
is, however, in the regulating and increasing of the navigation
of the rivers, with the object of assuring ample transport facilities

29

and the approximation to the centres of production with the
consuming markets. The opening up of the ways of fluvial com-
munication is an essential condition to the progress of the
Amazonic region, by the lesser expenditure required by trans-
port upon water in comparison with land transportation which in
those regions would be particularly difficult and costly.

The steamers and boats which set out from Manaos or Belém
for the Interior, make the passage generally, over-charged with
merchandise which by reason of accumulation and its defective
packing suffers not rarely serious damages which has the result
of bringing about a notable increment in prices. As a general
rule the cargo being greater than the space requisite to its
accommodation, makes the navigation extremely difficult, the
steamers thus not being able to make head-way against the cur-
rent, which flows at the rate of from 3 to 5 miles an hour, or
desiring to diminish the expense in the consumption of coal,
seek out the waters the less agitated and approach as much as
possible the banks of the river.

The want of minute hydrographic charts and the imprudence
of the captains, as also of the masters of steam launches and
other floating material, have, as a consequence, the bringing
about of frequent strandings, which even though they may not
cause damage to the cargo involve interruptions in the trip
sufficiently prejudicial.

The unloadings are made frequently on the banks of the
rivers under little favorable conditions, by reason of the want of
wharves; are very slow and occasion besides lamentable delays,
very heavy expenses principally for the packages of great weight.

One of the causes which most determine the dearness of
transport in Amazonia, is the supply of combustibles to the
steamers, these latter taking in coal only at the port of departure
in Belém or Manaos, and this being consumed, purchase wood
fuel along the route just as they require it, and for a high price,
subjecting themselves thus to the delays incident to loading, at
times very great. Coal mines in the basin of the Caqueta have
been discovered, but so far it has not been possible to derive any
benefit from them, owing to the want of the necessary studies
and analysis, which only now the Federal Government is begin-
ning to have made. ,

For the betterment of this state of things the Federal Govern-
ment also pretends to.contract with a large public company for
the establishment of coal depots and combustible oil, at the most
appropriate points of the rivers on which the greatest movement
takes place in the-valley of the Amazon, so that the steamers
may be supplied for prices according to’ a tabular’ statement
previously approved for each year.” oo

30

The descent of the floating material by the rivers is much
less onerous, as the consumption of combustibles is thereby con-
siderably diminished, thanks to the current which gives an easy
impulsion to the floating material; the trips are notwithstanding
slow, much time being lost in picking up cargo, almost exclu-
sively rubber, on the banks of the rivers.

The irregularity in the navigation either due to the deficiency
of the floating. material or by the natural obstacles that the
flooding of the rivers bring about, cause extensive prejudice, as
it obliges the large cargoes of merchandise upon whose price

‘high interest is collected and occasions them considerable loss
_of goods deteriorated by their remaining for a long time in sheds
-and by the damaging effect of heat and dampness.

' From thence arises the lamentable dearness of life and the
bad alimentation, with their evil results on the health of the
inhabitants of those far-away-regions.

The retention in the seringaes of large stocks of rubber de-
prived of the means of transport must also not be forgotten and
its coming simultaneously on to the market at certain times,
being taken advantage of by speculators is an important cause
of the fall in prices which affects the interests of producres to
an appreciable degree.

Regularity and frequency in navigation, permitting successive
and regular supplies of rubber would diminish in notable pro-

. portions the cost of production, since it would cheapen the cost
of labor and avoid the great oscillations usual in the prices.

In order to obtain that desideratum it is not sufficient’ to
create new lines of navigation. nor to augment the number of
floating material or better their conditions, but it is necessary
to adopt certain complementary measures. Thus in the im-
possibility of preparing from the outset minute hydrographic
charts, a measure which would require great expenditure ; it were
advisable in order to make navigation more secure to indicate
by means of small light houses and illuminated buoys of acety-
line, the dangerous points which it is desirable to avoid.

In order to obviate the difficulties created by the formation
of sand banks, by the accumulation of trunks of trees, and of
obstacles of all kinds, it is necessary ‘that attention be. paid con-
stantly to the cleansing of the rivers’ and dragging them, in
cases where the obstructions cannot be removed by other means

‘and the construction of railways and wagon roads connecting
the navigable points.

:It would be of the greatest utility to bring about the exten-
sion and. opening up of telegraphic lines joining the producing
centrés with the central markets, such measures would have
‘the most beneficient results as much for the owners of seringaes

31

as for the shipowners, these latter being once aware of such
facilities would cause their ships to be. directed to the points
where they were required to discharge merchandise or take in
rubber or vice-versa and thus avoid all uncertainty upon the
advantages to be reaped from those trips, because of the want
of knowledge of the cargoes that are being reserved for them,
and those who are in contact with them in the markets where
the product is sold may be advised as to the quotations and the
market prices of the merchandise so that they may take advan-
tage of the most favorable times for effecting their transactions.

The message presented by His Excellency Marchal Hermes
da Fonseca, President of the Republic of the United States of
Brazil on the third of May of this current year, made special
reference to the services of the radio-telegraph in the territory of
the Acre, expressing himself in the following terms:

“The three radio-telegraphic stations that have been con-
tracted for in December of 1910, are now in full working order,
those of the Rio Branco and Senna Madueira having been in-
augurated in September of 1911 and in February of this year.
that of Cruzeiro de Sul, which besides speaking with those two
and therefore with Manaos, communicates also. with Iquitos in
the Republic of Pert.

In order to complete this very useful improvement ordered to
be done in such a happy hour, there were also contracted for
two other stations, one of these being in Xapury and the other
in Taruaca, places having a great future before them and already
containing an appreciable population as well as a notable material
development..

With the installation of those two stations, the territory will
be perfectly well equipped in regard to the question of tele-
graphic communications.

As a consequence of the dearness and the difficulties in the
means of transport we get the excessive rises in freight, which
at times are equal to and are often greater than the value
of the merchandise transported; the truth is that the crisis in
rubber made them suffer a certain fall and we no longer see such
a thing happen as that the shipowner pays for the price of his
steamers in two round trips.

The dominating principle is that of liberty of commerce. In
order to assure regular services on the principal rivers, the
Federal Government as well as the Governments of the States of
Amazonas and Para subsidize certain companies whose tables of
freight charges are approved by the Public Powers. That these
are still very high is shown by the fact of competition which
in certain lines takes place between the subsidized companies
and private shipowners; the latter, however, not being able to go

32

beyond the tariff tables of the former, they nevertheless obtain
freights and passengers which proportion them high profits,
demonstrating thus that the tables of freight tariffs of the sub-
sidized companies are still a long way from the maximum of
reduction.

The Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural Congress which
took place in Manaos from the 22nd to 27th of February of
1910, considering this position, resolved to recommend to the
Public Powers the remodelling of the actual freight tariffs
principally in that part of them which relate to alimentary goods,
necessary to the sustaining of the extractors of rubber and in
the sense of their being substantially cheapened.

Even to-day one of the best businesses in the Amazonic
regions consists in chartering steamers for trafficking on the
rivers.

If the freight rates on the sections served by the subsidized
lines are high, greater still are these on the less favored sections
where the rapids of the rivers flowing among the seringaes,
make navigation difficult, because in these latter there being no
freight tables, they make the price according to their judgment,
such prices of transport being contracted directly according to
the circumstances of the occasion with the shipper, who has to
pay the price as the masters of the steamers are pleased or re-
solved to charge.

The owners of seringaes subject themselves to the heavy
burdens which they are bound to put up with, in the hope of
escaping the damage that the retention of their produce for
waiit of transport would cause them .

It is not only the fluvial navigation freights that are much
too burdensome, for the freights for ocean navigation are also
burdened with this grave defect and thus it is that despite the
fact of the distance which separate Brazil from New York and
from London, is only half that between the consuming mar-
kets and the east, the freights for the latter are incomparably
less. It behooves the Governments of countries producing
rubber in South America to come to an arrangement so as to
confer adequate premiums on the navigation companies to
Europe and to the United States, who cheapen their freights
and’ cut. down in a satisfactory manner the duration of the
voyage.

33

INTERNAL MARKETS FOR RUBBER—ORGAN-
IZATION AND WORKING—TYPES
AND QUOTATIONS

Located in the centre of the most important rubber produc-
ing region of the world, Belém and Manaos, the capitals. of
the two great states of the north, are, in Brazil, the principal
markets of that product. Nearly 90 per cent. of the Brazilian
exportation proceeds from there, the 16,000 tons of rubber
which each of these markets export annually gives place to a
considerable mass of business.

If it be true that the commercial transactions gyrate around
equal quantities of rubber, Belém has the advantage over
Manaos, because it is the seat of a great part of the large ex-
porting houses that operate in the two capitals. Its geographical
situation which permits of more rapid communication with the
markets of the south, and with foreign ports, contributes also
towards its greater commercial importance.

The uses and customs are identical in the two markets.
Commerce obeys a rule above all unfavorable to the sellers who
cannot put a value on their merchandise but are forced before
all things to accept the price imposed by the buyers. That dis-
advantageous condition of dependency is the natural outcome of
the deficient economic organization in the exploitation of the
rubber industry in the valley of the Amazon. Reference has
already been made in another place to the burdensome .com-
mercial relations between the seringueiros and the patrons or
proprietors of seringaes and between the same patrons and
the commercial traders. The same vices and defects are to
be found in the relations between the commercial traders and
the great exporting houses. Those latter, possessors of large
capital and united together in the common interests, dominate
the market, which, weakened by successive crises and always
in a precarious state cannot oppose them an efficacious -re-
sistence. Cae mon

That situation can only be modified in the case of the actual
economic and commercial methods, which place in the hands of
the merchant-trader all the responsibility of the conduction of
business in the place, without at the same time arming them
with the means of defence against unrestricted speculations,

The merchant-trader’s houses are the intermediaries between
the seringueiros and the exporting houses. But, their principal
function is that of furnishing the seringueiro during the year

34

all the goods necessary to sustain him and his employes as well
as supplying him with tools, utensils, wearing apparel and in
fact, everything that may be necessary to his life in the
seringaes.

This supplying is done on credit, that is to say, against the
remittance of rubber produced by the borrower and which is
sold on its arrival by the merchant-trader to the exporting
houses. :

The merchant-trader thus requires large capital so as to meet
the engagements that he assumes in the market with the great
and numerous supplies, which he is obliged to make.

It is incumbent on him also to transport the same for which
he nearly always employs steamers of his own, in order to bring
the merchandise to its destination in far-away regions, bringing
back on the return trip the rubber collected by his aviados, i.e.,
his borrowers of the seringaes.

The responsibilities assumed become due on the occasion of
the arrival of the cargoes of rubber. In fact, it is exactly at
this moment that the merchant-trader is most in need of
money, because besides the imperious duty of .paying the
amount of his debts and the immediate necessity which he has of
furnishing new supplies to his clients the aviados, he has still
yet expenses to disburse with the repair and fitting out of the
steamers, which owing to the bad conditions in the navigation
of the rivers return nearly always in a damaged condition;
balances to pay to the seringueiros whose debts were relatively
small or advances to make to those whose production was in-
ferior in value to the supply sent, but who required a new re-
source under the danger of otherwise not being able ever to
liquidate their debt.

Thus it is that the aviador or merchant-trader has no other
remedy, but to sell without delay the rubber which has been
consigned to him and that is the psychological moment for the
decided action of the buyers.

Reduced as to number, well informed about the business
and in the possession of daily and direct notices from the con-
suming markets, perfectly bound up to them by a question of
mutual interest, they decide to make the price for the merchan-
dise that is offered to them. It is not always that that price
corresponds in reality to those of the foreign market, but the
apprehension that seizes the merchant-trader that moved by their
interests the buyers may resolve to retire the offer, does not
permit him either to hesitate or resist. He hands over the mer-
chandise with a small profit and not uncommonly with a loss.

Treating of an article which up till to-day has been produced
in asquantity inferior to the necessity of the industry, whose

35

price was kept up high, much above that which might be called
a remunerative price, that inversion of the law of economics is
a very curious one, because, in this case, it is not the producer
who imposes the price, but the buyer who does so. ;

The difficulties which the merchant-trader had to fight
against, have been increased lately with the advent of the
“regat6es,” a species of barter-commission travelers on the rivers.
This ‘trade is exercised by individuals acting for their own ac-
count or as agents of the merchants and who go up the rivers
with merchandise, doing business at sight in exchange for
money or rubber, diverting in this way a large part of the trans-
actions until now exercised through the inter-medium of the
merchant-traders.

The principal causes of the precarious position of the
“aviadores” or merchant-traders are the lack of adequate capital
and the want of banking facilities and other establishments of
credit which might come to their aid.

The export houses, however, operate with the greatest firm-
ness. They discount the drafts for the rubber bought, in the
agencies of the English banks, and with the product of this
operation pay the merchant-traders, and as these drafts are at
90 days sight, it is only after the rubber is sold in New York
or in Liverpool that they satisfy their indebtedness, thus traffick-
ing almost covered from any risk whatsoever.

The aviador or merchant-trader receives the rubber by the
weight which it shows at the moment of being unloaded; if the
trip is a long one the shortage in weight of the rubber may be
as much as 15 per cent.; if, on the other hand, there has been
no time, owing to the shortness of the trip, for such a-thing to
happen, it is certain that on its being magazined or stored-up,
it will continue to quebrar, i. e., diminish in weight. Thus, there-
fore, it is to the interest of all parties concerned to sell it and
export it as soon after its arrival as possible, which, however,
does not mean to say that the question of shortage is not an
element which comes into play in making the estimate of its
yalue.

The classifying of the rubber is done upon the occasion of
its sale, this being an operation which necessitates a long ex-
perience and practice in the knowledge of the article.

Two workmen with iron instruments which they call “gatos,”
take hold of the skin (smoke-cured roll or ball) by the orifice
which is left in its shape on its being made, at the same time that
a third workman cuts it down the middle with a sharp instru-
ment called a “tracado.” By this means it is easy to ascertain
if the manufacture of the internal coatings or layers has’ been

‘36

done with the necessary care, and if the weight has been affected
by water, or by any other extraneous body.

If the rubber presents itself with an uniform aspect, per-
fectly smoked and sufficiently elastic, it is classed ‘‘fina.” If,
however, any points present spongy parts proceeding from
coagulation of the latex anterior to the smoking process, it is
styled “entre-fina.” To the agglomeration of residue which con-
geals freely, the name of “sernamby”’ is given.

There is still the ‘“borracha fraca” little elastic, whose
mercantile value is put in the same category as “sernamby” and
which does not come from the latex of the hevea.

This work being finished, the rubber is bought in accordance
with the quotations of the day, based upon prices coming from
England and from the United States, but as has already been
explained, this quotation is not always respected.

There is another anomaly to which it is advisable to refer:
whilst the “entre-fina” and the sernamby are quoted abroad at
least at 200 réis and 1$800 réis less than the “fina” the markets
of Belém and Manaos show a difference of 800 réis and 2$000.

There are other abuses which also take place in the classify-
ing of the rubber, which gives as a result that the buyers prefer
to do business upon inferior qualities, because these offer a
larger margin for profits.

The rubber is exported in American pineboxes which can
hold nearly 150 Kilos. The dearness of manual labor in the
Amazon territory makes it difficult to take advantage of the
innumerable species of timber-woods in which the valley of the
great river is so abundantly rich.

In the remaining markets of the country where the rubber is
negotiated, the price is regulated by the quotations in Para.
These local markets are of little importance and in nothing do
they distinguish themselves as to the relative transactions in
rubber, from the general mass of business. The class of aviadores
or merchant-trader does not exist. Each producer sends his
stock to his agent or representative or sells it to the first buyer.
The rubber is collected from either manigoba or mangabeira.

In the commerce of those products, the markets of Bahia and
Fortaleza stand out the most prominently, to which places a cer-
tain appreciable portion of cultivated plantation rubber converges
every year besides a great quantity of native rubber.

37

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL IMPORTANCE—
FEDERAL AND STATE REVENUE—
EXPORTATION TAX

The most superficial examination of the actual economic po-
sition of Brazil demonstrates at once and in an incisive manner
how important the rubber industry is to the national life of the
country.

Possessor of the innumerable riches distributed by the three
Kingdoms of Nature, it is almost exclusively due to the cultiva-
tion of coffee and to the extraction of rubber that Brazil owes
its extraordinary commercial development in’ these last twenty

ears.

- The great fortunes which the plantations of the famous red-
bean of the coffee-tree created in the South and the considerable
profits which the exploitation of the precious gum have pro-
duced in the North, were certainly the causes which most influ-
enced the development of the production to such an extraor-
dinary degree, relegating to a much lower schedule in the gen-
eral tabular statement of Brazilian exportation, all the products,
whose commerce although certainly remunerative, does not show
such certain and speedy results.

The general exportation of Brazilian merchandise was £63,-
724,440 in 1909, £63,091,547 in 1910 and £66,838,982 in 1911. To
these totals, coffee and rubber contributed during each of the
same three years £52,401,276, £51,342,278 and £55,458,221 re-
spectively—totals these, sufficient by themselves, to guarantee
with advantage the Brazilian international commercial equilib-
rium, when it is seen that in those said same years, the general
importation of merchandise amounted to £37,139,354, £47,871,974
and £52,798,016.

Rubber contributed to the general total of exportation with
29.70 per cent in 1909, 39.06 per cent in 1910 and 22.53 per cent
in 1911, or in other words an average of 30.43 per cent per an-
num. It is worthy of note, that the great difference which took
place in the above-mentioned percentages is explained in
the fluctutions in the prices of rubber, since the production not
only did not decrease, but, as a matter of fact, increased from
year to year. Therefore it is seen that nearly one-third of Bra-
zil’s export trade is supplied by rubber, and it is nearly twenty
millions of pounds sterling that Brazil receives every year, and
which goes far to provide for the sustentation, not only of the
population of the Brazilian Northwest, comprised in the great

38

States of Para, Amazons and Matto-Grosso and the Federal Ter-
ritory of the Acre, but for the prosperity of the North-
east States, which get:the benefit of a good part of that sum
through the intermedium of their sons, who live by the exploi-
tation of the rubber; the Southern States benefit in their turn by
the abundance of money in the North, that most secure guarantee
of their prosperity, since that being producers of cereals, xarque,
coffee, sugar, textile goods, hats and shoes, for a long time al-
ready they have constituted themselves the principal furnishers
of food-stuffs and wearing apparel to that region. Finally there
is still to be considered the benefit to be brought indirectly to
the whole country because that sum goes to increase the com-
merce of importation, thus powerfully augmenting the Federal
Customs Revenue.

The sum obtained by the States of the Amazons and Para and
by the Federal Territory of the Acre, is also considerable every
year by the tribute paid on the rubber going out.

This last Territory of the Acre, since its incorporation with
Brazil by. the Treaty of Petropolis concluded with Bolivia in
1903, cost the Union (including the expenses incident to the ac-
quisition of the Territory and other resulting compromises of the
said treaty, such as the arbitral Tribunal, loans to Bolivia, mark-
ing out of the frontier, construction of the Madeira-Marmoré
Railroad and expenses for the mobilization of troops, etc.),
up till 1909 the sum of Rs. 62,595 :562$038; the revenue brought
in during the same period attained the sum of Rs. 58,052 :-
757$012, in 1910 moreover the tax upon the rubber produced
was Rs. 19,867 :529$159 and in 1911 Rs. 9,671:711$068, or in
other words Rs. 29,539 :240$227 more, which should be carried
to the credit of that very rich region. The rubber of the Acre
is exported through the intermedium of the markets of Belém
and Manaos, the impost-tax of 20 per cent ad valorem being
collected on the occasion of its shipment.

The States of Amazonas and Para cannot dispense quickly
without very serious economic disturbance with the revenue
receivable from the tribute paid on the exportation of rubber. As
a matter of fact, the State of Amazonas collected the sum of Rs.
16,845 :585$063 in 1909, Rs. 18,069 :162$372 in 1910 and Rs. 12,-
901 :477$379 in 1911; the impost-tax upon rubber brought in those
same years respectively Rs. 13,316 :487$569, Rs. 14,836 :235$238
and Rs. 9,999 :031$526, which can also be reckoned by 79.04 per
cent, 82.11 per cent and 77.50 per cent.

The State of Amazonas taxes rubber produced in the State
itself, in 18 per cent ad valorem, and that coming from the Jav-
ary, the boundary river with Pert, in 7 per cent.

39

In its turn Para has had in the form of revenue collected in
those years, the amounts of Rs. 19,039 :709$531, Rs. 20,255:-
070$604 and Rs. 14,480 :716$176, the import-tax on rubber ren-
dering Rs. 14,602 :759$269, Rs. 14,701:894$955 and Rr. 9,518:-
716$267, or 76.69 per cent, 72.58 per cent and 65.73 per cent.

' The taxes charged by Para are 22 per cent ad valorem for
Rubber “fina,” “entre-fina” and “sernamby,” and 15 per cent for
whatever other kind. Besides those there is an additional tax
of 2.5 per cent in benefit of the Santa Casa de Misericordia
charged on the exportation taxes.

These figures seem to show the importance for those
States of questions concering the production and .consump-
tion of the world’s rubber, and with greater reason still for Brazil
as a whole. The ruin of one of the most promising regions on
the face of the globe, the profound depreciation of Brazilian
finances and the dreaded commercial crisis with which the coun-
try would have to fight, would be the disastrous effect of the
indifference of the Federal and States Governments on such a
matter. But that, however, is not the attitude of those Govern-
ments; they are decreeing various measures now in course of be-
ing carried out and which after minute studies were judged nec-
essary, so that Brazil might continue to maintain her proud po-
sition of importance for the precious “black gold” (rubber) in
the world’s market.

RUBBER-CONSUMING MARKETS — COMPETITION
OF OTHER RUBBER-PRODUCING COUNTRIES

New York, Liverpool, London, Hamburg, Antwerp and
Havre are at the present time, by their order of importance, the
principal world’s markets for rubber.

New York, by virtue of the extraordinary development of
North American industries, which in a steadily increasing scale,
are consuming constantly greater quantities of raw material, re-
ceives almost half of the rubber produced in all the world.
Nearly 60 per cent of the rubber negotiated in New York is
Brazilian. After this follow Central America and Mexico; but
as rubber proceeding from all parts appears in the New York
market it is evident that there is no specialty in this business.

Liverpool, perhaps due to the fact of its being the port to
which the lines of navigation that run to and from the Amazon
are directed, has become the European emporium for Brazilian
rubber. In fact, 40 per cent of the Brazilian production is di-

40

rected towards that city. Liverpool also receives rubber of va-
rious qualities proceeding from the English and other European
possessions in equatorial Africa.

The increasing production of the Oriental plantations finds in
London one of its principal markets for the precious gum. Al-
though rubber proceeding from different parts appears in the
market, it may be affirmed without hesitation, that London is
the special centre for cultivated refined rubber (plantation)
which is easily explained by the fact that the owners of the ex-
tensive plantations in the Malay States are nearly all of them
London companies.

Occidental and Oriental Africa, principally German Colonies,
send to Hamburg the greater part of the rubber which is nego-
tiated on that market. Brazil enters with about 20 per cent of
the total amount of the business.

Antwerp owes its rubber trade to the creation of the Congo
Free State, whose production, now in decline, is practically all
directed to this city. It also receives rubber from Brazil, and
seeing that Belgian capital is employed in the Oriental planta-
tions its future is promising.

Havre, on the other hand, is of greater importance to Brazil;
where 75 per cent of the transactions are in Brazilian rub-
ber. It also imports the Congo species, as also those of some
of the French Colonies in Africa. However, the great bulk of
the production of these latter colonies is directed to Bordeaux.

The methods of sale adopted in these markets, vary very
much. From the slow old-fashioned process of sale by private
treaty, to sales on time terms, passing through auctions and un-
derwritings, in short all the commonly known modes of negotiat-
ing are in use.

The most important market, that of New York, adheres to
the old-fashioned method of personal contracts for immediate de-
livery, which certainly serves better the interests of buyers, than
those of sellers; the agitation that was created round this ques-
tion with a view to reform the market, gave no result whatso-
ever.

Liverpool presents us the polymorphic type. Private sales,
and sales on a fixed day for delivery, or sales by auctions, all take
place, consulting thereby the preferences of both sellers and
buyers, and establishing the free course of the values. The same
happens in London, where, however, the Plantation companies
have initiated more advanced transactions, such as sales of crops
in anticipation.

Hamburg and Antwerp also practice sales by auction and on

41

delivery. However, in this latter the method of underwriting is
that most in vogue and which among all the processes is the one
that consults most the interest of the seller. This is carried out
in the following manner: A broker advertises a certain quantity
of rubber for sale, the particulars of which he supplies (name of
seller, weight, quality, estimated price, etc.), about twenty days
beforehand. On the day appointed, he receives the offers of pur-
chase closed and sealed; these are then opened in a public place
and the prices are inscribed on a schedule divided into columns,
each one headed with the name of the house offering. Once this
operation has finished, the rubber falls to the highest bidder. The
seller has, however, the right to withdraw the goods in case the
price that results does not satisfy him.

The Antwerp market adopted this system with the view to
competing against cognate markets. As the reducing of the ex-
penses on the product, which corresponded to fcs. 2.60 per 100
Kilos, the same being frs. 4.93 and frs. 7.30 in Hamburg and Liv-
erpool respectively, did not suffice, it endeavored to attract the
seller by offering the most advantageous prices, and it seems that
it has succeeded in its desideratum.

Havre followed its example and it is greatly to be desired that
all the rubber markets adopt the same system, not only for the
reasons set forth, but also because it is a safe precaution against
the manipulations of speculators. ;

Brazil has always maintained its predominating position in
the world’s market for rubber, not only as the greatest producer,
but also as the producer of the best quality.

In 182%, the first year about which statistical data exist,

Brazil exported 31 tons of rubber; in 1837, 289 tons, or say an
increase of 932 per cent; in 1847, 624 tons, or 216 per cent more;
in 1857, 1,800 tons, which corresponds to an increase’ of 290 per
cent; in 1867, 5,826 tons, or 322 per cent more; 1877, 9,215 tons,
thus augmenting by 158 per cent; in 1887, 13,290 tons, or 144
per cent increase; in 1897, 21,256 tons, representing about 160
per cent more; and, finally, in 1907, 36,490 tons, or approximately
an increase of 172 per cent.
_ Within the last decade, that is to say, from 1902 to 1911 (vide
statistical statements in fine), the exportation rose gradually to
28,631 tons in 1902 and to 39,026 tons in 1909, the maximum ever
reached so far, to descend immediately to 38,546 tons in 1910 and
36,547 tons in 1911. :

Brazil has so far not had any serious competition to fear. It
is true that the other producing countries in Central America,
South Africa and Asia, send a considerable quantity of rubber
on to the market, but this does not affect the Brazilian trade, be-
cause, besides being practically all of it of an inferior quality,

42

,

-such extra supply is not sufficient to occasion the harmful effects
of an overproduction. It is curious to observe, that even within
the last decade, the production of those regions which in 1901
was 21,547 tons increased even so far as to surpass the produc-
tion of Brazil in the year of 1905, reaching then 35,428 tons; but
it diminished as rapidly as it had increased and in 1911 we see it
reduced to 23,747 tons. This decrease cannot be attributed to
the effects of competition, for instance to the plantations of the
Orient, whose production commenced to accentuate itself exactly
in the year of 1905 and henceforward. As a matter of fact, com-
petition should bring forth a fall in prices, but however, on the
contrary, such did not happen, the quotations reaching in the
years of 1909 and 1910 such extremes as had never been seen in
the rubber market.. It will be sufficient to point out, that the
refined rubber of Para, which is the Standard regulating type of
the market and whose average anual price has been 3, 4 and
even 5 shillings, went up in those years to 12s/6 per pound.

However, a new competitor did appear, which had to be taken
into consideration, and which induced the Government of
Brazil to adopt some measures tending to protect its great article
of export. The considerable and methodical plantations of the
hevea brasiliensis made in the peninsula of Malacca in Malasia
and on the island of Ceylon, commenced to produce rubber,
which it was predicted would within a few years, due to the
enormous quantity produced at a low figure, get the mastery of
the market. ;

These plantations, the initial experiments of which date from
the year of 1876, with 70,000 seeds sent from the Tapajoz
river, an affluent of the Amazon, by Wickham to the Royal Bo-
tanical Garden of Kew, have taken an enormous increment
since the year 1896, till to-day, due to the results obtained
which indicated beyond possible doubt the advantages of the
cultivation of hevea, this in view of the constantly increasing
price of the product and the new applications which day after
day the rubber industry has opened up.

The cultivated-plantation rubber, which appeared on the mar-
ket with 5 tons in 1901, was represented by 646 tons five years
later and at the end of another equal period, by 12,000 tons.
It is estimated that if nothing unforeseen happens to the con-
trary, its production in 1916 will be 70,000 tons, thus reaching
the quantity which is at the present moment consumed each
year by the necessities of the industry.

It is believed that by that time the inferior qualities furnished
by Africa, Central America and even by Brazil, will gradually
have disappeared from the market. In order to meet the con-
sumption which, if progression that hitherto has taken place,

43

continues, will then be of 98,603 tons, the production of Brazil
and of the Orient together will surely render a quantity much su-
perior to that demand.

The average cost per Kilo of fine Para rubber in the valley
of the Amazon is from 3$000 to 3$500; in India of 2$650; how-
ever, this difference should disappear under the operation
of the Rubber Defence Act, which is inserted further on,
and the possible augmentation of the price in the Orient,
where manual labor will become dearer later on when all its
plantations are in full exploitation, and by the consequent scarc-
ity of labor, against which agriculturists are already commencing
to struggle.

The industrial element still continues to give preference to
the Brazilian rubber, this being better in quality, nerve and in
elasticity—properties these which may probably be attributed to
the process of curing, which is not employed in the Orient, or
possibly to the meteorologic and climate conditions, the geolog-
ical composition of the soil, etc. It is true that the quotation for
planted rubber has been superior to that of wild rubber, but it is
advisable not to. forget, that while the former shrinks only 3 per
cent, and has a much better appearance, the latter loses 18 per
cent of its weight. The price difference is thus amply explained
and when accounts are made up it is still the fine quality from
Para that is the better quoted.

THE INDIA RUBBER PROBLEM—MEANS
SUGGESTED AND RESOLVED BY THE STATES

Threatened with losing the predominant position it has al-
ways occupied in the rubber market of the world, Brazil could
not, without committing an economical suicide, remain inactive.

The time having come when native rubber would enter into
competition with planted rubber, Brazil had to defend its inter-
ests by becoming equipped for the struggle, making the cost of its
product cheaper in order to ensure its occupying an advan-
tageous position in the market.

Many are the causes which at present contribute to the high
cost of Brazilian rubber, but they may be united into three
groups, as follows: Ist, expensive labour; 2nd, heavy transport
tariffs; and 3rd, excessive export taxes. :

The expensive labour is due to the scantiness of population
in the Amazon valley, the want of foreign immigration to com-
pensate it, and the high cost of food supplies.

The rubber-producing trees (seringaes) of the Amazon are ex-

44

ploited by the natives, whose number is but small, and by the
immigrants from the eastern States who, fleeing from the
droughts which periodically befall those States and attracted by
the liberal profits offered by the extraction of rubber, go there
in thousands every year. This current of immigration is, how-
ever, insufficient; a proper remedy for. such a state of things
would perhaps be foreign labour which still keeps back from the
North because it only knows it through garbled information.
The bad food and the indifference for all that concerns health
conditions, contribute every year to the invaliding of a con-
siderable number of men.

The extraction of India rubber being the occupation which
pays best in the Amazon Valley, the pastoral industry, cattle-
breeding and farming are altogether despised, so that all the arti-
cles of subsistence needed by the population, either come from the
South of Brazil, burdened by cost of a long transport, or from
abroad overloaded with high Brazilian Customs duties.

The heavy transport tariffs are due to the numerous difficulties
of all sorts that thwart navigation in the affluents and sub-afflu-
ents of the Amazon river and to the greediness of ship-owners,
encouraged by the absence of competition. On the other hand,
the existence of a complete river system has made the Brazilian
Governments disregard the necessity of establishing railways
which, by shortening distances, might bind the different affluents
of the great river to each other.

Finally, the excessive taxation imposed by the States of Ama-
zonas and Para on its almost only product of exportation is a
consequence of the special conditions of life in that Brazilian re-
gion, which conditions we have just described. The Governmen-
tal and administrative system requires large sums for its main-
tenance, is unable to avail itself of any other sources of income
because they hardly exist. The legislator has had to go on tax-
ing the great product more and more.

In order to cheapen the product, besides removing the causes
which have just been shown, two other far-reaching measures
have been suggested; the adoption of a process for coagulation
of the latex which might decrease the production of inferior rub-
bers, and planting on a big scale. :

At the present moment the exportation of rubber from the
Amazon is composed of 50 per cent of rubber “fina,” 10 per cent
of “entre-fine,” 25 ‘per cent of “sernamby,” and 15 per cent of

“caucho.” Now, any process that can do away with or might
at least diminish the percentage of entrefina and sernamby would
be a means of cheapening the rubber of finer quality (fina). es
apply the same activity to produce 70 or 75 Kilos of “fina” ‘in-
stead of 50 fina, 10 entrefina and 15 sernamby, is the | sau in

45

reality as obtaining the first quality at a very much lower price.
Such is the desideratum of the process of Dr. Carlos de Cer-
queira Pinto, a Brazilian doctor who has lived for a great num-
ber of years among the rubber districts where he has made
a most accurate study of the subject. The results hitherto at-
tained are very satisfactory, the Government of Brazil having
aided the inventor with a view to spreading his invention once
its advantages have been definitely proven.

At the same time, the process of extracting the rubber from
trees disseminated in the interior of the forests at a considerable
distance one tree from the other, is against all principles of econ-
omy. The planting on a large scale, on the margin of the
Amazon river, or of its big affluents, but in places of easy
access, is an essential measure, especially seeing that the
Government aims at maintaining for Brazil in future, the promi-
nent position it now occupies in the trade. Therefore, whilst
considering all the complex elements of the question thoroughly,
a study had to be made of all the solutions presented. We shall
now see what procedure was followed:

In August, 1909, a Congress of seringueiros (rubber gath-
erers), assembled in Acre with a view to studying and discuss-
ing the situation of the rubber trade. In a message addressed
to the President of the Republic at the closing of the proceedings,
the members of the Congress suggested, as chief measures, easy
communications, roads, railway lines, subventioned lines of
steamers, colonization promoted by the Government and a. re-
duction in the export duty. ;

Later on, in the same year, the Para Government enacted
Laws Nos. 1,100 and 1,109 of the 5th and 6th of November, both
of which have great bearing on the solution of this most im-
portant problem.

The first of said laws gives authority, in article 1st, to the
State Government, to enter into agreements with one or more
native or foreign companies, in regard to the plantation and ex-
ploitation of the seringueira (hevea brasiliensis) against the
concession of the following favors:

'a. The concession of vacant lands up to twenty thousand
hectares with proper demarkations for the Company’s plantings.

b. Reduction in the export duty of planted rubber to the ex-
tent of 50 per cent in the first 10 years as from the date of the
first exportation; of 40 per cent in the second decade; of 30 per
cent thenceforward until completion of twenty years. _

'_c. Reduction of 30 per cent in the tariffs of the Braganca
railway and in the freights of the line of steamers subventioned
by the State, during a term of twenty years, for planted rubber
produced by the Company.

46

d. Transport free of charge by the Braganca railway and.
steamers under the States’ subsidy of all machinery and plant
belonging to the Company and intended for the installation of
its establishments; and of whatever colonists the Company may
place in its premises as well as of seeds, manure plants and
cattle.

e. An advance, by way of guaranteed interest, of 5 per cent
per annum on the capital issued by the company holding the:
concession to the extent of one-half of the paid up capital.

Special paragraph.—This guarantee, whatsoever be the Com-
pany’s capital, shall not be paid on a sum exceeding £400,000
Sterling over and above £800,000 Sterling, or its equivalent in
paper money.

The advances, by way of guaranteed interest, thus conceded,
will be discontinued once the Company’s profits attain 6 per
cent, and on exceeding 7 per cent the Company will start amor-
tizing the sums loaned by the State to the extent of 5 per cent.
on the total sum advanced.

The concession of lands available will be made by way of
emphyteusis for 99 years.

The Statutes will have to be approved by the Government,
who will name one of the Company’s Directors and retain cer-
tain rights with a view to the due enforcement of the contract.

Article Second of the Law describes the Company’s obliga-
tions, which are as follows:

“First. To plant at least twenty thousand rubber trees per
year.

Second. To carry out instructions from the Agriculture De-
partment of the State in the planting.

Third. To maintain a rural elementary school, with accom-
modation for the shelter of at least twenty destitute children,
and a field of practical tuition of mechanical agriculture, experi-
mental cultivation of tropical plants, experiments in manure, etc.

-Fourth. Accessory planting of rice, maize, haricot beans,
aie, improving the quality of same by mechanical means.

Fifth. Furnish accurate yearly statistics of the number of
plantations made, their state and the general production of rub-
ber and other articles.

Sixth. Use on the bags, boxes and other receptacles con-
taining the goods produced, a trade-mark duly registered at the
Board of Trade as prescribed by law.

-Seventh.: Allow the Government to control all the work
carried out by the Company in such manner as the Government
may think fit.

‘Complimentary to the former, the Law of November 6th
concedes prizes and other favors to the agriculturists of the’

4%

State, who, by themselves or associations formed by them, should
fulfil the conditions set forth in same.

The prizes are of five hundred mil réis for each plot of five
hundred rubber trees properly planted; the favors consist of
the distribution free of charge of chemical manure, seeds, plants,
instructions and agricultural monographs, gratuitous tuition to
all the laborer-planters, transport free by the Braganga Railway
and steamers subsidized by the State, reduction of export duties,
etc.

Lastly, Law No. 1,115, of the 8th November, 1909, affords
protection to the rubber trees that are actually yielding, with a
view to improving their production.

Article First authorizes the Government of the State to fur-
ther the defence of the rubber industry as regards the latex and
preparation of rubber, in order to prevent the destruction of the
trees existing in the State, punishment being dealt to whomso-
ever manufactures the product by subversive means.

Article second provides a prize of 50 contos of réis paper
money at most, to be awarded at the Government’s discretion,
to the discoverer or inventor of some process of manufacturing
or preparing rubber, which may afford undeniable advantages as
regards its manufacture and reduces the inferior classes to a
single standard of rubber “fina,” ensuring a high price for the
article.

The State of Amazonas also, as per Law No. 675 of May 20,
1911, authorizes the Executive Power to concede any advisable
favors to individuals or undertakings that may bind themselves:
to put up in Manaos factories for refinement of rubber by means
of new and improved methods; so as to obtain a standard class
of rubber for exportation.

The Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural Congress held
at Manaos in February, 1910, resolved in its final conclusions
to recommend to the Brazilian Government and the immediate
neighboring Republics, the reforming of their freights, especially
as regards the food supplies; grant favors to navigation; free
rivers from obstructions; construct railways; create colonial
centres; admit of the pressing and absolute ‘necessity to plant
rubber trees in the Amazon valley and open new fields of planta-
tion; suggests the establishment of permanent exhibitions of a
highly. educational character; advises the rubber extractors not
to give up the process of curing by smoke and condemns entirely
the use of acids or alum in the coagulation, and calls attention to
the question of the commercial classes of rubber which should
be properly defined. Going into details it requests numerous
favors for the agriculturists that may go in for planting hevéa
rubber trees; cacao and cereals, cotton and other products, and

48

that prizes be granted to cattle breeders, experimental fields be
opened, as also laboratories of analysis and a service be estab-
lished for dealing with the yellow fever and paludinous fevers, etc.

Such an important matter could not be solved by half-
measures; it was necessary and even indispensable to adopt a
plan embracing all the solutions suggested and proclaimed as
being elements of success, thus obtaining a united plan entailing
some complexity in its execution, it is true, yet clear and simple
in its combined purposes.

And this desideratum was achieved by the Feredal Law No.
2,543 A of the fifth of January, 1912.

MEASURES ADOPTED BY THE FEDERAL GOV-
ERNMENT—RIO DE JANEIRO CONGRESS OF
RUBBER—REGULATIONS OF THE NEW
RUBBER DEFENSE ACT

For a long time back the attention of the Brizilian Govern-
ment has been drawn to the necessity of adopting a plan of de-
fence for India rubber, which might solve in a practical and
decisive manner the so-long-debated “problem of the North.”

In August, 1911, the Minister of Agriculture, after a close
study, made with the aid of specialists and persons having
full knowledge of that region of the country, drew up.a project
in the above sense and, recognizing the necessity of still hearing
those who are most directly interested in the matter, convened a
meeting of representatives of the State Governments, Com-
mercial Associations and other Institutions which might lead to
a perfect understanding of what was most advisable to do.

The first meeting was held on August 14, and the Govern-
ment’s plan was hailed with great applause, the same being
approved, with slight alterations, in the last session which took
place on the twenty-second of the same month.

By Message of September 14, 1911, Marshal Hermes da
Fonseca, President of the Republic, sent to the National Con-
gress for approval, the plan duly elaborated; after being care-
fully studied ‘by Congress it was approved and ‘converted into
Law, under No. 2,543 A and was sanctioned on January 5; 1912.

On April 17, 1912, Decree No. 9,521 was enacted with the
Regulation for carrying out the meastires and’ services provided
for in the law. of’ January.

The measures and services prescribed by Law No. 2,543 A

49

of January, 1912, for the economic defence of rubber, regulated
by Decree No. 9,521 of April 17, 1912, are as follows:

I. To encourage the rubber extractor and the culivator of:
the principal rubber-producing trees.

II. To form industries for the refinement and manufacture
of rubber articles.

III. To aid immigrants, both from the country and those
who have recently arrived from abroad, and the workmen
already established in the Amazon valley.

IV. To render transport easy and decrease the cost in the
Amazon valley. :

V. To install productive centres of food supplies in the
Amazon valley.

VI. To hold three-yearly exhibitions in Rio de Janeiro, com-
prehending all that relates to the rubber industry of the country. :

The measures contained in the law in regard to making agree-
ments with the States which produce rubber “seringa,” with a
view to decreasing the export duties and protecting the rubber
trade, will be dealt with separately, and with regard to the defi-
nition and legalization of freeholds in the Federal Territory in
Acre and the revision and consolidation of regulations concern-
ing the coasting service of steamers (included in No, IV) special
By-Laws will be drawn up which shall be published in due’
course.

The measures in reference to the first group and whose object
is to encourage the extracting industry and plantation of the
principal rubber producing trees are: First; reduction of the
cost of tools and matérials employed in the rubber trade; second,
granting of prizes in money to the planters of the principal rub-
ber trees; third, installation of experimental stations for the culti-
vation of rubber. :

For the reduction in the cost of utensils and materials, free
entrance is granted with exemption from any import duties, ‘as
well as to everything intended for the cultivation of thé
seringueira, caucho, manicoba and mangabeira and the gather-
ing-in and improving of rubber extracted’ from those trees;
whether as regards the extracting industry or the plantation
work. haa | .

‘These pecuniary premiums for encouraging the industry, will
be conceded to all those who plant entirely anew, or who devote
themselves to replanting; in the first case and for evety group.
of 12 hectares, the premiums will be Rs.2¢500$000 ‘when: the
planting is of “seringueira”; Rs. 1:500$000''when ‘it treats of
“caucho” or “manicoba”; and 900$000 when ‘it is mangabeira; in

50

the second case and for every group of 25 hectares the premiums
will be 2:000$000, 1:000$000 and 720$000 respectively. The
minimum number of trees for the new plantations will be 250
per hectare for the seringueira and caucho, and 400 for the mani-
coba and mangabeira; in the case of re-planting, the distance to
keep between the trees should be from 6 metres to 6m50 for
the first mentioned case and 5 metres for the second. In order
to obtain the payment of the premium, it is requisite that the
trees be well cared for, and that not more than 15 per cent. are
damaged or useless.

The subsidiary cultivation of alimentitious plants or of those
useful for industrial purposes, will secure an annual gratuity
corresponding to 5 per cent. of the value of the principal
premium.

For the cultivation of the seringueira, experimental stations
will be localized in the Territory of the Acre, and in the States
of Matto Grosso, Amazonas, Para, Maranhao, Piauhy and Bahia
and for the growing of the manicoba conjointly with that of the
mangabeira in the States of Piauhy, Ceara Pernambuco, Bahia,
Minas Geraes, S. Paulo, Goyaz, Parana and Matto Grosso.

Each station will have an area of from 80 to 100 hectares, the
land selected having to be suited to the climatic and agro-
‘logical conditions exacted by the nature or quality of the plant to
be cultivated.

Besides the grounds for experimental cultivation, each
station will possess laboratories of vegetable physiology for the
testing of seeds and phytopathology, of agricultural entomology ;
of agricultural vegetable chemistry and bromotology and of
micropiology and technology; an agricultural and woodlands
museum; a gallery of machines and a meteorological post.
Thus it will be properly equipped in order to serve those
who may consult it upon any matter whatsoever, within
the scope of its competency, carry out the analysis of manures
and other chemical fertilizers, plants and waters, distribute
plants and selected seeds, study the diseases common to
growing plants and the means of combatting them, making com-
monly known by means of the publication of an official bulletin
which will be distributed gratuitously to all interested parties,
the results obtained relative to the most practical and economical
means of carrying out the cultivation of rubber, the best means
of bettering its condition, its preservation, the packing of the
products, etc.

In order to stimulate the creation in Brazil of the industries
for refining and manufacturing all kinds of articles made of
rubber, monetary premiums will be instituted as well as exemp-

51

tion from taxes, the right of disappropriation for private in-
dividuals, that may be necessary for the installation and mount-
ing of factories and the preference of the Government will be
granted for such articles, which each factory produces, when
supplies are made to the army and to the navy, as well as to
other public departments.

The premiums will be as high as 400:000$000 for the first
tactory tor the refining of seringa rubber that may be established
in each of the cities of Belém and Manaos; up to 100 :000$000 for
the first rubber-refining factory of “manicoba” and of manga-
beira, which may be installed in each one of the States of Piauhy,
Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Bahia, Minas Geraes
and Sao Paulo; and finally of 500 :000$000 for the first factory of
rubber-made articles, which is inaugurated in Manaos, Belém,
Recife, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro.

The exemption from import duties embraces the rights of
importation for the materials, machinery, utensils and the neces-
sary tools for the construction and mounting of the factory and
the chemical substances, textile articles and divers materials,
combustibles and iubricants indispensable for the up-keep and
working of the factory during the time-term of 25 years; and
immunity from the State and Municipal taxes for the time term
of the contract by reason of the factory being considered a
Federal Service.

The premium in cash shall only be considered when the
capital of the factory is equivalent to 4 times its value. The
payment of such premium will be effected immediately after the
inauguration of the factory.

The problem of assisting immigrants both national and
foreign, who may have just arrived and the laborers established
in the valley of the Amazon, is met by the installation of emi-
grant-hotels in Belém, in Manaos and in the Territory of the
Acre, by the construction of hospitals in the Interior and by the
creation of agricultural colonies adjacent to such hospitals.

The hotels for the reception of immigrants shall follow the
rule and be guided in their installation by that of the Ilha das
Flores in Rio de Janeiro, that latter being considered a Model
Institution, at the same time the modifications exacted by the
conditions of each particular case, that of Belém having sufficient
capacity to accommodate 1.500 immigrants; that of Manados
1,200 and that of Acre 800. Close to each of these immigrant-
quarters, a store-house will be erected which shall contain all
kinds of special tools and utensils employed in the India rubber
industry, the which will be sold to the immigrants, who desire
to buy them at strictly cost price..

The families of both national and foreign immigrants who do

52

not expressly declare that they prefer another destination will
be sent to the National Fazendas (ranches) of the Rio Branco,
where they will be located and distributed among the different
colonial centres in the different colonies.

The hospitals in the Interior are created with a view of pro-
viding the inhabitants of the Amazon valley with a centre to
which they may have recourse and where they may be treated,
acquire medicine and protect themselves against contagious dis-
eases. .The points selected for these are Boa Vista of the Rio
Branco, S. Gabriel on the Rio Negro, Teffé or Fonte Boa on the
river Solimées, Sao Felippe on the river Jurua, Bocca do Acre on
the Rio Purtis, at the confluence of the river Arinos with the
Juruéna, in the Alto Tapajéz, Conceicao of the river Araguaya,
and Montenegro on the Amapa.

Each hospital will have accommodation for 100 sick people
and will be divided into 5 pavillions, one of these latter being
constructed with all the requisites necessary for the isolation of
infectious diseases; there will also be a disinfecting house, a
laboratory for chemical and microbiologic diagnosis, rooms for
surgical operations and for autopsies, consulting rooms and
pharmacy.

Thére will also be a service of propaganda of the habits and
hygienic measures necessary for the laborers who work and live
in the Amazonian valley.

Adjoining each hospital, agricultural centres will be founded
wherein to localize 100 families at the least, these agricultural
centres will have for their object the production of the
alimenticiary products necessary for the supply of the said
hospitals, the cultivation and extensive breeding of the plants
and animals consumed as food by the neighboring population
located all around, and the constitution of fixed centres of popu-
lation which shall help towards the increased peopling of the
region. The Government will assist the emigrants in the
acquiring of lands and shall furnish them with food stuffs at a
low price and their maintenance during the initial period.

Amongst the improvements and means tending to facilitate
transport and diminish its cost in the valley of the Amazon, the
construction of systems of railways and the betterment of the
navigability of the rivers most peopled, is of gréat importance.

The network of iron roads will be of two different categories:
systems of great lines forming an integral part of the general
Federal system of railroads and a network of economic narrow-
gauged railways having the character simply of penetration lines.

Belonging to the first of these categories the following net-

53

works will be commenced at once, and constructed within the
shortest space of time possible: 1° starting from Belém de Para
and joining onto the general railway system in Pirapdra, Minas
Geraes and in Coroata, in Maranhio, with the necessary branches
to connect the initial or terminal point of navigation on the
rivers Araguaya, Tocantins, Parnahyba and S. Francisco; 2°
starting point from the Madeira e Marmoré Railway in the
proximity of the mouth of the Abufia, passing by the town of
Rio Branco and by the most appropriate point between Senna
Madueira and Catay and terminating in the town of ’Thauma-
turgo, with branch line right up to the frontier of Peru, along the
valley of the river Purus.

The construction and renting out of these railways will be
done in competition by Public Tender.

The concession for the railways of the second category shall
only be made to those who undertake to colonize and ex-
ploit in proportion as that may be justified, the respective
marginal lands, i.e., the land lying along each side of such said
lines. The Government will concede a subsidy of 25:000$000
per kilometre constructed; the technical conditions are: a line of
the Decauville portatil, the weight of the rails being 50 kilos per
metre, with a gauge of 0.60 between the rails and the minimum
radius of the curve 40 meters inclination 0.10 and weight of the
locomotives in full working order, 18 to 20 tons.

By way of experiment the Governments will bring about at
once, the construction of 2 economic railway systems, 1° starting
from Antiga Sauzel on the left bank of the river Xingtt and going
up the valley as far as the river Careahy, with a branch leading
to the river Tapajoz, whose valley it will follow until the river
S. Manoel and with other sub-branches; 2° starting from the con-
fluent of the Rio Negro with the Rio Branco and following the
valleys of Seruiny and the Caratimani passing over the water-
shed and going on until it terminates in the Alto Uraricoera,
with 2 branches, the one for the Alto Paduary and the other for
the town of Boa Vista.

The necessary improvements to be made towards effecting
the navigability of the rivers at all seasons of the year, by
steamers drawing up to 3 feet of water, of the Rio Negro, be-
tween S. Isabel and Cucuhy, on the Rio Branco from its mouth
as far as S. Joaquim; of the river Purts between Hiutanaha and
Senna Madureira, and of the river Acre from its mouth as far
as Riosinho de Pedras, will be contracted for by public-tender
or by some public company which can prove itself sufficiently
capable for the carrying out of the same. The maximum time-
term for the termination of the improvements will be 7 years.

As supplementary measures, the exemption from taxes is

54

conceded to the floating material of whatever kind destined to
fluvial navigation in the valley of the Amazon and floating
depots for the supply of coal and oil-fuel will be established
at different points of the river Amazon, its affluents and sub-
affluents.

The establishment of these depots and the business of sup-
plying the combustibles will be done by signed contract, with
the Minister of Agriculture, after the competition by public-
tender, the concessioner enjoys besides other favors, exemption
from import-duties for the floating material and for the com-
bustible material imported as also full exemption from all State
and Municipal taxes by reason of the object of his contract being
considered a federal public service.

The creation of centres for producing food-stuffs in the valley
of the Amazon being held as an element of the greatest urgency
towards the successful issue of the plan elaborated, is assured
by the following series of administrative measures: 1°, the rent-
ing out of the 2 national ranches on the Rio Branco, that of S.
Bento and that of S. Marcus, to a public Company or under-tak-
ing which agrees to open up, and practice cattle-breeding
of different kinds on a large scale and the cultivation of cereals
commonly used as aliments, the establishment of-a curing estab-
lishment for preparing dry meat, known as xharque and a factory
of alimenticiary conserved goods, a dairy establishment, a rice-
mill and 2 mandioca grinding-mills. The company in question
will take charge of and localize the emigrants who desire to
be placed upon the lands belonging to the said ranches in accord-
ance with the Federal laws regulating such matters.

The favors of exemption from duties for the imported material
necessary to the mounting of the fazenda or ranch and the in-
stallation of the mills and factories will be conceded, as also
for the stud-cattle and seeds imported and for the chemical
manures and all materials necessary for the factories and for
the cultivation during the whole of the time of the contract.
They shall also enjoy the right to disappropriate for public
utility and shall have preference for the contract to carry out
the necessary works and improvements in the navigation of the
Rio Branco.

The colonization of the lands of the “fazenda” of SAo Marcus
situated between the rivers Mahu, Takuti, Surumt and Cotingo
on the frontier of British Guyana, will be made directly by the
Ministry of Agriculture. 2° Premiums and favors will be con-

55

ceded. to whomsoever may found great ranches for cattle
breeding and for great agricultural purposes in territory of the
Acre (between Rio Branco and Xapury), in the State of Ama-
zonas (in the region of the Autaz), in the State of Para (in
the Island of Marajé), or in other more convenient point of the
lower Amazon.

These premiums are of 30:000$000 per group of 1,000 hectares
of artificial pastures, planted and fenced round, of 100 :000$000
per group of 1,000 hectares of lands effectively cultivated with
rice, black haricot beans, Indian-corn and mandioca, and 100:-
000$000 per group of 500 tons of manufactured goods, of dairy
produce and of preserved meat and xarque, which may have been
produced within a time-space of 5 years.

The favors are those of exemption from import duties for
everything whatsoever that may be necessary to the proper in-
stallation and maintenance of the fazenda or ranch during
5 years. 3° Concession of favors to a fishing company or under-
taking, that shall be established either in Belém or in Manaos,
for exercising that industry and all subsidiary industries con-
nected therewith on a large scale on the rivers of Amazonia,
The favors consist of the entry free from import duties for all
the material belonging to the company as also for all the fittings
of steamers and other floating material and factories that may
be necessary during the first 15 years, encouragement premiums
of 10:000$000 during 5 consecutive years in the event of the pro-
duction of fish either preserved or salted being maintained at
a figure above 100 tons; the right of disappropriation for public
utility of the lands or buildings that may be necessary for the
undertaking, the exemption from state and municipal taxes.

Recognizing the utility of periodical expositions which are
held as centres of special studies, producing practical results by
the sum of knowledge which may be derived from them, 3 yearly
expositions shall be held in Rio de Janeiro, which shall embrace
all and everything which has relation to the rubber-industry.

56

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK—THE
EXPOSITION OF RUBBER IN RIO DE
JANEIRO IN THE MONTH OF
MAY, 1913

The Superintendence Department of the Rubber-Defence, a
provisional Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry
and Commerce on which is incumbent the direction and fiscaliz-
ing of all the services comprised under the Law No. 2548 of the
fifth of January of 1912, has already initiated its works, under-
taking the execution of the following measures.

1. Resolution to hold a National Rubber Exhibition in Rio
de Janeiro, opening on the thirteenth of May of 1913. -

2. Installation of experimental stations, 7 centres for the
cultivation of the seringueira (Acre, Amazonas, Para, Maranhao,
Piauhy, Bahia and Matto Grosso), and 6 for the cultivation of
manigoba and mangabeira (Piauhy, Ceara, Pernambuco, Bahia,
Minas Geraes and Sao Paulo).

8. Studies in the valley of the Amazon, in the basins of the
rivers Negro, Solimées, Jurua, Purtis, Tapajoz and Araguaya,
and in the territory of: ‘Amapa for the establishment of interior
hospitals surrounded by small agricultural colonies.

4, Preliminary services for the construction of 4 of those
hospitals situated respectively in Teffé or Fonte Boa on the river
Solimées in S. Felippe on the river Jurua, in Bocca do Acre and
in Montenegro of the Amapa.

5. Drawing up of the plan and inventory of the cattle and
buildings in the part to rent out of the National fazendas of the
Rio Branco; idem of the part to be colonized by the Govern-
ment and projects of the colonial centres model farm for
cattle-breeding, horse and mule-raising, radiographic stations,
etc.

6. Laying of a Decauville line of railway along the rapids
of the Rio Branco, in order to secure prompt communication-
with.the national ranches, which are to be let out.

%, Construction by contract or by administration of 3.
dwelling quarters for immigrants in - nae Acre, in Manaos and
in Belém. .

The rubber exposition hich is to take place in Rio de
Janeiro, 1 every 3 years, will have for its object to show the
triennial balance of rubber in its various modalities, comparing
it with the situation of the same industry in other countries.

The first ‘exhibition will be inaugutated on the thirteenth of
May of the coming year and will be divided into four sections;

57,

V’The cultivation; 2°extraction ; 3° improvement; 4° manufacture
of articles.

The sections will be divided into groups and classes com-
prising the native or cultivated plants, machinery, utensils,
processes, commercial types, studies and statistics.

Encouragement premiums will be conferred for the best pro-
cesses of cultivation, extraction and preparing and for. the
objects best manufactured, whether of raw material constituting,
trade types for exportation or as manufactured articles.

The sale of machinery, utensils and rubber articles and prod-.
ucts of all kinds will be provided for against payment of a small
percentage, fixed by the organizing commission.

Foreign products may be admitted to the exhibition, but
without having the right to a premium. They will enjoy’ full
custom-house freedom from import-duty, but should they be
sold they shall pay the respective import-duty on the occasion
of their being handed over to the buyers. The re-exportation of
the products. not sold will run for account of the exhibitor.

Lectures upon the rubber-industry will be given during the
Exhibition-Congress.

The Commission which will carry out the Exposition of the.
thirteenth of May, is constituted by their-Excellencies Senhores
Drs. Pedro de Toledo, Minister of Agriculture, Industry. and.
Commerce, Raymondo Pereira da Silva, Superintendent of the
Rubber-Defence Department, Miguel Calmon du Pin e Almeida,.
Representative of the National Agricultural Society, Jorge
Street, President of the Centro Industrial of Brazil, Julho:
Furtado, Inspector of Forests, Gardens, Tree-planting, Hunt-
ing and Fishing of the Federal District. Representative of the.
Municipal Prefecture and Candido Mendes de Almeida, Director
of the Commercial Museum of Rio de Janeiro, Secretary Gerieral.

The site chosen for the exposition is in the Quinta de Boa
Vista, perhaps the most beautiful park of Rio de Janeiro. :

‘The preparatory works, such as the ground-leveling, laying-
out of gardens, adoption of pavillions already existing, etc.,
is now already in full course of being carried out.

The opportuneness of this event, the interest evinced in it
by the South and North and the United forces of the Institu-
tions that form the organizing commission, will secure a very.
considerable number of exhibitors.

The month of May, one of the pleasantest months as regards
temperature in Rio de Janeiro, is the season chosen by those
who desire to visit the beautiful capital and thus the gathering
of visitors to the exhibition will certainly be notable.

_ Thus appears certain the most brilliant success for the Rub-
ber Exhibition of Rio de Janeiro.

58

RUBBER EXPORTERS

ESTADO DO AMAZONAS—MANAOS

A. Santos Cardoso
Ahlers & Co.

Armazens Andresen
Albert H. Alden, Limited
Barbosa Tocantins

De Lagotellerie & Co.
E. Kingdon & Co.
Gruner & Co.

Gordon & Co.

J. G. Araujo

J. H, Barros

Leite & Co.

Mesquita & Co.

R. Suarez & Co.
Semper & Co.
Scholtz Hartze & Co.
Theodor Livy & Co.

ESTADO DO PARA

A. Meirelles & Co.

A. de la Reviere & Co.
Alves Braga & Co.
Adelbert H. Alden, Ltd.
A. A. Antunes & Co.
Barboza & Tocantins
Braga Sobrinho & Co.
Coutinho & Co.
Candido José Rodrigues
De Lagotellerie & Co.
E. Pinto Alves & Co.
Gumer & Co.

Gordon & Co.
Guilherme Augusto de Mendonga
I. Serfaty & Co.
Jeronymo C. Botelho
José Furtado de Mendonga
J. Marques Braga
Leite & Co.

Mello & Co.

Pereira Bessa & Co.
Pires Teixeira & Co.
Pinho & Costa

Pereira Lemos & Co.
Raymundo Vieira Lima
Rocha Silva & Co.

R. Ahlers & Co.

R. Suarez & Co.

Santos Amaral & Co.
Cunock Schrader & Co.
D. Costa & Co.

H. A. Astlett & Co.

J. Marques

Neale & Staats
Sluglehurst Brocklehurst & Co.

Boulevard da Republica 34
Boulevard da Republica 32
Rua da Industria 27 e 29
Rua 13 de Maio 21 e 23
Caixa do Correio 353

Rua Senador Manoel Barata
Boulevard da Republica 24

Rua da Industria 43

Travessa Campos Salles

Boulevard da Republica 37
Rua 15 de Novembro 30
Travessa Marquez de Pombal 8

Rua 13 de Maio 46

Rua da Industria 59

Boulevard da Republica 36
Boulevard da Republica 25.
Praca Visconde Rio Branco 20
Boulevard da Republica 7
Praga Visconde do Rio Brance
Rua da Industria 5

ESTADO DA BAHIA—S. SALVADOR

Ulmann & Co. Rua das Princezas 12
F. Benn & Co.

F. Steverson & Co.

Hesse & Co.

Hirsch, Hes & Co. Caes do Ouro 27

L. Costa & Co. Caixa do Correio 133
Ottens & Co.

Rosbach Brazil Company Rua Corpo Santo

S. S. Schindler

ESTADO DO MARANHAO-—S. LUIZ

Jorge & Santos

Joaquim Julio Correia & Co. Rua da Estrella 25
Francisco Freitas & Co.

Oliveira Neves & Co.

Currha Santos & Co. Rua Portugal 28

ESTADO DE MATTO GROSSO—CUYABA

Almeida & Co.
Alexandre Ador & Co.
Figueiredo & Oliveira
Lucas Borges & Co.
Orlando Irmaos & Co.
Ponce Azevedo & Co.

CORUMBA.

Yosetti & Co.

Pereira Sobrinho & Co.
Wanderley Bais & Co.
Pasques Fillio & Co.

S. LUIZ DE CACERES
Benedicto R. Villas Boas
Joao Campos Vidal

José Dulce & Co.
Manoel Pedroso da Silva Bouden

60

MINISTERIUM OF AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY
AND COMMERCE

BRAZIL

FEDERAL LAW AND REGULATIONS

COVERING THE PROTECTION AND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUBBER
INDUSTRY IN BRAZIL

Decree No. 2,542A of jasiny 5, 1912 and
Decree No. 9,521 of April 17, 1912

PUBLISHED BY THE BRAZILIAN COMMISSIONER 4
THIRD INTERNATIONAL RUBBER AND ALLIED TRADES EXHIBITION
NEW YORK, 1912

61

HEVEA BRASILIENSIS.
62

ACT OF CONGRESS
Decree No. 2542A of January 5, 1912

Establishing measures destined to facilitate and develop the
culture of rubber, Caucho, Manicoba and Mangabeira, and the
‘gathering and treatment of the rubber extracted from these trees,
and authorizing the executive power not only to open the credits
necessary to carry out these measures, but also to contract such
loans as may be necessary for that purpose.

The President of the Republic of the United States of Brazil:

_ Hereby makes known that the National Congress decreed
and I hereby sanction the following resolution:

Art. 1—All utensils and materials destined for the culture
of rubber (seringueira), Caucho, Manicgoba and Mangebeira
and for the collecting or treatment of rubber extracted from these
trees, whether for the purpose of extracting or experimenting,
shall be admitted free of all custom house duties, including fees.

Only Section—This exemption will have to be requisitioned
of the inspectors at custom houses, who will grant it without
delay after verifying the right of those seeking this favor.

Art. 2.—Premiums will be granted to those who start regular
and entirely new plantations of Seringueira, Caucho, Manigoba or
Mangabeira, or replant old forests of Seringueira, Caucho, Mani-
coba or Mangabeira, as soon as the plantation has taken place,
and will be paid on the following conditions: —

(a) For groups of 12 hectares (about 30 acres) of new culture,
2,500 milreis if seringueira; 1,500 milreis if caucho or manigoba;
900 milreis if mangabeira.

(b) For groups of 25 hectares, the replanting of native serin-
gueira, caucho, manigoba or mangabeira, 2,000 milreis; for the
first, 1,000 milreis; for the second and third, and 720 milreis for
‘the fourth kind.

*- Section 1. These premiums will be payable one year before
the first gathering, when it is shown that the ground is entirely
cultivated and the trees well cared for.

Sec. 2. An increase of 5 per cent will be given annually in
addition to the premium offered planters of seringa rubber (to
count from the beginning of the planting), who prove that they
have cultivated between the rows in all the ground planted,
plants of alimentation or of industrial use. _ “

... Art. 38. The Government will establish, at a selected con-
venient point, an‘experimental station, or field: for demonstrating

63

the culture of seringueira in the Territory of Acre, in each of the
States of Matto Grosso, Amazonas, Para, Maranhao, Piauhy and
Bahia, and for the culture of manicoba jointly with mangabeira,
in each of the States of Piauhy, Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte,
or Pernambuco, Bahia, Minas Geraes, Sao Paulo, Goyaz, Parana
and Matto Grosso.

These stations will furnish gratuitously, selected seed to all
those interested, also instructions as to the most practical and
economic methods of culture and will supply information con-
cerning general results, which will be verified at the end of each
year.

Art. 4.—In addition to the indirect favors which are men-
tioned in Art. 1 and others which may seem reasonable and neces-
sary, the Government will grant the right of premiums of en-
couragement, up to the sum of 400,000 milreis to the first plant
established for refining the seringa rubber, that reduces the dif-
ferent qualities to a uniform type and superior to that exported
and which may be established in each of the cities of Belem
(Para), and Manaos; up to 100,000 milreis to the first refining
plant of manicgoba and mangabeira rubber, that accomplishes
the same putpose and is established in each of the States of
Piauhy; Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Bahia, Minas
Geraes and Sao Paulo; and up to 500,000 milreis to the first fac-
‘tory of rubber articles which shall be established in Manaos,
Belem (para), Recife (Pernambuco), Bahia and Rio de Janeiro,
Only Section.—In order to have the right to the benefit of
the above article it is necessary for the factory to have actually
employed a capital four times as great as the value of the
premium.

Art. 5.—The Government will put up three buildings to house
immigrants, to be of sufficient capacity’ and internally arranged,
the same as those on Flores Island. In Belem,-Manaos, at an
appropriate place in the Territory of Acre; and also at places in
the Valley of the Amazon, where they are considered to be the
most necessary, hospitals are to be erected, surrounded by small
agricultural colonies where the sick can be received for treatment,
be vaccinated gratuitously, and where medicines of the first
quality are kept for sale, especially sulphate of quinine. Pamph-
lets containing suggestions about hygiene, prevention of the
diseases of that’ region ‘and the practical remedies to use in the
absence of a pliysician, will be distributed freely.

The superinteridence of these stations will be maintained by
the Federal Government, but the hospitals will be entrusted to
professionals of recognized ability, under a subvention or other
favors, which the Government considers reasonable and rules
will be énforced which will secure their proper regulation.

64

“SERINGUEIRA” HEVEA BRASILIENSIS.
MULL, ARG. (11).

Art. 6—For the purpose of facilitating transportation and
reducing its cost in the valley of the Amazon, the Government
will cause to be made, as soon as possible, the following im-
provements:

1. The construction by the Government of narrow gauge
railroads along the Rivers Xingu, Tapajés and others in Para,
Matto Grosso, and of the Rio Negro and Rio Branco and others
in Amazonas, through the valleys through which they flow, in
accordance with the authorization of Congress, Law No. 1,126,
December 18, 1908, at the price fixed per kilometer, according
to the difficulties of the region, at the discretion of the Govern-
ment.

In case the State of Para and Amazonas should contract for
the construction of some of these railroads, the Federal Govern-
ment for the more rapid completion of the work will concede
an increase of 15 contos per kilometer.

2. The construction of a railroad, which, parting at a conveni-
ent point of the Madeira-Marmoré Railroad, near the mouth of
the River Abuna, passes by the village Rio Branco, and at a
point between Senna Madureira and Caty, and terminates in the
village Thaumaturgo, with a branch to the frontier of Peru, by
the valley of the Purts River.

The construction of this road shall be in accordance with
the provisions of Law No. 1,126, of December 13, 1903. As
soon as the first section of the trunk line is inaugurated to the
village of Rio Branco, the Government will install a custom house
at Porto Velho on the Madeira River and announce this port
open to commerce with friendly nations.

3. Construction of a railroad starting at the port of Belem of
Para and joining the net work of railroads of Central Brazil at
Pirapora, in the State of Minas Geraes, and of Northern Brazil
at Coroata, in the State of Maranhao, with the necessary branch
lines to join the initial points or terminals of navigation on the
Rivers Araguaya, Tocantins, Parnahyba and S. Francisco. The
railroad shall be built according to the provisions of Law No.
1,126, December 13, 1903, and shall be leased by public competi-
tion.

4. The execution of the works necessary for the effective
navigation, at any season of the year, of steamers drawing three
feet of water; on the Rio Negro, between Santa Isabel and
Cucuhy ; on the Rio Branco, from its mouth to Fort S. Joaquim;
on the River Purus, from Hyutanahan to Senna Madureira; on
the River Acre from its mouth to Riosinho das Pedras.

The Government may contract for the execution of these
works by public competition, or independent of competition, with
one or more individuals or firms offering sufficient guaranty,

66

applying the provisions established by the decree, No. 6,368, Feb-
ruary 14, 1907, or others, which will not impose greater burdens,
and which may be more economic.

Art. 7For the same purpose as mentioned in the previous
article, all vessels of any kind destined for river navigation, are
declared exempt from all custom house duties, including fees,
revision, rates.

Art. 8.—The Government will grant the same exemption in
addition to the indirect favors found convenient, to the contractor
who will bind himself at a public competition, to establish coal
depots at points in the valley of the Amazon previously indicated,
and to supply steamers and launches with fuel at prices approved
by the Government.

Art. 9—The Government will promote and aid the production
of food stuffs in the valley of the Amazon through the following
measures, or others which may be found convenient and promise
satisfactory results.

1. The leasing of two of the National Reservations on the Rio
Branco, at a public auction or private competition to a reliable
concern, which binds itself to develop on a large scale, the breed-
ing of cattle of improved types, the production of cereals, and
other foodstuffs, to establish packing houses, dairies, rice-shelling
mills, flour and mandiok mills, etc.

2. Direct colonization, through the Federal Government, on
lands still belonging to the Union, on the S. Marcos Reservation,
situated between the Rivers Mahu, Tacutt, Surumt and Cotingo,
with native families of farmers and stock-farmers, with a view
of developing and inereasing the production of foodstuffs, as well
as horses and mules.

3. Concession to concerns which propose to establish large
plantations or colonies under the above mentioned conditions,
one in the Territory of Acre (between the Rio Branco and Xar-
pury), one in the State of Amazonas (in the region of the Autaz
River), and one in the State of Para (on the island of Marajé
or other point more convenient on the lower Amazon), granting
them the following favors:

(a) Exemption from all import duties, including fees, for all
material imported, necessary for establishing the plantation, in-
cluding buildings, corrals, pastures, fences, watering places, agri-
cultural implements and machines for the cultivation, harvesting
and treatment of cereals, the installation of factories treating
dairy produce and packing houses, as well as cattle and seed
which may be imported during the first five years after the plan-
tation is started.

(b) Premiums of 30,000 milreis for lots of 1,000 hectares of
cultivated pasture, planted and conveniently fenced, and of 100,-

67

000 milreis for lots of 1,000 hectares of improved land for farm-
ing and actually planted with rice, beans, corn or mandioca.

(c) A premium of 100,000 milreis for lots of 500 tons of pro-
ducts made from milk, packed meats and dried beef, which were
produced within five years.

4, Exemption from all import duties, including that of fees,
for the vessels, instruments, machinery, drugs and ingredients
necessary for the installation and working, for a period of 15
years, of a fishing enterprise, including the salting and preserving
of fish, that may be established on the Amazon rivers, and the
concession of a premium of 10:000$ for five consecutive years,
when the production of salted and preserved fish shall be above
100 tons annually.

Art. 10—The Government shall proceed to the discrimination,
and consequent acknowledgment of the owners of the lands in
the Territory of Acre, for the confirmation of their respective
property titles.

Section 1.—In the verification the following should be con-
sidered as much as possible:

(a) The titles granted by the Governors of the States of the
Amazon, of Bolivia and the former independent State of Acre
before the treaty of Petropolis.

(b) The mild and pacific possessions acquired by first occu-
pation, or from the first occupant, which shall be found in active
exploration, or with its beginnings and habitual residence of the
possessor, or his representatives.

Sec. 2.—The maximum area of each lot shall be 10 kilometers
square.

Sec. 3—The Government will review the arrangements of
Law, No. 601, September 18, 1850, and Decree No. 1,318, January
30, 1854, expediting a new regulation of lands, with the modifi-
cations of the present law and those which appear more conven-
ient to the actual situation of the Federal territories.

Art. IIl.—Every three years, the Government shall promote
the realization, in Rio de Janeiro, of an exposition embracing all
that pertains to the national rubber industry, and on these occa-
sions it will grant premiums of encouragement, totaling an
amount equal to that which shall be authorized by law of the
budget in force, for the best processes of culture and treatment,
and to the producers of the best manufactured articles.

Art. 12.—The Executive Power is authorized to enter into an
agreement with the States of Para, Amazonas and Matto Grosso,
for the purpose of obtaining an annual reduction of 10 per cent.
until the maximum limit of 50 per cent. of the actual value of the
export duties placed by the States upon the seringa rubber pro-
duced in their territories, and the exemption from any export
duty, for the space of 25 years, to begin from the date of this law,

68

upon rubber of the same quality and derivation which may be
gathered from cultivated seringaes.

At the time the agreement is effected, the executive power
shall issue a decree making such reduction which the States may
make in the export duty collected on the rubber of the Federal
Territory of Acre and conceding an equal exemption upon culti-
vated rubber.

Art. 18.—In addition the Government is authorized to enter
into an agreement with the above mentioned States for the pur-
pose of establishing, in relation to the rubber of the Territory
of Acre, the measures of protection and defense, which they
have adopted in relation to the production, or other measures
which may be thought better, and having the power to issue the
decrees necessary for this purpose.

Art. 14.For the entire execution of this law and the realiza-
tion of the measures decreed, the executive power, shall issue,
as quickly as possible, the necessary regulations; it shall open
each year the credits that may be necessary, rendering an account
to the Legislative power the year following, of the amounts ex-
pended, of the work done, of the results obtained and making the
operations of credit which such services and measures demand.

Art. 15.—All laws contrary to this are revoked.

Rio de Janeiro, January 5, 1912, 91st year of Independence
and the 24th year of the Republic.

HERMES R. da FONSECA,
PEDRO de TOLEDO.

Order according to Federal Law, number 2,543A, Jan. 5, 1912
Decree number 9,521, April 17, 1912

Art. 1. The measures and services created by law number
2,543A, Jan. 5 of the present year, for the economic defense of
rubber, has in view:

1. The encouragement of the extractive and cultivating in-
dustry of the principal trees producing rubber.

2. The creation of the refining and manufacturing industry
of rubber articles.

3. Assistance to. immigrants, native and foreign, recently ar-
rived, and to the laborers already established in the valley of
the Amazon.

4. To facilitate transportation and decrease its cost in the
valley of the Amazon. ;

5. To create central producers of alimentary foodstuffs in
the valley of the Amazon.

6. To discriminate and legalize the possessors of lands in
the Federal Territory of Acre.

”. To hold triennial expositions in Rio de Janeiro, embrac-

69

ing everything that relates the national rubber industry.

8. To authorize agreements with the States producing ser-
inga rubber, for decreasing the duties of exportation and for the
protection and aid of the rubber commerce.

Sole Paragraph. It shall be the object of each of these meas-
ures and means referred to in number 8 and of the special rules,
that they shall publish at opportune times, as well as those re-
ferred to in number 6 and that part of number 4 which speaks
of the revision and consolidation of the regulations of the coast-
wise merchant marine.

TITLE |

The means of encouragement of the extractive and cultivating
industry of the principal rubber producing trees

CHAPTER I

The reduction of the cost of implements and materials employed
in the development of the rubber industry

Art. 2. The implements and regular materials in the list an-
nexed to this regulation, are free of all import duties, including
the fees when employed for the cultivation of seringueira,
caucho, manicoba and mangabeira and the improved collection
of the extracted rubber, from these trees, whether it treats of
the development purely extractive, or of the development of cul-
tivation. :

Sole Paragraph. Materials and machinery which shall be dis-
covered or invented during the time this regulation is in force,
which have special application to the rubber industry, shall en-
joy the same exemption from import duties.

Art. 8. The exemption shall be quickly granted by the cus-
tom house inspectors, from whom the claimants should require
it, uniting all, or only those necessary as the case may be, the
following documents:

1. The last receipt of the duty of declarations of the Munic-
ipality or Mayor to whose jurisdiction it pertains, by which is
proven that the claimant is developing on his own or rented
property, the extractive or cultivating rubber industry, or that
he is a merchant established with a house prepared for goods
for rubber gatherers, when it treats of regular objects of the
first group.

2. Attested by the Municipality or Mayor to whose juris-
diction he belongs, that the claimant possesses proper land and
that he is about to effectively undertake the culture of some of
the trees above mentioned and treatment of their rubber or an
authentic copy of the concession for this purpose, which he may

70

CASTILLOA ELASTICA.
71

have obtained from the Minister of Agriculture, in case he treats
of regular objects of the second, third or fourth group.

38. A detailed statement of the kind and quality of objects
or material which it is necessary to import, or has been im-
ported, which it is necessary to despatch.

Sole Paragraph. The importer shall become responsible, dur-
ing this period, to the exchequer for any errors that may have
bec:: made.

Art. 4. The product, drug or object that may be similar to
that produced in this country, will not be exempt from import
duti::s, when the cost in this market in which he would have
to buy it was equal to that of the imported merchandise, less
the value of the import duty which he would have to pay in the
custom houses.

CHAPTER II

The money premiums offered to those who cultivate the principal
rubber producing trees

Art. 5. To every one who makes an entirely new culture of
Seringueira, caucho, manigoba or mangabeira, or replants ser-
ingaes, manicobaes, couchaes or native mangabaes, shall be
given, in the first case and for groups of 12 hectares, premiums
of 2,500 milreis, when it is Seringueira; 1,500 milreis when
-caucho or manigoba, and 900 milreis when mangabeira—and in
the second case and for groups of 25 hectares, 2,000 milreis
when it is seringueiras, 1,000 milreis when couchaes or mani-
cobas and 720 milreis when mangabaes, when the following con-
ditions are observed:

1. Sending beforehand to the Minister of Agriculture a plan
of the property in which he expects to make the culture, indicat-
ing the area, water courses navigable for steamers, launches or
only canoes, and of the means of access from headquarters to
the port (fluvial or maritime) or the nearest station on the rail-
road, mentioning these respective distances in case the property
is situated in the interior. The plan shall be accompanied by a
descriptive memorandum, containing as much detailed descrip-
tion as possible as to the nature of the soil and its adaptation to
what shall be principally cultivated, and to those which may
advantageously be subsidiary; the production of rubber for the
last three years in case it treats of the property in development,
and about the conditions of healthfulness.

2. It shall declare whether it is new culture or replanting
that is proposed to be done and in the second case the number
of trees in development the property has already.

3. When the cultivation is of Seringueiras one must declare

72

whether he expects to make parallel cultivations or not, speci-
fying which and whether they occupy the land planted to rub-
ber, or land separate.

4. To communicate to official charged with the fiscalization
the beginning and ending of the planting, with the necessary
antecedence, the year in which the first harvest will be. gathered,
facilitating the examination of the property at any time, and as
many times as desired.

Art. 6. The least number of trees per hectare for new cul-
ture shall be 250 for seringueira and caucho, and 400 for mani-
coba and mangabeira. In the event of replanting, when pos-
sible, the distance between the trees should be 6 to 6.50 metres
for seringueiras and caucho, and 5 metres for manicoba and
mangabeira.

Art. 7. To those who cultivate with seringueiras plants of
alimentation or industrial utility, in all the land improved, or
in other land equal to one-third of the dimensions of the first,
there will be conferred annually, from the beginning of the cul-
tivation to the year of the first rubber harvest, a supplementary
premium corresponding in value to 5 per cent of the principal
premium.

Art. 8. Premiums will not be paid for principal or subsidiary
cultures which in the final inspections for the first and the an-
nual inspections for the others, the trees show poor treatment
or they contain an amount exceeding 15 per cent of flaws.

Art. 9. The premiums shall be paid directly by the Dele-
gacia Fiscal of the State where the property is situated, in the
preceding the first harvest of rubber, through the demand of
the claimant, with certificate from the Government inspector,
declaring that all the conditions required in this regulation were
faithfully complied with.

Sole Paragraph. The inspector who makes out the certificate
shall immediately notify the Minister and will be held responsi-
ble at all times for the value of the premium paid, in case his in-
formation should be found false in whole or in part.

Art. 10. At sight of the documents spoken of in Art. 5, and
after examining them, the claimant shall be entered ex-efficio in
the general register of farmers, existing in the General Directory
of Agriculture with the advantages and guarantees it offers him.

CHAPTER III

The Experimental Stations for the culture of rubber

Art. 11. The experimental stations for the culture of serin-
gueira in the Territory of Acre and the States of Matto-Grosso,
Amazonas, Para, Maranhao, Piauhy and Bahia, and for the culture

73

of manicoba jointly with that of mangabeira, in the States of
Piauhy, Ceara, Parnambuco, Bahia, Minas Geraes, S. Paulo,
Goyaz, Parana and Matto Grosso, have in view with the experi-
mental study of all the factors relating to the regional culture of
each of these trees, for the purpose of furnishing the cultivators
with precise data for the adoption of methods and processes,
which will make possible the economic and perfect production
of their respective rubber.

Art. 12. The experimental stations shall be established on
lands that possess the following requisites:

1. Climatic situation and agricultural conditions required by
the nature or quality of the plant to be cultivated.

2. The physical constitution and natural chemical composi-
tion which will permit conjunctly and parallel the culture of the
principal food stuffs or plants of industrial utility.

3. Localization at points easily accessible by good roads so
that they can be visited and verified, as well in the fields as in
the books of registry of the farmers and agricultural accounts
of the practical results and economies of the different services
and operations. The existence of permanent water courses, or
dams with sufficient capacity to guarantee irrigation when neces-
sary, and also other agricultural services.

Art. 18. The total area of each experimental station shall
be from 80 to 100 hectares, so that there can be made at the
same time in distinct partial areas the culture of the portions
destined for experiments relative to each kind of tree and a
demonstration of the normal systematic development of the re-
spective culture, for comparison of the products and their
revenue.

Art. 14. In the area reserved for demonstration, there shall
be included those which will serve as examples, being the first
cultivated between the processes that shall have proven the most
advantageous and which are sought to be introduced, and lastly
of those generally adopted in that region.

Art. 15. In each station there shall be reserved the land
necessary for the establishment of a nursery of fruit trees and
the production of selected seeds of alimentary plants or those
of industrial utility, whose culture along with the principal
plant shall be considered advantageous.

Art. 16. Every experimental station shall have the follow-
ing installations:

1. A physiological vegetable laboratory, the proving of seeds
and phytopathology.

2. Laboratory of agricultural entomology.

3. Laboratory of argicultural, vegetable and bromatological
chemistry.

U4

‘ip agusrorat

FUMIGATING CAOUTCHOUC.
75

4. Laboratory of mircobiological and technical agriculture.

5. An agricultural and floral museum.

6. A corridor for machines.

%. A meteorological station.

Sole Paragraph. A station that may be established in a
region where there already exists a federal institution of similar
kind, pertaining to agriculture in general, the installations above
mentioned shall be reduced to numbers 5, 6, and 7 and shall be
provided with a small laboratory for the mechanical analysis of
the soil, and utensils and instruments necessary for the proving
of seeds of useful vegetables, so that a choice or selection may be
made and their identity, purity, quality and germanating energy
may be verified, including in these experiments those which
refer to plants that are injurious.

Art. 17. To accomplish the ends proposed, the experimental
stations ought to:

1. Attend the consultations that may be held upon any agri-
cultural question in their line.

2. Execute gratuitously analysis of fertilizers, spices, plants
and water, when required by the nearest federal institute, when
it does not possess the necessary laboratories.

3. Distribute selected plants and seeds.

4. Study the diseases common to the plants cultivated and
the means of combating them, and explaining these things to
those interested.

5. To publish yearly and distribute free of charge a bulletin
devoted to the relation of the works done and the useful knowl-
edge acquired relative to agricultural and rural industrial sub-
jects, and especially the results obtained as to the most practical
and economic method of cultivating the trees that produce rub-
ber, and the most profitable subsidiary plants, as well as the best
methods of the treatment, conservation and packing of the
products.

Art. 18. There shall be admitted to the experimental
stations, persons who wish to gain a practical knowledge in any
of the sections, at the discretion of the Director, who shall fix
the number of students in agreement with the chief of the re-
spective section.

Sole Paragraph. On equal terms, apprentices between 15
and 18 years of age, shall be admitted, the numbers to be
determined by the respective Director, with the approval of the
Minister, who shall have daily tasks corresponding to their
capacity and aptitude. The Director in the name of the Minister
shall give a certificate, on which shall be indicated the work that
has been done, to all those who have completed their appren-
ticeship.

ve

Art. 19. The plan of each station shall be organized to meet
the peculiar necessities of the zone in which it may be estab-
lished, conserving, however, the principal fundamentals already
set forth.

Art. 20. The position of Director shall be held by a person
who is a specialist in any one of the technical sections, and at the
same time shall be its chief, an indispensable condition being that
in addition to his technical knowledge he shall have had a prac-
tical apprenticeship.

Art. 21. The technical positions may be filled, by contract,
by native or foreign professors of established ability.

Art. 22. To each of the stations there shall be sent a special
regulation determining for them their proportions according to
the necessities of the case, fixing the term and salaries of their
respective personnel and providing for the special necessities
to come.

TITLE II

The creation of the Refining and Manufacturing Rubber
Industries

ONLY CHAPTER

Art. 23. The first factory for the refining of seringa rubber
that shall be established in each of the cities of Belem (Para)
and Manaos, and of manicoba and mangabeira rubber which
shall be established in the States of Piauhy, Ceara, Rio Grande
do Norte, Pernambuco, Bahia, Minas Geraes and S. Paulo, as
well as the first factory of rubber articles which shall be estab-
lished in Manaos, in Belem, in Recife (Pernambuco) in Bahia,
and in Rio de Janeiro, there shall be conceded the following
premiums and favors:

(a) Up to 400,000 milreis in money to the plants for the re-
fining of seringa rubber;

Up to 100,000 milreis in money to the plants for the refin-
ing of manigoba and mangabeira rubber ;

Up to 500,000 milreis in money for plants for manufacturing
rubber articles.

(b) Exemption from import duties, including fees in the
manner and by the processes described in Articles 3 and 91
combined, as the case may require, for all material, machines,
utensils and hardware necessary for the construction and com-
plete equipment of the factory, as well as all chemical sub-
stances, cloth and different materials, combustibles and lubri-
cants necessary for the working and maintenance of the factory,
during a period of 25 years.

V7

(c) The right of appropriation for public use, according to
the legislation in force, of the lands and improvements belong-
ing to individuals that may be judged appropriate and necessary
for the equipment of the factory and its dependencies.

(d) <A preference given by the Government for the purchase
of the products used in the service of the Army and Navy and
the federal public departments, which shall be manufactured by
the factories, when they can compete in quality with similar
foreign articles—the contract for furnishing the same, adjudi-
cated every 3 years with each factory, for those of their products
which were classified in the first place in the expositions men-
tioned in Article 95.

(e) Exemption from all State and Municipal duties for the
same time as in letter b, because the factory is considered to be
of service to the Government.

Art. 24. In order to claim these favors any company or
organization that expects to erect one or more factories, should
conform to the following formalities and conditions:

1. Present to the Minister of Agriculture a previous request.
accompained by the following documents:

(a) General and detailed plan of the factories;

(b). An estimate of the expenses for the first establishment;

(c) A descriptive memorandum in which the capacity of
production of the factory is declared the principal articles in-
tended to be manufactured, the lowest price for which it is pro-
posed to wash and refine rubber, which should be reduced, for
each quality, to one type and superior for exportation, in gen-
eral giving the Government all the information that will help
it to form a correct opinion as to the nature and importance
of the projected establishment;

(d) Certificates and references which will prove the com-
plete professional and financial ability of the suitor.

2. To obligate himself in the contract made with the
Minister of Agriculture, the clause of reversion at the end of
the combined term.

3. To allow the official appointed by the Government for
the fiscalization, to visit the works during the period of construc-
tion, for the purpose of verifying the actual amount of expenses
incurred for the first establishment and determining the value
of the pecuniary premium, which shall be in any of the three
cases, equal to a fourth part of the expense, not exceeding the
limits fixed in letter a of Article 23, as well as to visit the estab-
lishment when he desires after it begins work, in order that he
may be sure, that the materials imported free of duty are effec-
tively and exclusively used in the products of the factory.

78

4. To send annually to the Minister, through the said fiscal
a prepared statement in which shall be specified:

(a) The amount and quality and the place where produced
of the rubber used as raw material;

(b) The kind and quantity and value of the products of the
factory used at home and exported;

(c) The number of employes, native and foreign, effectively
in service during the year, with specification of their respective
classes.

Art. 25. The premium in money shall be paid, as soon as
the factory is inaugurated, at the National Treasury or at the
Delegacia Fiscal of the State in which it is situated, when autho-
rized by the Minister of Agriculture.

TITLE Il

Assistance to immigrants, native or recently arrived foreigners
and laborers already established in the valley of the Amazon.

CHAPTER I

The Lodges for immigrants in Belem, Manaos and the Territory
of Acre

Art. 26. The lodges for immigrants in Belem, Manaos and
the Territory of Acre, shall be establishments installed and
maintained at the expense of the Union, intended to entertain
immigrants, native and foreign, who arrive at those ports volun-
tarily or with their passage paid by the Union or by the States.

Art. 2%. The lodges at Belem shall have the capacity of
caring for at least 1,500, that at Manaos 1,200 and that at Acre
800 immigrants.

Art. 28. The plan of the respective buildings and the dif-
ferent installations of the lodges shall conform rigorously to
the conditions required by the climate of that region and fitted
for the special necessities of service for which they are intended.

' Art. 29. The construction shall be made by a public bidding.

Sole Paragraph. If the first public bidding is not satisfac-
tory, the Government can order the projected lodge built by the
Administration. fy,

Art. 30. Annexed to each lodge there shall be an appro-
priate building, in which there shall be a special receiver of cus-
toms for the implements of workmen employed in agricultural
and extractive industries, and indispensable for the carrying on

79

of their work these implements to be sold strictly at cost price
to those immigrants who desire to buy for their personal use.

To those native immigrants who during the times of drought
in the States of the northwest and going from there, may arrive
at the lodges without resources, shall be furnished free, by
authority of the Minister, with the implements indispensable
‘for work.

Art. 81. The families of native and foreign immigrants ar-
riving at the lodges of Belem and Manaos, who do not expressly
declare they prefer another destination, shall be transported at
the expense of the Union or the lesee to the national plantations
of Rio Branco, where according to their aptitude and ability,
they shall be settled in colonies, founded by this one or that one.

Art. 32. At the inauguration of each lodge, there shall be
applied, with the modifications required by the special conditions
of each case, the regulations of the lodge on the island of Flores.

CHAPTER II

Hospitals in the Interior

Art. 33. For the purpose of reducing the distances and the
time of the journey for the inhabitants of the interior in the
valley of the Amazon, who must find a centre of supplies where
they can be treated when sick, or provide excellent medicines
for their domestic ills; of proportioning to all who may desire
means of immuning themselves against contagious diseases,
and of creating a propoganda service of the hygienic habits and
practices necessary for everyone who must live and work in the
Amazon regions, there shall be built a hospital surrounded by a
small agricultural colony in Boa Vista do Rio Branco; S. Gabriel
do Rio Negro; Teffé or Fonte Boa on the River Solimées; S.
Fillippe, on the River Jurua; Bocca do Acre, on the River Purus;
at the confluence of the Rivers Arinos and Juruena; on the Alto
Tapajéz; Conceigao on the River Araguaya and Montenegro
on the Ampa.

Art. 34. The hospitals shall be built in places that have the
following requisites:

1. To have a plain of low elevation, conveniently ventilated
for the construction of the hospital buildings socalled and its
dependencies, and houses of residence for the personnel.

2. Existence around or close to the plain of dry lands, pro-
vided with good and abundant water, which serve for agricul-
ture and cattle raising and of sufficient area for the founding
of an agricultural community of at least 100 families.

3. Facility for the establishment of rapid communication
with a fluvial port, or one that must serve them.

80

Art. 385. Each hospital shall have a capacity for 100 sick
persons. .

Art. 86 Each hospital: shall possess the following in-
stallations:

(a) Five separate pavilions, each for 20 sick, each sick per-
son having 5 cubic metres and an area of 12 square metres.

One of the pavilions should be installed with the necessary
requisites for the isolation of infectious diseases ; for this purpose
it should be divided into rooms for isolation, independent and
easily disinfected, with the proper sanitary apparatus.

All the hospital buildings should have the windows protected
by wire screening whose openings should never exceed 1%
millimeter and the doors provided with:

(b) A disinfectory provided with an apparatus to disin-
fect in boiling lye and a stove for sterilization by the combined
action of heat, vacuum and formal. Annexed to the disinfectory
shall be the laundry.

(c) A laboratory for the diagnostic clinics and microbiology.

(d) Surgicial operating room.

(e) Clinic consulting room.

(f) Room for autopsies.

(g) Pharmacy.

(h) Sanitary installation, in which should terminate all the
drainage pipes of the hospital, destined for the bacteriological
treatment of the water used, which not until after this operation
must be allowed to flow into the natural river courses.

(i) Dependencies for the administration and quarters of the
personnel.

Art. 8%. In each hospital there shall be made in the respec-
tive pharmaceutical laboratory a preliminary study of all the
remedies used by the people of that region to determine which
are prejudicial and which inoffensive. The respective Director
shall show the people in printed circulars, frequently and pro-
fusely distributed that their use is improper. Those which are
found efficacious and susceptible of improvement, shall be sent
for more complete studies in the chemical laboratories and
federal pharmacies, letting the people know the results obtained.

Art. 38. When the installation of each hospital is complete, a
contract shall be made, by public bidding, or independent of it,
as the Government may think best, with some professional of
recognized ability, the direction and maintenance of the respec-
tive services, the contract including the following obligations:

1. The reservation of one hour daily in the medical con-
sultation room, where the sick known to be without means may
freely receive examination and be furnished with the necessary

medicines.
81

2. The maintenance of a bureau for vaccination against
smallpox and other contageous diseases by means considered
efficacious, and to attend gratuitously to all who may wish it.

3. To submit for the approval of the Government the
regimen internal of the establishment and a table of prices for
the treatment of the sick, which should be revised every 38 years.

4. To expose for sale in the pharmacy only medicines of
the best quality, especially sulphate of quinine and such other
preparations, under penalty of having destroyed all drugs known
to be impure in addition to the fine to suit the case that may be
fixed in the contract.

5. To give a bond in money, or policies of the public
federal debt that will guarantee the good conservation of the
establishment during the time of the contract.

6. To distribute abundantly every six months leaflets con-
taining advice about hygiene prevention of the sicknesses of
that region, showing in clear language, within the reach of all,
those that are improper and the danger in the use of alcoholic
drinks, and teaching what measures to take and the common
remedies which should be applied in different cases when there
is no physician to be had.

%. To be subject to the inspection of the Government which
should be very minute and severe as to the condition of cleanli-
ness and conservation of the establishment, the quality of the
medicines employed and sold to the public and the care with
which the sick are treated.

Art. 89. The hospitals and all their dependencies and
sections are not subject to any duties to the state or munici-
pality, being the property of the Union and doing a federal pub-
lic service.

Art. 40. To each hospital there shall be given an annual
pecuniary subvention, proportioned to the services to which it
will have to attend, until the income of the establishment and
all its dependencies derive a profit of 10 per cent, during 3 con-
secutive years on the respective capital invested, which amount
shall be acknowledged and previously approved by the Govern-
ment.

CHAPTER III
The agricultural nucleuses adjacent to the hospitals

Art. 41. The agricultural nucleuses adjacent to the interior
hospital shall be founded by the Union for the following pur-
poses:

1. The production of foodstuffs necessary for the support of
the said hospitals.

82

2. The intensive culture and breeding of the plants and
animals of alimentation generally consumed by the neighboring
population.

3. The constituting of fixed centres of population economi-
cally equipped, which will serve as a point of parting for colonies
of greater importance, capable of gradually attending to the
necessities that the growing population of that region may be
creating.

Art. 42. The preliminary studies, the plan, the preparatory
work and the different installations necessary for the founding
of each nucleus as well as the colonization of the lots, and their
administration in general, shall be done in accordance with dis-
positions of decree number 9,081, Nov. 8, and number 9,214,
Dec. 15, 1911, observing the following alterations:

1. The selling price of rural and urban lots shall be cal-
culated on the prices established in the land laws of the States
of Para and Amazonas, as a base, applicable to the nucleuses
situated respectively in each state:

2. In failure of remunerating work, or when there is in-
sufficient, the judge of the administration, to maintain numerous
families, shall furnish them food, charging the same to the
heads of the families, calculating this furnishing at the rate of
from 2 milreis to 3 milreis daily at the highest, for adults and
those over 7 years of age, and one half this for those between
the age of 7 to 8 years.

Art. 48. The indians and native workers localized in the
agricultural nucleuses shall participate in the advantages and
obligations contained in decree number 9,214, Dec. 15, 1911.

Art. 44. Having finished the preparatory work for each
nucleus, the lots first colonized shall be those devoted to the
production of the foods necessary for the support of the hospital
which is in their neighborhood, so that it can count on, from
the time of its inauguration, a regular and sufficient supply of
these commodities.

83

TITLE IV

Improvements and measures tending to facilitate transportation
and decrease its cost in the valley of the Amazon

CHAPTER |

Lines of railroad transportation

Art. 45. There shall be constructed in the valley of the
Amazon lines of railroad transportation of two classes:

1. Large lines of transportation, making an integral part
of the general line of Federal railroads, with identical character-
istics and comprising the same principles.

2. Economic lines of transportation, of reduced gauge, pro-
visionally established for easy ways of penetration, whatever
may be their development, sufficient to facilitate access to and
permit the exploration of the virgen seringas and the good lands
for cultivation situated on the upper banks of the Rivers Xingu,
Tapajoz, Branco, Negro, and others situated in the States of
Para, Matto-Grosso and Amazonas.

Art. 40. Those lines belonging to the first class shall be
immediately begun and constructed as quickly as possible, the
following:

1. Parting from the Port of Belem (Para) and joining the
general line of railroad in Pirapora, in the State of, Minas
Geraes and in Coroata, in the State of Maranbao, with the
necessary branches to unite the initial points or terminals of
navigation on the Rivers Arguaya, Tocantins, Parnaluyba, and
S. Francisco.

2. Beginning at a convenient point chosen on the Madeira-
Marmoré railroad, near the mouth of the River Abunda, passing
by the Villa Rio Branco, and the point most appropriate be-
tween Senna Medureira and Catay and terminating in Villa
Thaumaturgo, with a branch to the frontier of Peru by the
valley of the River Puruts.

Art. 4%. The rules for the construction of these lines is
prescribed by law, number 1,126, Dec. 15, 1908, and both shall
be let at public bidding.

Art. 48. The Minister of Transportation is to command the
studies to be made, to contract for the construction and in-
spect the traffic of these roads, but he will furnish the Minister
of Agriculture a copy of the plans relative to the route and give
descriptive memoranda of the project, and when drawing up the
papers for the bidding, shall include the clauses which he shall
judge necessary and opportune for the colonization of the bor-
dering lands and the development of the industries of the zone

84

tributary to the line as well as to attend to the eventual neces-
sities of the commerce.

_ Art. 49. The construction and the concession for construc-
tion of the roads of the second class may be made by the Union
or by the States interested.

Art. 50. The Minister of Agriculture is the proper person
to construct or permit the construction of those Government
resolves to carry into effect at the account of the Union, as well
as to authorize the payment of the subvention of 15,000 mibreis
per kilometer to those which were contracted for by the States.

Art. 51. The technical conditions of the railroads of which
Art. 45. treats in the second part, are the following:

A portable line of the Decauville type.

Weight of the rails, 15 kilos per metre.

Gauge 0,60 cm between the rails, least radius of curvature
40 M.O.

Greatest incline OmO10.

Weight of locomotives 18 to 20 tons.

Art. 52. The concessions for these roads shall be let at a
public bidding according to the rule established in law number
1,126 of 1908, or independently of bidding with a person or cor-
poration sufficiently able with the help of the payment of the
maximum subvention of 25 contos per kilometer, according to
the difficulties of the land it passes through, paid by sections of
not less than 30 kilometers, completely ready and furnished with
the necessary rolling stock, within 90 days of the date of the
respective inaugurations.

Art. 538. The concession for these railroads cannot be given
to those who agree to build then simply as transportation en-
terprises, but only to those who wili obligate themselves to
colonize and explore, in proportion as they may be justified, the
respective marginal lands.

It is an essential condition for the validity of the conces-
sion, that the contractor presents to the Minister of Agriculture
within the maximum term of one year, proof that he has dis-
posed of the lands for colonization, and a descriptive memo-
randum of the character and extent of the industries he intends
to develop.

Art. 54. Those railroads of this type which in the future
may be joined to any general line of transportation, shall be
obliged as soon as its gross earnings amount to 10,000 mibreis
per kilometer, to make its gauge conform to the same, and from
then for all purposes becoming a part of the general federal
transportation system.

Independently of being joined to any railroad in general,
these economical railroads shall pass to the jurisdiction of the

85

Minister of Transportation and Public Works and shall be
obliged to enlarge their gauge to 1 meter, without other favors
from the Government, there not being a supplementary term
of the contract, if it is wanting for its termination in less than
60 years, when the gross receipts have reached 15,000 mibreis
per kilometer during 3 successive years. Before this the rail-
road may pass to the Minister of Tranportation and the gauge
be widened, on his own account, when he shall think it to his
interest, or by a new contract, when the Government thinks it
necessary to have it done for the necessities of the administra-
tion or the defense of the country.

Art. 55. In addition to the subvention per kilometer, there
shall be given to these railroads all the indirect favors received
by the other railroads of the country.

Art. 56. The maximum term for a concession shall be 90
years, at the end of which the railroad will revert to the control
of the Union.

Art. 5%. Under the right of experiment, the Government
shall promote at once the following lines of economical rail-
roads:

1. Parting from “Autiga Souzel,”’ or other point more con-
venient on the left bank of the Xingu and ascending the left
side of the valley to the margin of the River Cariahy, with a
branch which parting at a convenient point, shall go to the
Tapajoz and ascend the right hand side of the valley until it
reaches the S. Manoel which may appear advantageous, ascend-
ing the secondary valley and continuing to the dividing of the
waters of the two principal rivers.

2. Parting from the confluence of the River Negro with the
Branco and by the valley of the River Seruiny, gaining the right
side of the valley by the Caratimani river and continuing to the
upper Uraricaera, with a branch parting at a convenient point
at the request of the upper Paduiry and a branch in the direc-
tion of the Villa Boa Vista.

CHAPTER Il

Improvements for the navigation of the Rivers Branco, Negro,
Purus and Acre

Art. 58. The improvements necessary for effective naviga-
tion at any season of the year, for steamers drawing 3 feet, on
the River Negro, between Santa Izabel and Cucuhy, on the
River Branco, from its mouth to Sao Joaquin, on the River
Purtts, between Hyutanhaé and Senna Madureira, and on the
River Acre, from its mouth to Riosinho de Pedros, shall be con-
tracted for by public bidding, or independently of bidding, with

86 :

corporations sufficiently able, under the rule established by
decree, number 6,368, Feb. 14, 1907 or others which may not
be more onerous and may permit the assurance of the opening
of navigation more rapidly on the sections of the rivers to be
improved.

Art. 59. In none of the contracts shall a longer term than
Y years be granted the contracting party, to count from the date
of its signing, so that safe and free passage is given steamers
drawing 3 feet in the entire distance of the contract.

Art. 60. The improvements in the Rio Branco, shall com-
mence with the destruction and regulating of the Cujubim
rapid, so that from now on navigation is assured during the
Winter to Villa Boa Vista.

Art. 61. The studies, plans, constructions, inspection and
direct conservation of these works are under the supervision of
the Minister of Transportation; but before the respective con-
tract is signed, copies of the plans and descriptive memorandum
referring to the project shall be furnished the Minister of Agri-
culture, so that he may be heard upon the opportunity and the
order in which these works shall be executed, in the interest of
the economic development of the region, and that they may be
conveniently attended by those casually interested in the coloni-
zation and development of the industries along the banks of the
rivers, or in commerce in general.

In case it is found that the destruction and regulation of the
Culubim rapid cannot be done during one season of low water
in the river, the Minister of Agriculture, by agreement with the
State of Amazonas, can order to be constructed a Decauville
line of the type described in articles 45, second part and 51,
in the belt line constructed by that State along waterfalls, so
that the leasing and colonization of the national plantations of
Rio Branco is no longer delayed.

CHAPTER III

Complementary measures

Art. 62. All vessels of every kind intended for the fluvial
navigation in the valley of the Amazon are free of all import
duties, including the fees. This exemption shall be given by the
custom houses of Belem (Para) and Manaos, through a requi-
sition to the Minister of Agriculture, which the importer shall
have asked for, declaring in his request the number, class and
tonnage, the draft and the cost and the purpose of each vessel.

Art. 63. The vessel imported under this favor, if sold out-
side the valley of the Amazon, or even within it, to a foreign

87

country, shall pay the proper duties according to the law of the
budget in force in the year of its importation.

Art. 64. Deposits of coal shall be established for supplying
the steamers which navigate the Amazon rivers, and for others
who care to use them, in the following places, or in others which
be shown to be more convenient: Belem (Para), Cameta, Breves,
Chaves, Mazagao, Gurupa, Souzel, Prainha, Sautarem, Ponta
Nova Brasileira, Obidos, Parintius, Itacoatiara, Manaos,
Carvoeiro, Moreira, Santa Izabel do Rio Negro, Carmo do Rio
Branco, Caracarahy, Boca do Canuma, Baetas, Boca do Rio
Machado, Boca do Purts, Campina, Nova Olinda, Canutama,
Cachoeira de Hyutanahan, Boca do Pauhiny, Boca do Acre,
Rio Branco, Seuna Madureira, Coary, Teffé, Boca do Jurua,
Juruapeca, Mearary, Boca do Tarauaca, Cruz-iro do Sul, Boca do
Jutahy, S. Paulo de Clivenca, Benjamin Constant and Santo
Antonio de Maripi.

Art. 65. There shall be floating deposits, so that they can
be moved from one place to another, as the giowth of navigation
in this or that place may require; they shall have sufficient
capacity for the movement of steamers at the station they are
serving and passes modern apparatus for discharging the coal,
which will reduce to a minimum the raising of dust, and load
the steamers as quickly as possible.

Art. 66. At points where it may be thought necessary, the
deposits shall be provided with tanks for fuel oil, which can be
placed on the platform with coal, or on separate floating
platforms.

Art. 6%. The establishment of the deposits and the business
of furnishing fuel to the steamers, shall be by contract after a
public bidding and signed by the Minister of Agriculture.

Art. 68. The floating material for the depositories and
the fuel imported shall be free of all import duties, including
the fees.

The fees in the custom houses shall be ordered through a
requisition from the Minister of Agriculture, from whom the
contracting party shall ask it, for each shipment, with the nec-
essary data.

Art. 69. The fuel imported by the corporation can only be
sold for river navigation service.

Art. 70. The maximum prices at which the party can sell
fuel to steamers, shall be according to tables approved annually
by the Minister. These may be altered during the year, when
so necessary in the opinion of the Government.

Art. 71. The contracting party shall not be subject to pay-
ment of any state or municipal duties, because the object is the
public federal service.

88

Art. 72. In places where the party has and the Government
has not deposits of fuel, to him shall be given the preference for
furnishing the quantity necessary for the national vessels of war,
at the prices received when supplying the vessels of individuals.

Art. 73. In extraordinary circumstances and at the requi-
sition of the Government, the contracting party shall place at
its disposition all the deposits of fuel on hand, being afterwards
indemnified for a part or all of the fuel delivered, and after-
wards .another payment of the value of the deposits unused,
corresponding to the profits lost during the time of the interrup-
tion of his business, calculated on an equal period of the preced-
ing year.

Art. 74, The bidding for the contract shall be upon the
terms for the installation of the depositories, their reversion to
the Union and the selling price of fuel for the first year.

TITLE V

The creation of centres producing foodstuffs in the valley
of the Amazon

CHAPTER I

The leasing of the national plantations of Rio Branco

Art. 75. The Minister of Agriculture can contract for the
leasing of the two national plantations S. Bento and S. Marcos,
except the part situated between the Rivers Maht, Takutt,
Surumut and Cotingo, by public bidding, or independent of it,
with a corporation or party sufficiently able, observing the fol-
lowing -dispositions which shall be explained and assured in the
clauses of the detailed contracts.

1. The party will be obliged to:

(a) Develop and practice on a large scale, by the best and
most modern methods the breeding of cattle of different kinds
and the cultivation of the usual alimentary cereals;

(b) Establish a packing house for the preparation of dried
beef and a factory for the canning of alimental animal and
vegetable products.

(c) Equip a factory for milk products, in which in addition
to making cheese and butter, milk shall be prepared by the
Pasteur system or some other that may be better, in condition
to be supplied to the seringaes and estates of the interior.

(d) Equip a central mill for the treatment of rice and other
cereals and two improved factories for mandioca flour, as soon
as the number of colonies localized can produce a sufficient
supply of raw material for such establishment.

89

(e) . Receive and localize the immigrants who may desire to
settle on the lands of the plantation, in accordance with the dis-
positions of this regulation and with the decrees number 9,081,
Nov. 3, 1911, referring to the peopling of the soil, and number
9,214, Dec. 15, 1911, referring to the protection of the Indians
and localization of native laborers, in the parts that may be
proper.

(f) Present to the Minister for approval the plans and
descriptive memorandum, with as much detail as possible, of
the agricultural nucleus which he shall be obliged to establish
and all the installations referring to the factories and services
necessary for the complete equipment of the plantations, within
the maximum space of 2 years, to count from the signing of the
contract.

(g) Be subject to inspection by the Government for the
faithful execution of the contract, on the terms therein
established.

Art. 76. To the party or corporation the following favors
will be granted:

(a) Exemption from all import duties, including fees, in
the form and by the process referred to in article 91, for all the
imported material necessary to complete the equipment of the
plantations, including houses, barns, pastures, fences, reservoirs,
implements and machines for the culture, harvesting and treat-
ing the cereals, installation of mills and factories, improved
cattle, seeds of alimentary and industrial plants, as well as for
the materials and chemicals necessary to maintain the factories
and husbandry, during the time of his contract.

(b) Right of condemnation for public use, of the property
or improvements of individuals, which may be necessary, in the
opinion of the Government for any of the services of the
enterprise.

(c) All the favors specified in articles 131 and 132 of decree
number 9,081, Nov. 3, 1911, native and foreign colonies being
made equal.

(d) Preference for the contract of the works necessary for
the improvement of the navigation of the Rio Branco, if the
price is considered acceptable by the Government and the time
for the completion of the work not more than 6 years.

Art. 77. The term of the lease in the contract shall be 60
years, at the end of which all the cattle for breeding and all
the improvements then possessed by the lessee shall revert to the
dominion of the Union.

Art. 78. Within the term of 1 year, to date from the signing
of the contract, the Government will give to lessee a copy of the
plans of the plantations, in which shall be marked the water

90

courses with a specification of those navigable, the zone of
forest and plain and the situations of the occupants who may
be found.

Art. 79. The plantations shall be turned over as soon as
an inventory of the improvements, and the number of cattle of
each kind then on the plantation can be made.

CHAPTER II

The colonization of the plantation of S. Marcos situated between
the Rivers Mahu, Takutu, Surumu and Cotingo

Art. 80. The colonization of the lands of S. Marcos’ planta-
tion, situated between the Rivers Mahi, Takuti Surumt and
Cotingo, on the frontier of British Guiana shall be done directly
by the Minister of Agriculture, who shall order, without delay,
to prepare a plan with the necessary details, and afterwards
carry them out as they may be necessary:

(a) A town of the aborigines;

(b) An agricultural centre;

(c) A colonial nucleus;

(d) An ambulant course of agriculture;

(e) An agricultural apprenticeship;

(f) <A school of practical agriculture;

(g) An experimental station.

Art. 81. The colonization of the lands whether in the agri-
cultural centre, or colonial nucleus, shall be made so that each
lot occupied by a foreign colonist corresponds to at least two
occupied by families of native colonists, which preferably shall
be chosen from those who arrive at the lodges of Belem and
Manaos, proceeding from the states of the northwest.

’ Art. 82. Gradually and opportunely there shall be installed
in the colony lands, mills and factories, having in view the im-
provement and production on a large scale of cereals and other
alimentary foods.

Art. 83. In an appropriate locality there shall be established
a model plantation for the breeding of cattle, horses and mules,
in which there shall be made a comparative study of the native
and foreign breeds, which best resist the climate of that region,
to verify which may be most advantageously improved by the
method of selection, crossing and formation of perfect types.

CHAPTER Il
The premiums and favors to those who intend to found large
plantations of agriculture and cattle raising

‘Art. 84. To large plantations of agriculture and cattle rais-
ing that may be founded, one in the Territory of Acre (between

91

the Rio Branco and Xapury) one in the State of Amazonas (in
the region of the River Autaz), and one in the State of Para
(on the island of Marajé, or other point more convenient on
the lower Amazon), the federal Government will grant the fol-
lowing favors:

(a) Exemption from import duties, including the fees, in
the form and by the process described, in article 91, for all the
imported material necessary to complete the equipment of the
plantation, including houses, barns, pastures, fences, reservoirs,
implements and machines, for the culture, harvesting and trea-
ment of cereals, and installation of factories for milk products,
the preservation of meat, as well as for cattle and seed which
are imported, within the first 5 years after the installation of the
plantation ;

(b) Premiums of 30,000 mibreis for groups of a thousand
hectores of pastures artificially planted and conveniently fenced
and of 100,000 hectores and of 100,000 mibreis for groups of a
thousand hectores of land improved for agriculture, and actually
cultivated with rice, beans, corn and mandicaco;

(c) Premium of 100,000 milreis paid for groups of 500
tons of foodstuffs manufactured from milk, and canned or packed
meat, which may be produced in 5 years.

Art. 85. The claimant of a right to these premiums must
make a previous contract with the Minister of Agriculture, in
which he obligates himself to:

1. Present within one year a plan of the plantation, in which
should be mentioned the river port that would serve him, the
courses of the rivers which wash it, with a specification of these
navigable for steamers, launches or only for canoes, the zones
of forest and plain, accompained by the plan of installation to
be made, a descriptive memorandum of the services, and in-
dustries that he intends to develop and a detailed relatorio, in-
dicating the quality, the quantity and cost of the materials
necessary to import for the first year’s work.

2. Allow the plantation and all its dependencies to be visited
by the official charged with the inspection, when he is perform-
ing his duties, to verify the proper use of the objects and ma-
terials imported exempt from duties, the area, the state and
kind of culture and the quantity, class and quality of the goods
manufactured and destined for foodstuffs.

Art. 86. The premiums shall be paid at the National
Treasury or at the Delegacias Fiscaes in Belem and Manaos, by
a requisition from the Minister of Agriculture, which the claim-
ant must ask, attaching to his request the certificate of the
Government inspector that all the dispositions of this regulation
have been faithfully fulfilled, and a statistical table of the work-

92

ers employed during the year in each industry and the amount
of the annual crop, with the specification of the quantity of
each kind.

Art. 8%. The contractor can colonize the lands of the planta-
tion under the order established in Chapter XII of the regulation
under the decree, number 9,081, Nov. 8, 1911; the national
colonists coming from the states of the northwest are made
equal to foreign colonists, for the purpose of the premiums of
which articles 132 and 133 treat in the above mentioned
regulation.

CHAPTER IV

Favors to a fishing corporation

Art. 88. The Minister of Agriculture shall contract with
some person, syndicate or company, offering guarantees of
sufficient ability, for the establishment of a fishing enterprise,
which with headquarters in Belem (Parad) or Manaos, that can
be conveniently equipped as quickly as possible, to begin this
and its allied industries, on a large scale in the Amazon rivers.

Art. 89. The following favors shall be given the enterprise:

(a) Exemption from all import duties, including fees, for
the vessels, instruments and other maritime material; for all the
material necessary for the installation, complete equipping and
establishment of the enterprise on conditions which would en-
able it to be a going industry in al! its phases, as well as the
drugs, ingredients, cans and boxes, or materials to make them,
and in general for all that it may be necessary to import from
abroad, indispensable to the maintenance of its vessels and fac-
tories, during a term of 15 years, to count from the date of its
operations ;

(b) Premium of animation 11 money to the amount of
10,000 mibreis during 5 consecutive years, when the production
of preserved and salted fish shall be annually more than 100 tons;

(c) The right of condemnation for public use, of the lands
and improvements belonging to individuals, judged appropriate
and indispensable for the installation of any of the establish-
ments that it is necessary to build on land;

(d) Exemption from all state and municipal imports because
the object of the contract is for the federal public service.

Art. 90. All the property of the enterprise shall revert to the
Union, at the end of the term for which the contract was granted.

Art. 91. The exemptions from duties shall be given by the
custom houses in Belem and Manaos, by a requisition from the
Minister of Agriculture, from whom it shall be requested, attach-

93

ing to the request a memorandum of the objects with specifica
tion of the qualities, quantities and ends for which they are
needed, and what are imported for the services of the first estab-
lishment, and after this what must be imported for its mainte-
nance,

Art. 92. The enterprise shall be subject to inspection by the
Government as to the safety of the steamers, and processes em-
ployed in fishing, the faithful use of the objects imported, the
manufacture of preserving, in which substances hurtful to the
public health shall not be employed, nor in the annual produc-
tion of preserved or salted fish for the purpose of obtaining the
premiums in money.

Art. 93. Specimens of fish not well known, the party shall
send one properly preserved to the Minister of Agriculture, ac-
companied by a small relatorio describing the place and condi-
tions under which it was caught and noting anything particular
that might be interesting in studying it.

Art. 94. Every commander or master of the vessels of the
enterprise, shall make a written communication to the directors
for them to bring to the knowledge of the Government, the places
where there is the existence of any obstacle to navigation, indicat-
ing the position in a good sketch of that stretch of the river,
describing its nature and the route to be followed to avoid it.
These communications shall be transmitted to the Minister of
Transportation in order that he may place a signal on the ob-
stacle, and as soon as possible remove it.

TITLE VI

The Triennial Expositions Embracing All That Relates to the
National Rubber Industry

Art. 95. The Rubber Expositions shall be held in Rio de
Janeiro every three years, the first being on May 18, 1913; its
object shall be to give the sum of the triennial movement of the
national rubber industry in its various modifications, compared
with the industry in other countries.

Art. 96. The triennial expositions shall include the rubber
industry in all its branches and shall include the following classi-
fications:

1. The Culture.

2. The Extraction.

3. The Improvement.

4. The Manufacture of Articles.

The classes shall be subdivided into groups including native

94

and cultivated plants, machinery, utensils, processes, commercial
type, studies and statistics.

Art. 97. Premiums of encouragement shall be given for the
best processes of culture, extraction and treatment, and to the
best manufactured products, whether as raw material, constitut-
ing commercial types for exportation, or as to manufacture.

Art. 98. The Government shall opportunely request the Na-
tional Congress for the necessary enactments to make these prem-
iums effective.

Art. 99. The rubber expositions shall be true expositions held
in relation to the machinery and utensils and products of rubber
of all kinds, but the sale sought to be registered in a special
book, by the payment of a fixed percentage to the organizing
commission which shall apply this income to the interests of
these same expositions.

Art. 100. Foreign products can be admitted to these rubber
expositions, for the purpose of permitting comparison and per-
fecting the national industry but shall receive no premium.

Section 1. Foreign products destined for the rubber exposi-
tions shall be free of all custom house duties, as established in
Law No. 2,544, January 4, 1912, Article 89, No. 6, but if they are
sold, shall pay their respective import duties when given to the
buyers.

Sec. 2. Foreign products not sold shall be re-exported for the
account of the respective expositors.

Art. 101. The transportation of the national products destined
for the rubber expositions shall be gratuitous.

Art. 102. For these expositions there shall be prepared
bound statistics and relatorios especially relative to the former
period and as regards the rubber industry in Brazil, compared
with the world movement.

Art. 103. During the expositions there shall be held:

1. National congresses specializing upon the rubber industry.

2. Lectures upon subjects previously chosen and illustrated
with stereopticon slides.

For the carrying out of what is ordered in this article, the
organizing commission shall provide for the respective programs
and other measures for its entire success.

Art. 104. From all the principle products exhibited some
specimens shall be selected to constitute a permanent exhibit,
which shall remain exhibited in the Commercial Museum of Rio
de Janeiro, and in whose care shall also remain some reserves
to be sent to similar Museums in Brazil and in foreign lands.

TITLE VII

The Direction and Inspection of the Service

Art. 105. The direction and inspection of all the service for
the economic defense of rubber, shall be in charge of a provisory
department of the Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Com-
merce, entitled ‘““Superintendency of the Protection of Rubber.”

Art. 106. The superintendency is charged with:

1. To receive, to record, to prepare, and to inform the manu-
scripts which depend upon the despatch of the Minister.

2. To see to the effective and integral execution of measures
of an administrative character foreseen in the Regulation.

3. The study, planning, calculating and execution of the work
that must be done by the administration.

4. The study, planning, calculating, and execution of the
work that must be done by contract.

5. The closing, with the approval of the Minister, of the
contracts and the decrees relative to the concurrence of the
States and Municipalities for the works and measures which
they resolved to aid.

Section 1. Each service that has been definitely installed
and is in normal working condition, shall be given over to a
section of the Ministry of Agriculture with which it harmonizes
and incorporated or subordinated.

Sec. 2. For the measure that is being executed as ordered
in Sec. 1, the Government shall provide that the proper lawful
budgets shall be apportioned of the means necessary for the
maintenance, conservation and development of new settlements.

Art. 107. The Superintendency of the “Protection of Rubber”
shall be constituted of:

A central section working in the Federal Capital.

A district section with headquarters in the national pines
tions of Rio Branco.

Partial commissions for services that may be indispensable,

Districts of inspection embracing one or more States, in con-
formity with the number and importance of the services under
way.

Art. 108. The central section shall be composed of a super-
intendent, a secretary, a constructing engineer, an agricultural
engineer, an engineer of the second class, two draughtsmen, two
typewriters, a bookkeeper, two clerks, a messenger and two
servants.

The district section shall be composed of a chief engineer, an
engineer of the first class, engineers of the second class, agricul-

96

tural engineers, conductors of the first and second class, a
draughtsman, a bookkeeper, a paymaster, a customs officer, tech-
nical assistants, journalists and a physician.

The partial commissions shall be composed of a chief engi-
neer, the technical and administrative personal necessary, in
conformity with the work to be done, and a physician.

The districts for inspection shall consist of a chief engineer,
an engineer of the second class, an agriculturist and assistants
to the number necessary and sufficient.

The staff of the employes shall not be fixed, but vary accord-
ing to the development of the work, and will correspond well
with the distribution of the respective work and the special in-
structions opportunely executed.

Art. 109. The services relative to the triennial rubber exposi-
tions, shall be directed by a special commission presided over by
the minister and composed of the superintendent, who shall take
the place of the minister in his absence, and of the members of
the Permanent Commission of Expositions, created by Article
89 of Law No. 2,544, January 4, 1912.

Art. 110. All the personnel of the superintendency shall be
considered in commission and dismissed when the work is fin-
ished for which it was formed.

Art. 111. There shall be appointed: by decree of the Presi-
dent of the Republic, the superintendent; by preferment of the ©
Minister, the chief engineers, the secretary of the central sec-
tion, the engineer of the first class and the paymaster of the
district section; by the Superintendent, the engineers of the
second class, the agriculturists, the physicians, the draughtsmen,
the typewriters, the clerks and the customs officials; by the chief
engineers, the personnel who work under their direction.

Art. 112. The salaries of the employes shall be those fixed in
the annexed table.

For the employes in the services which were incident to the
order in the first section of Article 106, the salaries are fixed
in accord with tables for similar service already existing in the
Minister’s department, increased from fifty to eighty per cent
for those who shall be situated in the valley of the Amazon,
while the high cost of living shall continue in that respective
place.

Art. 103. For services which shall be thought advantageous,
and when they have good reputations, the Government may em-
ploy professional specialists, natives or foreigners, paying them
annual salaries not greater than those in the table or a lump
sum for the service rendered, as may be advisable in each case.

Art. 114. To provide for the increase in the work of the Di-
rector General of Accounts, in consequence of the services men-

97

tioned in this regulation, there shall be added to the same Di-
rectorship, employees of the Treasury and other departments of
recognized ability and the typewriters in commission accepted,
under the proposal of the Director General; working overtime,
whenever necessary, in accordance with Articles 68 and 71 of
the Decree, No. 8,889, of August 11, 1911, the work of counting,
examining, inspecting and recording the expenses, distribution
of credits, advances, and other things of an urgent nature.

The expenses resulting from the order in this article shall
be met by the credits which were opened in accordance with
Article 14 of Law No. 2,543A, of January 5, 1912. It pertains
to the Minister to fix the gratuities of the typewriters and the
‘employes of the Department of Finance to which this same article
refers.

98

TABLE OF THE SALARIES OF THE PERSONNEL
OF THE SUPERINTENDENCY “PROTECTION
OF RUBBER”

Monthly

Classes Salaries
Superintendent co.ae iadeoy vee ea PR a as 5,000$000
Chief Engineer of the Section Rio Branco.......... 2,700$000
PHYSICIAN 03 cant oaadied ween banal elas 6 ema ewe eas 2,500$000
Constructing Engineer ........... ccc eee eee 1,500$000
Chief Engineer of the Partial Commission.......... 1,250$000
Chief Engineer of the District of Inspection......... 1,250$000
Engineer of the first class of the Section Rio Branco. 1,250$000
Agricultural Engineer ............ 0... c eee eee 1,000$000
Engineer of the second class .......... 0... ceeeeee 1,000$000
Secretary to the Superintendent................... 1,000$000
Paymaster of the Section Rio Branco.............. 1,000$000
Conductor of the first class....... 0.0.00. ccc e eee 750$000
Customs Official of the Section Rio Branco........ %50$000
Conductor of the second class.......... 02.000 e eee 600$000
Dravghtsman s4asssveieeinwerecewe eae een 600$000
Bookkeeper 52). ea sa fae sie ihe es Wekad wey eraea as mnie a aw 500$000
‘echnical AIG: 2 22cccc niin ie dae kB Pe ook 450$000
OTF secs ete esas rag esl or hinds 350$000
TYPEWTIItED oacs cvs es ease neki yee eee ee eee 350$000
MieSSEn get ia:iacis al ceased bath sag hen ae ee ol Wiad 200$000
S ELVEN t: csdycncts nutes cee eo eee ces laird 150$000

The personnel in service in the Valley of the Amazon, with per-
haps the exception of the Chief Engineer of the Rio Branco
section, shall receive an increase over the salaries mentioned in
the table, varying from fifty to eighty per cent. according to the
judgment of the Superintendent because of the high cost of living
in their respective places.

A third part of the annual salary shall be considered the
gratuity of the office.

To the technical personnel, to the paymaster, and to the
physicians shall be adjudicated by the Superintendent a daily
allowance of from 5$000 to 30$000.

Rio de Janeiro, April 17, 1912.
PEDRO DE TOLEDO.

List of utensils and materials exempt from importation duties,
to which Article 2 of Decree No. 9,521 of April 17, 1912, refers:

99

FIRST GROUP

Implements and Utensils for the Rubber Gatherer

Axes.

Hatchets.

Knives and special apparatus
for the incision of trees.

Buckets, pails, basins of tin,
zinc or other material.

Pitchers for smoking.

Machines destined for
coagulation of the milk.

Cylinders for pressing.

Colanders and their appurten-
arices.

the

SECOND GROUP

Implements and Material for Cultivation

Electric detoners and their ac-
cessories.

Dynamite.

Mining powder and other ex-
plosives.

Caps and fuses.

Decauville lines.

Mono rails.

Aerial transporters an their
accessories.

Locomotives
engines.

Chemical drugs, disinfectants
and insecticides.

and = stationary

THIRD GROUP

Materials and Utensils Intended for the Culture of Trees and
Treatment of Rubber, including:

Materials for the necessary installations for the mounting
of factories, construction of buildings, huts and houses of work-
men, box factory and factory for rubber articles.

FOURTH GROUP

Chemical Substances, Raw Material, Thin Cloth and Othe-
Objects Used in the Treatment of and Manufacture
of Rubber Articles

a. Coagulants:
Acetic Acid.
Fluoric Acid.
Formic Acid.
Sulphuric Acid.
Hydrochloric Acid.
b. Dissolvents:
Aceton.

Ethylic Alcohol.

100

Methylic Alcohol (C. E. 4 QO).
Benzine.

Benzol.

Borax or

Borate of Sodium.

(Na * B. *O* 10 H’® O).
Chloruret of Carbon.
Chloroform.

Ether.

Essence of Therebentine.

Methylbenzol or Tolnol
(C’ A’).

Solvent Naphtha.

Oil of Camphor (essence).

Oil of Dippel.

Parafin Oil.

Sulphuret of Carbon.

Tetrachloruret of Carbon.

c. Deodorizers and Disinfec-
tants:

Camphin or Camphene.

Animal Charcoal.

Porcupine Grape Yellow.

Anilines and their derivatives.

Arsenites and their derivatives.

Aureoline.

Cobalt Blue.

Methylen Blue.

Bistre.

Fixed White (Salts of Baryum,
etc.).

Creosote.

Cresolin.

Essence of Lavender.

Essence of Lemon.

Essence of Peppermint.

Essence of Menthol (C”
O).°

Essence of Eucalyptus.

Essence of Florence Lily.

Essence of Mustard.

Essence of Moss.

Essence of Rosemary.

Essence of Tomilho.

Essence of Thymol.

Farmol, Formaldehyde or
Formalin.

Nitrobenzol.

H*

d. Coloring Materials:
Cassel’s Yellow.
Van Dyck and Bismarck

Brown.
Yellow Brilliantine.

Bronze and its derivates.

Orange Bleu.

Brooksite (Mixture of rosin
and oils).

Bukaramuguiana.

Pattison White.

Paris White.

Wax for cables (wax, asphalt
and rosin).

Cachou.

Rosin Colors.

Massicot.

Minio.

Murexide (purple).

Paris Black.

Lamp Black.

Ivory Black.

Uranium Black.

Vine Black.

Nigramine.

Ochre of all colors.

Orange Neutral.

Salts of Mercury.

Sulfapone.

Terre d’Ombre.

Falladium Red.

Vermillion (sulphuret of mer-
cury).

e. Hydrocarburets,
Bodies and Oils:

Stearic Acid.

Fish Oil.

Fichetelito (C* H”).

Vegetable Fibre.

Glycerin.

Heptana.

Idrialine (C” H® 0’).

Lanoline.

Linoxine.

Marito Lard.

Naphtaline.

Arachyde Oil (Amendoim).

Cole Seed Oil.

Wood Oil, Chinese and Jap-

anese.
Cotton Seed Oil.

Heavy

101

Layos Oil.

Banba Oil.

Oil of Wool (fat of wool from
sheep).

Linseed Oil.

Corn Oil.

Cod Liver Oil.

Nut Oil.

Olive Oil.

Palm Oil (Attalea Excelsis,
Bertholetin Excelsis, Maxi-
miliana regia).

Pine Oil.

Ricine Oil.

Soja Oil.

Calves’ Foot Oil.

Tung Oil.

Vulcanized Oils.

Nitrated Oils.

Parafin.

Pentan.

Petroleum and all its deriva-
tives.

Stearine.

Vaseline.

f. Resin, Resinous Gums and
Lacs:

Yellow Amber.

Ambroid.

Natural Balsam.

Canada Balsam.

Chypre Balsam.

Sulphur Balsam.

Peru Balsam.

Therebentin Balsam.

Talu Balsam.

Benjoim.

Colophane.

Copal.

Banana Gum.

Lac Gum.

Kauri Gum.

Lacs separate.

Enamel Lacs and all their de-
rivatives.

Rhus Lacs.

Mastick.

Rosin Oil.

Ammonia Rosin.

Bourgogue Rosin.

Damar Rosin.

Elemi Rosin.

Hymenea Courbaril.

Rosin (Copal).

Jalap Rosin.

Myrrh Rosin.

Xanthorea Rosin.

Sandarac.

Storax.

Therebentine.

Venice Therebentine and its
derivatives.

g. Agents of Vulcanization:

Metallic Antimony and its de-
rivatives.

Bromurets and all their deri-
vatives.

Calcium and its derivatives.

Caustic Lime.

Chlorine (Cl.) and all its de-
rivatives.

Lead and all its derivatives.

Sulphur and all its derivatives.

Iodine and all its derivatives.

Sodium and its derivatives.

Zine and its derivatives.

h. Fibres and Cloth:

Cotton.

Brass.

Cabo Asbestos.

Maselig Asbestos.

Hemp.

Banana Hemp.

India Hemp.

Sisel Hemp.

Madrasta Hemp.

Manila Hemp.

Fibres of all kinds of vegetable
or animal origin.

Vulcanized Fibres.

102

Raphia Fabrics.

Lace.

Flax Thread.

Jute.

Wool.

Flax.

Luffa.

Japan Lacs.

Nanking.

Cotton Cloth.

Asbestos Cloth.

Linen Cloth.

Paper Maché.

Parameta.

Rami.

Silk Cloth, animal and vege-
table.

Taffetas.

Zaputtine and its derivatives.

i. Isolated Materials:

Asbestos and all its derivatives.

Alexite.

Algina.

Amiante.

Asphalt.

Astrictum.

Russian.

Birch.

Animal and Vegetable Tar of
lignite, hulha and all their
derivatives.

Bitite.

Bitumen.

Colorifugos and all its deriva-
tives.

Cerasine.

Cork.

Cellulose and all its deriva-
tives.

Esbetine.

Eshalite.

Fermantine.

Fassilite.

Fucasine.

Gasoline.

Gelatine.
Gilsonite.
Hermetine.
Karphite.
Lava.
Ledererite.
Lithine.
Lithocarbon.
Manjak.
Marloid.
Mica.
Mecanite.
Oil of Tar.
Okonite.
Ouralite.
Ozocerite.
Ozotere.
Vegetable.

j. Divers Materials:
Citric acid (C* H*® 0’).
Azotic acid (H. N. O°).
Salicylic acid.

Sehacic acid.

Oxalic acid (C’ H® O°).
Oleic acid (C° H®* 0°).
Tartaric acid.
Agalmatolite.
Areometers.

Alkalies.

Ammonia.

Salts of Ammonia.
Aluminum and its derivatives.
Alum.

Starch.

Auhydrite.

Autibenzine Pirine.
Astraline.

Atmold.

Whale Oil.

Balenite.

Balons.

Salts of Baryum.
Materials for bleaching.
Bolus.

Camptulikon.

103

Afridi Wax.

Japan Wax.
Caruabuba Wax.
Carbarundum.
Materials for

Beech Creosote.
Chlorydrate of Quinine.
Cyanuret of Potassium.
Caseina.

Ceramyl.

Vegetable Coal.

Coal Dust.

Horn.

Mineral and Vegetable Waxs.

Fish Glue.
Coralline.
Caokaline.
Leather.

Copper and its derivatives.
Dextrina (C” A” 0”).
Dextrose.
Diamond.
Dichlorhydine.
Dielectrics.
Dielectrine.
Eburine.
Sponges.

Tin and its derivatives.
‘Eternite.

Flour.

Potato Sediment.
Felds Pathe.
Fibroleum.
Metallic Wires.
Sheets of Tin.
Lasts.

Fuller.

Fustian.
Galalithe.

Gas.

Gaze.

Fish Glue.
Glucose.

Glutin.

Graphite.
Mineral Oils.
Gypsum.

Hemalite.

Hatschctine.

Hydrofugine.

Koalin.

Kisselguhr.

Compound Kirrage.

Lactoleum.

Lederine.

Limeite.

Lactoite.

Lactites.

Material for Polishing.

Magnalium.

Magnesium and its compounds.

Magnesia.

Magnesia Calcinated .

Marble Dust.

Morocoline.

Nickel.

Salt of Nipa.

Nitronaphtaline.

Organdim.

Bones.

Pagodite.

Pantasote.

Petrifite.

Earth of Pipe.

Pumice Stone.

Phosphorus.

Plombago.

Pluviosine.

Salts of Potassium

Poudre Rouge.

Anti-ronille.

Sand.

Salitre (Nitrate of
K. N. O°).

Soap.

Sawdust.

Silicates of Aluminum.

Bronze Silicium.

Hides.

Luberine.

Luberite.

Metallic Sulphuret.

Isinglass.

Tannico.

Potash

104

Metallic Cloth. Vulcoleina.

Turfa. Wallasine.

Tripoli. Waterproof Varnish.
Trichopiese. Whaleboline.

Hulha Varnish. Xylolithe.

Wood Vinegar.
Rio de Janeiro, April 17, 1912.
PEDRO DE TOLEDO,

Minister of Agriculture.

105

GEORGE E. PELL, ESQ.

Commissioner for the Commercial Association of Para

106

PARA

FURTHER DETAILS RELATING
TO PARA HAVE NOT COME
TO HAND UP TO THE TIME
OF GOING TO PRESS

107

COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION, PARA (BRAZIL)

501 Biscuits
81 Biscuits

111 Biscuits
235, Biscuits
145 Biscuits

Quality.

Fine Island Rubber,

Fine Island Rubber, Cajary,
Fine Island Rubber, Anapu,
Fine Island Rubber, Cavianna,

Fine Low Xingu,

44 peu} on sticks Fine Itaituba (Tap),

10 Biscuits

10 Biscuits

Fine High Xingu,

5 Biscuits ' on sticks Fine Itaituba (Tapajos) Cachoeira,

34 Biscuits

63 Biscuits

110 Biscuits

20 Balls

30 Balls

20 Balls

2 Bags—1 Bag
1 Bag

2 Boxes—4 & 6
1 Case—No. 3

1 Box
1 Box

Weak Fine Rubber,
Island Coarse Rubber,

Cameta Coarse,

Coarse Itaituba (Tapajos),
Weak Coarse,

Tiras (Strips),

Toc. Caucho Ball,

Tap. Caucho Ball, Cachoeira,

High Xingu Caucho Ball,

Inaja Palm Nuts

Urucuri Palm Nuts

DESCRIPTION OF EXHIBITS.

Weight.
net 1,087 ks.
net 804 ks.
net 756 ks.
net 1,116 ks.

net 979 ks.

net 987 ks.

net 696 ks.

net 1,025 ks.

net 650 ks.
net 1,000 ks.

net 1,515 ks.
net 3802 ks.
net 254ks.
net 119ks.
net 911ks.
net 1,061 ks.

net 1,044 ks.

Tin pee etc., for collecting Latex

Natural

L oods—2 blocks of wood and shav-
ings, used for curing rubber

Machadinhos (Hatchets), collecting and curing

utensils

Wooden Stand used for curing large biscuits

of rubber.

108

Procedence.
From the Islands.
From River Cajary,
& partly islands.
From River Anapu
& partly islands.

From Island of
Cavianna.
From Lower

reaches of River
Xingu (This par-
cel contains two
lots, dry and
fresh, should be
separated an
marked “Dry”

From Lower
reaches of River
Tapajos.

From Higher
reaches of River
Xingu, above rap-
ids.

From Higher
reaches of River
Tapajos, above
rapids, and state
of Matto-Grosso.

From Lower
Amazon.

From: Islands and
affluents of Lower
Amazon,

From River Cameta
and partly Isl-
ands.

From River Tapa-

jos.

From Lower
Amazon,

From River Tapa-
jos.

From River To-
cantins & Rio
Fresco.

From Higher
reaches of River
Tapajos, above
rapids, and State
of Matto-Grosso,

From Higher
reaches of River
Xingu.

Used for curing
Fine Rubber.
Used for curing

Fine Rubber.

The

AMAZONAS

Section

AMAZON STATE IS THE LARGEST ONE
IN BRAZIL

Area in square kilometers, 1,894,724.

Population, 600,000 inhabitants.

Capital, Manaos; 60,000 inhabitants, 32™, 40™ height from sea-
level.

It exports rubber and woods for construction and for other
works, Para nuts, Guarana and some other products.

Beans, corn, rice and almost every kind of cereals grow there
beautifully.

It is put in communication with Europe by one English and
two German Steamship Companies, and by cable and wireless’
telegraphy. These companies have improved their steamers,
which go to Europe. To the United States it is served only by
the English company, every ten days. They are cargo boats.

Principal cities: Stacoatiara, Manicoré, Humaythé, Teffé,
Parintins and Labrea.

Medium temperature, 27° 2’ centigrade.

Rains—Evaporation in mm., 1592,0. Height, 1525,3 (in 202
days).

Wind—Velocity in one second, 1™, 60. Direction, east.

EXPORTS OF RUBBER FROM STATE OF AMAZONAS
SINCE 1827 UP TO 1907

Years. Kilograms.
DRG x alert saa lec aecdessiah WS arate SoA eaani dean And ae ae eee 802,410
TOA aia cierd ata Gee CMS Gee 9 dl Cm a wa eee ea OE 4,286,570
UBD visa knoe biota do Si aae be ane Magadan tat anueat ere cdr tes 7,184,195
T860 sian iavwdly ceew Moi Sieve er tye Shan ees 2,969,070
ES Oleg rasta atase teneaad tad ey auamiene auanthe Gaya tian dense Sarah els orate 17,403,574
LBB es eieiag Gus am Bastlela Move ew hai dg Se ea Ca ata 43,454,671
DBO chee a ceis Soe as maaan le aeatat Aware eee we wg 106,424,423
LOOT: scar oa acete Wa alae WN aati ap aad ae ee cbe aad monet ce 120,434,947

From 1827 to 1852 the exports belong to Para and Amazonas
together.

110

COLONEL ANTONIO CLEMENTE
RIBEIRO BITTENCOURT

Governor of the State of the Amazonas, Brazil

111

SOVNVW 4O La¥Od

& = = ES at

DR. MANOEL LOBATO

Commissioner for the State of the Amazonas, Brazil, also of
Matto Grosso and the Federal Territory of Acre

113

RUBBER IN THE STATE OF AMAZONAS.

General Ideas about the State. Progress in the Means of Trans-
portation. Climatological Conditions.

The State of the Amazonas is the largest one in the Brazilian
Republic. Notwithstanding its well-known natural resources that
are not limited, according to many persons, to the precious milk
of the rubber tree—that wonderful tree of fortune—which is dis-
puted by various producing centers, its vast territory is yet far
from being completely and properly populated.

The emigration currents towards that section have started
lately, so that the population of hardly over two hundred thou-
sand souls a few years ago, to-day is over six hundred thousand
inhabitants, without any exaggeration.

As such changes are taking place the conditions of life are
being altered every day. It is true that there still prevails in
the books of gay tourists who consider humbug as a condition
of inexhaustible success, the impression that the native indians
travel about half nude and armed with arches and arrows, chasing
the lost Europeans through such outlandish regions of the world.

The remark, however, is not based on real facts. The native
Indians are not now to be found in very accessible places. The
foreigner who lands in the Amazonas capital, for instance, may
be sure that his habits and his civilization will not cause any
fright.

It is difficult to find among the natives who possess some
education and means one who has not been through several
European countries, especially France; so that as soon as the
visitor lands he notices an atmosphere of modern improvements
and all the novelty and gay spirit of Parisian life; the latest
fashions are found at once in Manaos.

The progress of that beautiful princess of the Rio Negro
(Black River) is most remarkable, because it is at the most only
twenty years. Until the proclamation of the Republic in Brazil,
Manaos amounted to almost nothing. From 1889 to this date
began its stupendous development, counting already over 60,000
inhabitants.

To-day it has comfortable homes, good and solid buildings
of artistic architecture. Its port is perfectly fitted to receive
the visits of the large transatlantic steamers, which places it

114

A. W. STEDMAN, ESQ.

Commissioner for the Commercial Association of the State of
Mafiaos, Matto Grosso, and the Federal Territory
of Acre, Brazil

115

in communication with the leading European ports. The navi-
gation line for the United States, served by an English company,
is not yet of the required progress to insure all the necessary
comfort to the passengers who venture to undertake the long
trip. Furthermore, it is served by steamers that do not possess
the modern requirements of speed, which at present is of first
interest not only for the passengers who look for a pleasure
resort as well as for the intercourse of commercial relations with
the world’s markets. That is the reason why the interchange
between Amazonas and New York has been rather slow, which
interchange could be of greater magnitude than it is to-day if
there was a more intimate knowledge between the parties.

I would not want to end this information about the capital
of the State of Amazonas without quoting some paragraphs
from the excellent work, “The Rubber Country of the Amazon,”
written by Mr. Henry C. Pearson, Editor of the “India Rubbei
World”:

“When one considers that this city is a thousand miles from
the seacoast, in the heart of a vast tropical jungle, with wild
Indians within a hundred miles of it, its presence seems incred-
ible. In a way, it is as modern as New York or Chicago. The
latest Parisian fashions are there, and almost anything that
civilized man desires is obtainable. Prices are high, to be sure,
because both luxuries and necessities are imported and subject
to a duty of 100 per cent. But when something besides rubber
is produced by the magnificently fertile lands that surround it,
Manaos will be one of the great and beautiful cities of the world
and living as reasonable as anywhere.”

That progress, although it has been made principally in
Manaos, in some form is also affecting the interior of the State.
The river navigation is made quicker than before and on elegant
and up-to-date steamers, which navigate throughout all the tribu-
taries of the Amazon River.

Furthermore, the Madeira~-Mamoré railroad has produced a
great improvement in the transportation facilities adopted in the
State for the quick delivery of merchandise in the interior.

‘The most distant points of the territory are now connected
by wireless telegraphy. The news of the world can be trans-
mitted daily to the capital of the State by means of double river
cable and by wireless telegraphy of the Marconi system.

The climatic conditions are not so terrible as pictured in
the minds of the outside people, who do not know the real facts
and the true geographic situation of the State.

Mr. A. R. Wallace, in his “Narrative of Travels on the Ama-

116

di

fo}
a
wn
Wn
x]
o
eo)
oe
Ay
S)
=)
2)
a
Oo
&
2
1)
<
Oo

Base of the Castilloa.

The Men Set to Work Bleeding the

zon and Rio Negro,” and Captain Maury, in his book “The
Amazon and the Atlantic Coast of South America,” show them-
selves so enthusiastic over the climate of Amazonas and recom-
mend it “as one of the healthiest and mildest in the world.” That
easy enthusiasm is not so good for us as the competent French
engineer, Mr. Paul Le Cointe’s opinion, after many years in the
northern part of Brazil. Thus he expresses himself:

“The Amazonia, an immense tableland slightly concave, situ-
ated entirely in the tropics, crossed by rivers of colossal dimen-
sions, with lakes and swamps, the remains of the original water
basin, badly separated by modern alluvium land, covered with
impenetrable forests from which emerge here and there some
plains, ought to, have a specially hot, damp and unhealthy
climate.

“That is the reputation which it has enjoyed for a long time
-and which has frightened away the European immigration; but
it is not deserved in such an absolute manner; as a hot country
is perhaps on the contrary the less deadly for the settler as
well as for the traveler.”

THE AMAZON AS RUBBER PRODUCER

It is indeed very difficult if not absolutely impossible to limit
the rubber producing region of Amazonas. In almost the whole
of the vast territory of that State there are found rubber trees
and where they do not grow, they certainly can be successfully
planted. Over large tracts of lands on the banks of rivers not
navigable, there are extensive rubber forests not explored on
account of lack of population.

That exuberance of the Amazonian flora, that arrangement of
nature to furnish resources to the rubber extractor for many
years, kept him away from any other occupation except that of
raising the arm and wounding the tree of fortune in order to
obtain prosperity. There was no necessity of planting that which
the open road of the forest presents at each step; also why
worry with a view to obtaining any other process of securing
the “hevea brasiliensis” when its milk in the primitive state is
obtained at the lowest price of exploitation and cultivation, pre-
serving all the excellent qualities of the rubber? ©

The presence of competitors in the world’s market, more
than the damage caused to the health by the smoking process
of coagulation, is the reason to establish new exploitation. The
rubber plantation is now being conducted perhaps without obey-
ing the scientific criterion, but more in the shape of facilitating
the gathering of the latex.

118

‘SSHHLOTO AVGNNAS WIFHL NI ASIM CNV VUlEAadd WAWAOM AAdINa

One hears a good deal about high prices in the Amazonas,
and careless observers state in opposition to that the cheapness
of life in the Asiatic Islands and other points of the world. 1
do not think that a thoughtful person without any interest in
connection with enterprises and plantations elsewhere in the
world, would be able to use such an assertion, which is so
unjust.

The French engineer, Mr. Paul Le Cointe, who-is an expert
in the matter, writes the following:

“For the work to be executed, the number of workmen re-
quired is much less where the production of those men is high,
hence to calculate the price of hand work, the individual produc-
tion is the factor that may become more important than the pay
to the men who work by the day.

“In the Far East, the workmen are paid from Fr. 75 to Fr.
1.25, equal to 14 cents to 23 cents, approximately, including feed-
ing. In the Amazonas, the pay per day amounts to Frs. 4.75,
or that is, almost 91 cents for all the work, which is three to four
times more.”

Let us examine the cost in Asia and in the Amazonas for
the different work required by the cultivation of the rubber
trees.

According to Mr. Stanley Arden, it is about 38 cents for
each kilogram of rubber in the plantation (the data that I am
presenting in connection with this matter is from the book of
Mr. Le Cointe, entitled “Le Caoutchouc Amazonien et son Con-
current Asiatique’”).

Mr. Lamy Torrilhon speaks about the Kuala Lampur Rub-
ber Company (Malay), which had in 1909, 404,012 rubber trees
from one to six years old. Calculating the price of cultivation of
that rubber at Fr. 4 per kilogram or approximately 76 cents,
Mr. Stanley Arden also calculated that the cost of a hectar of
plantation before reaching the period of exploitation (the sixth
year, according to him) was only Fr. 816, or more or less $157,
including the salaries and establishment of European employees,
and Mr. M. G. Vernet, of the Pasteur Institute of Nha-Trang,
calculated Fr. 3,000, about $580.

Mr. Le Cointe further states that Mr. Stanley Arden in his
calculations of expense seems to presume the plantation in lands
not thickly wooded, because he counts for the burning and clear-
ing of the land, hardly one-third the cost of felling the trees,
when in the forest it is about the same. Of course, lands not
properly protected and in the virgin state in the tropical coun-
tries, are less fertile than those covered with thick forests, fur-

120

AVG-GNVS HHL NO Badan ONIGNVA

thermore the lands that have been devoted to a prolonged culti-
vation of plants, like coffee, tea, etc., are to a large extent ex-
hausted, and if rubber trees were attempted to be planted there,
the result would be that it would largely lose the advantages by
having to fell new trees.

Mr. Le Cointe also speaks of about 225 trees per kilogram,
when practically that number can be doubled; besides this the
calculation made by the same author of about $18 for the clear-
ing of the hectar, at the rate of $14 per day for each workman
shows that the price for that work in almost clean land will take
sixty-two days, whereas in the Amazonas we only count on
twenty-six days for each clearing of a hectar in a virgin forest.

This argument, it seems to me, shows that there is a purpose
to bring up a cheapness which is more apparent than real, with
the determination of recommending the Asiatic plantations to
the detriment of the Amazonas rubber plantations.

This plan of attack is not the most correct one. We have
the advantage of having workmen who easily adapt themselves
to the producing land, and with the measures of protection that
the Government is going to guarantee to the rubber planters,
the life of the contractor is going to become easier.

The tree which is planted in its own region, is less subject
to ravages, being less persecuted by the destroying parasites, is
not violently fell by hard winds.

As every day increases the number of industries which re-
quires rubber as a raw material, it is therefore necessary tu
exploit it in different centers, counting even with possible dis-
aster, but nowhere in the world, in accordance with the most
reliable statistics, is there more favorable land for the planting
of rubber trees than in the various territories of the Amazonas.
That territory has been placed by nature to be the emporium of
that industry, and counts with all the means to preserve that
privilege, and for the guarantee of the planter as soon as the
rubber tree develops itself, it has other resinous trees suitable for
construction, and excellent fibres which can be sold at a profit.
The Brazilian walnut is so abundant there that it is a second
source of income in the State of Amazonas.

THE PRODUCTION OF RUBBER

Only during the first six months of this year, notwithstanding
that the time for the full crop was not as yet due, from Manaos
there were exported to the United States 2,328,389 kilograms of
fine rubber, 602,180 medium quality, sernamby 991,088, caucho

122

‘SyPOWMUMIe PY VIYT, IO OMT SkeMTY IMA 194
‘LOH SMAMUYOM UAdGINA V AO YOTSALNI AHL

798,024; to Europe, first quality 2,449,776, medium quality 40%,-
278, sernamby 507,860, caucho 1,368,489; from Itacoatiara, first
quality 37,240, medium 3,858, sernamby 26,237, caucho 11,405,
that is for the Amazonas a total of 9,531,824 kilograms, almost
half of the export of 22,902,401 kilograms made in that period
for that State, besides that of Para and Iquitos. The production
of Amazonas in 1910 was 10,466,231 kilograms; in 1911, 10,122,-
242; this year, it is expected that there will be an increase of
more than 15 per cent of the production of last year.

This is due only to the active work of a few thousand work-
men. What would be the colossal production of that territory,
when the work of the men will be facilitated by a rational dis-
tribution of rubber trees!

Reflecting upon that. I am reminded of the words of Dr.
T. Huber: ;

“A regular planting industry will have a marked and salutary
influence upon the extraction of wild rubber and the management
of wild rubber forests.”

Furthermore, I have the full conviction that the future of
that industry competently managed will offer in Amazonas, and
in order to be more exact, in Brazil, more guarantees of success
than in any other region in the world.

M. LOBATO.

124

“ADNADONNI ANVT UVAN AWOH SUAMYOM-UAGINA

BRAZIL

The States of Amazonas and Matto-Grosso, and the
Acre Territory

The Commercial Association of Amazonas exhibits samples
of rubber from the States of Amazonas and Matto-Grosso, and
from the Acre Territory, having been authorized by the respec-
tive Governments for this purpose.

1. STATE OF AMAZONAS

The main stream of the River Amazon flows through the
entire territory of this State, and within its boundaries is joined
by many tributaries.

The boundary with the State of Para is formed by the same
river, and that with Matto-Grosso and the Republic of Bolivia by
the Upper Madeira River. The River Javary, a tributary of the
Solimoes (or Upper Amazon), forms the boundary with Peru, as
does the Upper Rio Negro (the waters of which connect with
the Orinoco through the Cassiquari Canal), with Venezuela.
Before the formation of the Federal Acre Territory, the upper
reaches of the Rivers Acre, Purus, and Jurua also constituted
the frontiers of the State of Amazonas with Peru and Bolivia.

The capital of the State, Manaos, is situated in the bay of the
Rio Negro, three days distant by steamer from the capital of
the adjoining State, Para. The nearest European port, Lisbon,
can be reached in thirteen days, and New York in eighteen days.

Manaos is the turning-point for ocean going steamers from
the United States of America, and Europe, as well as from the
South of Brazil.

_ The companies engaged in the transatlantic service are:

The Booth Steamship Co., Ltd. (British), with four sailings
each way to and from Liverpool per month, calling at Itacoatiara,
Para, Madeira, Lisbon, Leixoes (Oporto), Vigo and Cherbourg,
and three sailings to and from New York per month, calling at
Para and Barbadoes.

The Hamburg-Amerika Line and Hamburg-Sudamerikanische
Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft (German), with two sailings per
month to and from Hamburg, calling at Para, Madeira, Lisbon,
Leixoes (Oporto), Havre and Antwerp. The Booth Steamship
Co., Ltd., also runs two lines, one from Liverpool and the other
from New York, as far as Iquitos, the capital and principal port
of the Loreto province of Peru. Maritime communication with
Southern Brazil is maintained by the “Lloyd Brazileiro” and the

126

ADMINESTRAGAD DO
Ds EDUARDO GONSALVES RIBEIAU
CARTAN
Gadastra’ da Cidade 9 Arrabaldes de

MANAOS

Lovantadi pelo ongenbelra ailitar
JOAO MIGUEL RIBAS,

MAP OF MANAOS

127

“Cia. de Commercio e Navegacao,” the former having six steam-
ers per month, and the latter three. The voyage from Manaos to
Rio de Janeiro occupies from 14 to 16 days.

The river navigation is controlled by the Amazon River Navi-
gation Co. (1911), Ltd., and numerous private steamers, which
form a flotilla only to be compared with that of the River Missis-
sippi. A new company “A Companhia Navegacao do Amazonas”
is about to commence operations. All these steamers call at
Manaos, or have their headquarters there.

Telegraphic communication is as follows: By means of the
Amazon Telegraph Co., Ltd., in combination with the Western
Telegraph Co. to and from all parts of the world.

Wireless Telegraphy (Marconi and Telefunken systems), is
already making considerable headway. The Marconi station
at Manaos, in the hands of the Madeira Mamore Railway Co.,
receives and transmits messages to and from Porto Velho, on
the Madeira River, the starting point and headquarters of the
railroad, as well as to and from the Telefunken stations at Senna
Madureira, Empreza and Cruzeiro do Sul (the capital towns of
the three divisions of the Acre Territory).

These last stations are not yet-open for use by the public,
and other intermediate stations are still in course of construction.

Manaos has also’a station of the Amazon Wireless Telegraph
& Telephone Co., Ltd., which transmits messages to Para, and
has lately been in regular communication with the station in
Iquitos belonging to the Peruvian Government. By this route
it is possible to send messages to Lima, the capital of Peru, on
the Pacific Coast. However, the Company mentioned has so
far not succeeded in obtaining the official permission of the
Brazilian Government to operate in Brazil.

Manaos has a permanent population of upwards of 70,000
inhabitants. Its houses and public buildings conform to modern
architectural ideas, and some of its buildings, such as the State
Theatre, the Public Library, the Palace of Justice and the “Ben-
jamin Constant” Orphan Asylum are magnificent.

The streets, squares and avenues are well lighted by electric-
ity and the town possesses an excellent electric tramway system.
The drainage scheme is almost completed, and the water supply
is very satisfactory. The port works are in the hands of the
Manaos Harbor, Ltd. There are some excellent hotels, and a
splendid telephone service.

The following banks carry on operations in Manaos:

The London & Brazilian Bank, Ltd., and The London &
River Plate Bank, Ltd. (British), agencies.

Banco do Brazil (Brazilian), agency.

Banco Amazonense (Brazilian), Head Office.

128

A “SERINGUEIRO” TAPPING A RUBBER TREE

Banking Firms: Zarges Ohliger & Co. (German).

Life, Fire & Marine Insurance Companies:

Northern Insurance Co. (British), agency.

Royal Insurance Co. (British), agency.

“Mannheim” Insurance Co. (German), agency.

Lloyd Amazonense (Brazilian), head office.

And agencies of the following Brazilian companies: Garantia
da Amazonia, Seguradora Paraense, Allianca da Bahia, Com-
mercial Paraense, Lloyd Paraense, Allianca, Paraense.

Rubber is the chief industry of the State, being its principal
product and source of income. The predominance of this industry
dates from 1863, and within a few years it superseded entirely
the planting of rice, coffee, cocoa, sugar cane, beans and maize.

Up to 1870 rubber was generally exported in the form of
roughly made shoes, hats and caps, as well as in sacks and in
bulk, the greater part of it going to New York, via Para. Later,
the present system of biscuits or balls, cut and packed in cases,
came into use.

Considerable business has always been done in Amazon with
the United States of America, although formerly the proportion
shipped to America was greater than at present, as it was only
in later years that the heavy competition by London and Liver-
pool came into being.

The production of the various rivers during 1911 was:

River Solimoes ............0 00005 865,000 kilos
PUrus daeyokie tas dees 3,019, 000
ACHE eh Ga ees ket 371,000 ‘“
JQP 5 ante eect peeked Bbw Aes 2,055,000 “
Madéita. .4isetayaes wa ees .. 1,870,000 “
JAVATY. cdaneewua daaceeeic ‘1,420,000 “
Japa cseancao: alenketoan 70,000 “
ita Snir ere 287,000 “
ING STO ccncrec Waele, Wate ees 679,000 “
Brante:vxg sav nee neek nor 33,000 “
Lower Amazon ........... 194,000 “

The rubber exporting houses are:

Zarges Ohliger & Co. (German).
Adelbert H. Alden, Ltd. (American).
Ahlers & Co. (German),

General Rubber Co. of Brazil (American).
De Lagotellerie & Co. (French).

130

” OR SMOKING-HUT.

“DEFUMADOR,

131

STATE OF AMAZON EXHIBIT INCLUDES:

Pyramid of 50 tons rubber.
Models of River Steamers.

Rubber Milk.

Photographs and Maps:

Rubber Toys, etc., made by natives.

Basins, Pails, etc.

Large Rubber Tree Stump and several Young Rubber Trees,

Exhibited by Messrs. Asenei & Co., River Madeira.

Rubber Milk.

Nuts and Appliances for Smoking Rubber.

Exhibited by Sno, Raymundo Monteiro da Costa

COMPARATIVE RUBBER STATISTICS

Comparative Rates of Fine Para.

Liverpool.
d. s.
9 to 3
0% to 3
0% to 3
5 to 3
7% to 4
10 to 4
84 to 4
4 to. 3
10 to 8B
6% to 4
1034 to 5
10% to 5
11% to 5
1134 to 5
914 to 5
10 to 9
10 to 12
10 to 7

132

New York.
$0.64%4 to $0.73
70 to 81%
eT to 85
79% to 89
82 to 1.06
91 to 1.10
.83 to 111%
76 to 95
66 to 92
78 to 1.138
.89 to 1.32
LAs to 1.35
1.16 to 1.28
.69 to 1.24.
65 to 1.30
L13 to 2,15
Tits to 2.90.
.90 to 1.67"

FEDERAL TERRITORY
OF ACRE

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THE ACRE

THE FLUVIAL REGION THAT IS RICHEST IN
RUBBER

As far as the wealth’ of rubber obtained from natural sources
is concerned, Brazil ranks first among all the world’s rubber
producing countries. While the East Indian section, with its
plantation grown product, has already outstripped her in the
quantity of its annual plantation output, the superior excellence
of genuine Para rubber has not been attained. The “fine rubber”
that comes from the inundated region of the lower river country
is best known. In the upper districts of various southern afflu-
ents, fine rubber trees grow, but no longer in the lowlands that
have long been subject to inundation, they occur rather in forests
that are overflowed seldom, if at all, that even extend over the
hilly districts. The method of collection and the entire opera-
tion of rubber production varies in many respects from the
more familiar methods of the inundated districts. This applies
particularly to Acre, with its characteristic and peculiar river
section:

To explore this section, from economic and scientific points
of view, I undertook a journey last year, 1911, at the instance
of the Associacio Commercial.

The results of this journey will be embodied in a detail report,
it is at present proposed to make only a brief summary to sup-
plement the pictures shown in the exhibition.

Our better knowledge of Acre dates back barely a quarter of
a century. At that period uncertainty prevailed as to which of
the countries adjoining Acre, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, were the
owners of the territory. In more recent times these conditions
have been adjusted, the greater part having been awarded to
Brazil, while Bolivia received a portion of the left bank of the
upper Acre. The boundary between Bolivia and Peru is as yet
undecided. The latter country includes the uppermost left bank
of the source section which contains but few fine rubber trees.

The Acre is a right affluent of the larger tributaries of
the Purtis, entering above the mouth of the Rio Negro and com-
ing from the Southwest, and flows, like these, through the
boundless forest tracts of the Amazon River country. It rises
in elevated ground, East of the Andes, in a still partly explored

135

DR. CARLOS DE CERQUEIRA PINTO,

Inventor of a Smokeless Process for Curing Rubber.

136

‘AMOV OLIV AHL SO SHNV@ AHL NO ddVOSANVI

territory, very difficult of access, at about the eleventh
degree of southern latitude and 70% longitude and flows at
first eastward, to the Bolivian boundary at 69°. From this point,
the Acre flows first Northeast, with a constantly increasing
northerly inclination, until it enters the Central Purtis at 8 2-3
South latitude and 671% longitude. The small steamers run
from this point to the junction with the Amazon and on to
Manaos in six to eight days.

In November more than 40 large and small steamers are
despatched from Para and Manaos. They carry supplies for the
rubber district and load, for the return trip, fine rubber and
other caoutchouc varieties. Such steamers have, as a rule, a
cargo capacity of 100 to 300 tons. The largest, taking as much
as 500 tons, are at most 50 to 60 meters in length. |

The journey from Manaos to the Purts, is usually accomp-
lished in one day. The Purts is a stately river, which, in its
lower reaches often attains a breadth of 1,000 meters and al-
though it gradually narrows, it always retains, until its con-
fluence with the Acre, a breadth of several hundred meters.

The trip to that point takes, as a rule, 12 to 16 days and ex-
cept for the last stretch of about three days, is open all the year.
Here is the place called Cochoeiras, where there are rapids,
which during the dry season of about four months, obstruct steam
navigation on the Purts. The Acre, on the other hand, has a
narrow but deep bed, is rarely over 100 meters wide and often
contracts to 50 to 60 meters. In the dense forests, there may
be seen, from time to time, clearings on the banks with the
Baracaos that are the stations for the fine rubber business. Also
occasional larger places of residence, villages and little towns,
where longer stops are often made, are encountered.

We first pass Antimary, at the mouth of a river similarly
named. Then we soon reach Porto de Acre, a large residential
place, where the steamers must have their papers passed and
pay duties.

This is the beginning of the Federal territory, which is sepa-
rate from the State of Amazonas and is subject to the central
government in Rio de Janeiro. Hardly a day’s journey up stream
lies the little town of Empreza, with its picturesque houses em-
bowered in foliage. It is the most important place on the lower
Acre and the second largest residential town in Acre Territory.

About three days’ journey up the river the town of Hapury
is reached, which contains several thousand inhabitants and
enjoys a considerable trade. It is the largest and most important
town in the entire Acre territory.

When at times in the river’s narrow water course there are
a dozen large steamers lying and a lively business intercourse

138

‘AUMDV AAMOT AHL NO

is everywhere in progress, the scene, in the depth of the pri-
meval forest, creates quite an imposing impression. Hapury is
considered already in the district of Alta Acre and from this
point, the difficulty of navigation increases, the breadth and
volume of water of the river alike decreasing. Very rapidly
during long, rainless periods, the river water level lowers and
the further progress of the steamers becomes impossible. They
must anchor at a convenient place and wait until the river rises
again. In lower Acre, where water is more plentiful, such in-
terruptions are less frequent, but in upper Acre they are the rule.
The farther the river is ascended the more frequent are these
compulsory stoppages, often lasting eight to fourteen days. High-
water in the river often lasts but a few days, so that the steam-
ers must stop again. Then too, the many windings of the river
make navigation exceedingly difficult. On the upper Acre travel
is by day only, boats laying to at night.

Following the course of the river, 85 kilometers above Ha-
pury, Igarapé de Bahia is reached, on the Bolivian border and
then the little town of Cobija. It is situated on the right bank
and belongs to Bolivia, whereas on the left bank, Brazilian terri-
tory continues. The steamers here are subject to the Bolivian
customs regulations and must pay duty on all goods destined
for Bolivia.

A large number of the steamers that start from Mandaos, go
only as far as this or as Hapury, only a few venture to penetrate
further and are not deterred by the great loss of time.

Above Cobija are some of the most productive rubber sec-
tions where there are goods to discharge and rubber to be loaded.
A few steamers follow the Bolivian border up to the terminal
station, Tacna. Here, as a small affluent from the right, the
Taverija flows into the Acre, forming at the same time the
boundary between Bolivia and Peru.

Bolivia maintains here a small military post, whereas there
is only a commissioner for Peru. If the steamer has met with
favorable conditions, the trip from Manaos may have been made
in a month; ordinarily, however, it takes two or three months.
The return trip is made much faster, some steamers, that do
not stop, make Manaos from upper Acre in fourteen days.

Above Tacna there are but two rubber forest districts or
seringaes as they are termed, the Seringal Auristella on the
Peruvian side and the Seringal St. Francisco on the Brazilian
side. The latter is a very productive and still young rubber
forest, farther up the river the fine rubber trees suddenly cease
and their output is no longer remunerative.

The climate, like that of the Amazon country, is humid and
hot, with a’ rainy and a dry season. The southerly situation,

140

RUBBER TREE AT HAPURY.
141

however, causes a somewhat more marked difference between
the two seasons. In April, the rains become less frequent and
then, until October, there are no or but very few heavy precipi-
tations; some times the fallen leaves on the ground in the woods
are dried out and even the dew is absent. There then occur,
however, especially in the months of June, July and August,
steady cold spells, when the thermometer, in the morning, sinks.
to 8° C. and often does not go above 12° C. during the day.
These so-called Friazens last several days and are recurrent, but
cease in September. Thunder storms and violent rain storms
begin in October, so that in November the rivers are usually
navigable again. In December the first steamships arrive. In
January and February a rainless period is frequent, which is
followed, in March and April again, by a rainy spell. Many
steamers undertake, usually at this time, their second voyage
and if they have good fortune they make three trips to upper
Acre.

The copious precipitation, the heat and the fertile soil have
produced in Acre a luxuriant primeval forest, which is higher
and more densely overgrown than that of the lower river courses
of the Amazon country. Trees of 40 to 50 meters in height
are not infrequent, they form a forest of varied composition.
There may be found here representatives of the most diverse
plant families; some of which, in the cool season, lose their
foliage. The forest is densely overgrown with plants, shoots
and shrubs. Where a thorny growth, Tapoea and other under-
brush gets the upper hand, a macheté or axe is necessary in
forcing a path through the virgin forest.

Various kinds of trees are used by the natives for building
houses, fashioning canoes and other purposes. For export, how-
ever, neither these useful woods nor many other products of
the forest, have attained any importance. The fruit of the cacao
tree and Para nuts, rot on the ground, transportation to Manaos
being too costly.. The caoutchouc products are, however, present
in such abundance and possess such great value, that their ac-
quisition and transportation recompenses every effort and have
been the cause of the development in these distant primeval
forests of a busy life.

The water in the deeply hollowed bed of the Acre, swells
in flood time and submerges the land on the adjacent shores
and some sand banks, but for the most part does not penetrate
into the forest or only for a short period. The flooded forests of
the lower water courses, often miles in extent, are lacking and
the fine rubber trees grown on land free from inundation, often
reaches up into the hills in the hilly or mountainous district.

The fine rubber tree belongs to the Hevea brasiliensis, Mull,

142

‘SnNuNd AHL HLIM YUAAIN AWOV AHL AO NOILONAL

Arg. or to their near families. It is higher and more vigorous
than the trees in the inundated districts and has somewhat larger
and longer seeds. Trees of more than 40 meters in height and
up to five meters in circumference, are not rare. Whether the
Acre fine rubber tree is a special species or a variety of Hevea
Braziliensis, can be determined only by a very painstaking in-
vestigation. In yield of rubber and quality of product, the Acre
tree surpasses that of the inundated districts.

Of other Hevea varieties Hevea cuneata Hub. the Seringa
vermelha, occurs but rarely, also sapium tapuru, Ule, is found
but rarely. Castilloa Ulei, Warb., the “caucho” of the Peru-
vians, is quite plentiful and is generally utilized, its exploitation
being regarded sometimes as more profitable than the fine rub-
ber. Just as in the Amazon country, under the title “caout-
chouc,” the product of castilloa is mainly understood, so, in
Acre, for the yield of the Hevea, the name “fine rubber” is used.

At present, there are on the Acre no unowned, unused lands,
but some of the seringaes in operation are capable of further
development. In lower Acre there are many seringaes that are
badly exhausted and furnish but a small yield. The rubber col-
lectors too, who, as is well-known, cut down the Castilloa trees,
are compelled to go further into upper Acre all the time to find
profitable work.

Acre territory is regarded as the most productive fine rubber
section, especially on its borders; on the little river Hapury and
towards the Taurumano, which belongs to the water-shed of the
Madeira, the output is said to be exceedingly rich. In propor-
tion to their longitudinal extent, the extent of the woods belong-
ing to Acre, in breadth, is comparatively small, for in a one or
two days’ journey, it is possible to reach the district of another
river. The rubber forest properties are consequently all meas-
ured from the river and include usually, a territory of several
hundred square kilometers, often in fact, equal to small princi-
palities. Many owners have also several seringaes, often in
Bolivia and Brazil simultaneously.

In such a seringal on the river bank, the dwelling with ware-
house accommodations and sales-place, is erected, known as the
Baracao in contradistinction to the small Baraken of the work
people.

About the Baracao the forest is usually cleared to afford land
for planting and pasture for the cattle.

The management of the seringal and its entire business, pro-
ceeds from the Baracao. According to the extent of the seringal,
from twenty to several hundred work people are employed on it.
Through the entire forest, paths, known as estradas, are laid out,
from which all obstructive brush and hanging creepers, are cut

144

‘AYOV OLTV AHL NO WAddnNd AHL HLIM IVONIVAS

away with the macheté. These estradas, where possible, are laid
out in loops, so that they lead back to the starting point and are
so planned as to include from 100 to 150 fine rubber trees.

Every seringueiro is alloted two or three estradas to work.
These seringueiros live in the interior of the forest in special
baraken, either with their families, or usually several together.
The different baraken are connected by broader roads that can
be traversed by mules.

In May or June, after the estradas have previously been put
in order, the gathering of fine rubber commences. The serin-
gueiro proceeds in the early morning into the forest, taps the
trees in the customary manner with the little axe Maschadi, at-
taches the tin cups and afterwards collects the accumulated
milk. It is afternoon when he reaches home with the milk he
has collected in a rubber bag or in tin cans, to be smoked. Ina
little hut, roofed with palm-straw, the smoking is proceeded with.
Pieces of wood that give a copious smoke are burned and over
the fire is placed a tin cylinder, known as a Boiao. The serin-
gueiro first collects, in the middle of a round, strong stick, some
coagulated rubber milk and pours the still fluid milk, which he
has in a large tin dish, over this place, turning the stick so that
the smoke can impregnate the coagulating caoutchouc. He con-
tinues this operation until the milk in the tin pan is all used up.

By this means, a rubber ball is produced which is enlarged
in the succeeding days until it weighs about 50 kilos. The stick
is then withdrawn and the ball, stored with others, until the
mule train comes for it. A mule can carry on each side of him
50 kilos without over-exerting himself.

Ii, however, the weight of the ball exceeds sixty. kilos, the
mules are overloaded and the seringueiro who made the balls
pays a fine. Where the dwelling place of the seringueiro is near
a river and the fine rubber can be transported by canoe, larger
balls, that often weigh more than 100 kilos are made.

This ‘gathering and preparation of the fine rubber differs
materially from that practiced on the lower water courses where
the milk is smoked with much greater care, on the shovel shaped
mould and the balls, as a rule, weigh but 10 to 30 kilos. On the
Acre, the seringueiro will gather in a day 15 to 25 liters of milk,
which ‘will yield 7% to 12 kilos of dry rubber, whereas in the
inundated section he will be able to gather but one-half or one-
third as much. Of course the seringueiro can smoke the milk
much more carefully and take certain precautions, as for in-
stance, that the rubber-milk is never heated. On the Acre on
the other hand, the milk is warmed as a rule, because otherwise
the large mass is difficult to manage. There is no question but
that in this mianner thé quality of the rubber, which is prepared

146

‘CUMOWS SI WAGINA HOIHM NI AMOV AAddN AHL NO INH V

from the best material and certainly would yield the best product,
suffers. Nevertheless the rubber balls from Acre, prepared in
the primitive manner, furnish a good and much sought for rubber.
The tapping of the trees also is often effected with less care,
small steel axes being used that make wounds that are too deep
and as a result, the seringaes in the Acre are exhausted more
quickly than those in the inundated district.

From the baracaos the stations on the banks of the river,
small mule trains proceed to the interior to bring in the rubber
balls, which are laid in rows, usually in the open air, so that they
will be thoroughly dried before loading them on the steamer. By.
the same mules, food and supplies are sent to the seringueiros
in the forest. When the rubber gathering ceases in December
or January, the seringueiro has other important work to do.
Roads must be opened and repaired, clearings made in the forest,
huts erected, wood cut and finally the paths set in order for the
approaching harvest. During the rainy season, the steamer brings
new supplies and food, which the seringueiro must buy at the
Baracao.

Concerning the duties the seringueiro has to perform, there
are special regulations, which prevail in most seringae and of
which written or printed copies are often furnished.

To each seringueiro is allotted two or three estradas, each
with 120 to 200 trees. For this he pays 15 per cent of his gather-
ing of fine rubber to the owner of the forest and an additional
10 per cent if he uses the mules for transportation. The remain-
ing rubber belongs to the seringueiro in so far as he does not
have to pay it for goods purchased. As a rule, the owner pur-
chases a portion of the product on the spot at a price that is, of
course, somewhat lower than is paid in Mandaos, the remaining
portion is shipped, for account of the seringueiro, to Para and
Manaos, and he receives the full market price for it, of course,
after deducting freight and duties. The balance is placed to the
credit of the seringueiro and paid to the firm representing the
owner in Manaos or Para. Certain items, for instance, the price
of Sernamby, consisting of residual scraps of rubber, the serin-
gueiro also receives in Acre. In some cases payments are made
in rubber products, a form of payment quite common in other
transactions.

On the upper Acre, a seringueiro will usually collect in a
day as much milk as will yield from 6 to 15 kilos of fine rubber.
Two liters of this milk yield a kilo of dry rubber, whereas with
Manihot Glaziovi, 8 liters are required for this. Exceptional
cases occur where the seringueiro furnishes milk for 20 to 25
kilos of fine rubber in one day. Daily collections of more than
40 liters, however, a single worker can hardly control and he

148

S

FERENCE.
149

RUBBER TREE OF NEARLY FIVE METER
IN CIRCUM

must then have an assistant for carrying and smoking. The
yearly production of a seringueiro amounts, in the better rubber
forest properties, to upwards of 1,000 kilos of dry rubber.

Some owners offer a reward, such as for instance, a gold
watch, for the most industrious and luckiest seringueiro. On
the Seringal S. Francisco, for the crop year 1911-1912, a serin-
gueiro won the gold watch who had collected 2,500 kilos. The
annual highest yield of caoutchouc from the Castilloa was only
1,700 kilos, for the forest there in regard to Castilloa is already
very much exhausted. Otherwise the yields of this rubber are
more variable and higher than those of fine rubber.

If the price of rubber rules high, a seringueiro has quite a
considerable income and with a little frugality can acquire a
property.

If, on the other hand, the price of rubber drops below five
milreis, the seringueiro has trouble to make both ends meet
with his income and easily gets into debt. The supplies that he
must purchase from the proprietor or his representative (lessee)
are very expensive. The customs duties, the long haul and
consequently high freight, the risk, the different losses, which
the proprietor suffers through debtor workmen, and the occasional
high price of fine rubber, which forces all prices upward, makes
everything in upper Acre very dear.

The prices of some of the most necessary supplies and goods
are about as follows.

kilo mandioka flour, 2%4 milreis.
kilo coffee, 4 milreis.

kilo sugar, 3 milreis.

kilo beans, 3 milreis.

kilo rice, 2% milreis.

kilo dried meat, 5 milreis.

kilo fresh meat, 4 milreis.
chicken, 30 milreis.

dozen eggs, 10 milreis.

bottle brandy, 8 milreis.

meter goods, 3 to 6 milreis.
woolen quilt, 120 to 140 milrcis.
pair boots, 40 to 60 milreis.
cake washing soap, 3% milrcis.
piece fine soap, 5 milreis.
macheté, 14 to 22 milreis.
package matches, 3 milreis.
carbine, 200 milreis.

kilo powder, 28 milreis.

kilo shot, 4 milreis.

150

ee ee a

‘duoV AHL tO HINOW AHL B

1 pound sterling is now worth about 15 milreis, so that four
shillings (about one dollar U. S.)=3 milreis.

On the lower Acre, goods are much cheaper and they fall
still lower down to Manaos, where many articles only cost one-
third or one-fourth as much, or even less, but Mandos is never-
theless an expensive city.

The large profits which fine rubber often yields, make all
labor very dear. For this reason agriculture has developed but
slowly and most food supplies must therefore be imported.
Nevertheless cattle raising is constantly growing, stock being
brought in from Bolivia. Bananas, the tubers of the sweet man-
diola, beans and some vegetables are extensively grown, especi-
ally by Peruvians and Bolivians. Often the seringueiro will
plant some bananas and cultivate a small patch of cleared land,
but this is not favorably regarded by the proprietor. In some
seringaes, even the marriage of the seringueiros is opposed;
everything is directed towards obtaining the largest possible
quantity of fine rubber.

Although the Acre is not very full of fish, fishing, in the dry
season, is attended with some success, which particularly benefits
dwellers on the banks of the river. Hunting also, in some
sections, furnishes residents with fresh meat. As animals of the
chase may be enumerated, monkeys, Taca, Aguti, wild swine,
small varieties of deer, sloths, tapirs, various wood fowl and
ducks.

Very different from the arrangements customary, as a rule, in
the Acre, are the conditions in the Bolivian rubber districts,
which for the most part are owned by a single proprietor, N.
Suarez y Hermanos. He is said to produce 1,500 tons of fine
rubber per year, and could produce more than four times the
quantity if the entire forest concession, which is probably as
large as South Germany was all put in operation. One portion
of this rubber forest is situated on the Acre, but the greater part
includes the Southwestern tributaries of the Rio Madeira. In
the properties on the Acre, the working methods are adapted to
Brazilian customs, especially where Brazilian seringueiros are
employed.

While in the Seringaes, trade is conducted mostly through
the Baracdes, there are in some places, notably in Cobija, Ha-
pury and Empreza, various business houses, through which the
owners of seringaes, captains of ships and other persons, can
supply their wants, for before the steamer returns, there is often
a scarcity in some products.

The retail trade is mainly in the hands of so-called Turks,
various Orientals, from Syria, Arabia, Tunis and Morocco. They
have large boats, propelled by poles and oars and which contain

152

YAILNOWA NVIAIION AHL NO V{IdOO WOU NAAS AYOV AHL

the goods in a covered space. These Turks travel ag pedlars
for years about on the rivers, selling their goods for money or
rubber. This commerce is designated Regatao and is not favored
by proprietors, who sometimes forbid stopping in their territory.
The seringueiro can not only buy cheaper of them, but can dis-
pose of caoutchouc surreptitiously.

Those who encounter favorable conditions on the Acre, who
are diligent and economical, can, by working in the rubber in-
dustry, or in any other field of activity, soon acquire a property.
The majority, however, squander their earnings on trips to
Manaos, Para or Ceara, or suffer from sickness.

Although hygienic conditions on the Acre have improved with
the times and there are numerous healthy localities, malaria
still prevails there a great deal, and other diseases, notably beri-
beri, are often fatally prevalent. Many privations, caused by
the difficulties of travel, and a certain amount of luxury, made
possible by the large earnings, often contrast with one another.

From Acre, during the year, about 5,000 tons of fine rubber,
inclusive of other rubber products, are exported, of which cer-
tainly a portion comes from the adjacent territory.

This quantity, according to the price of rubber, will represent
a value of 20,000 to 75,000 contos of reis, about $5,000,000 to
$15,600,000. These are figures that play a part in the total output
of rubber, the importance of which isjncreased by its quality.

3. THE ACRE TERRITORY.

Previous to the Treaty of Petropolis, in 1908, between Brazil
and Bolivia, the Acre Territory formed part of the State of
Amazonas, one portion being, in fact, still in dispute. By virtue
of this treaty the Acre Territory became Brazilian, Brazil in
exchange paying £2,000,000 to Bolivia, an indemnity to an Ameri-
can syndicate, and undertaking to construct the Madeira Mamore
Railway.

The Congress then empowered the Federal authorities to ad-
minister the Territory until the question should be finally settled.

The administration is much the same as that of the other
States. Recent laws have tended to decentralize the administra-
tion, the latest being one giving municipal independence. The
three provinces of the Territory are:

Upper Purus (capital Senna Madureira).
Upper Jurua (capital Cruzeiro do Sul), and
Upper Acre (capital Empreza).

154

TRANSPORT OF RUBBER BISCUITS.

155

The only product and export is rubber, the proportions during
1911 being:

Upper Purus ........ 4,042,000 kilos
Upper Jurua ........ 3,008,000 kilos
Upper Acre: cece asc 3,526,000 kilos

One of the most serious questions has been that relating to
the ownership of land. The Federal Congress is prepared to
solve this problem satisfactorily, by recognizing bona-fide hold-
ings dating from before the Treaty of Petropolis, giving prefer-
ence to property deeds granted by the State of Amazonas, next
to those given by the Republic of Bolivia during its brief occupa-
tion, and then to any possession obtained in good faith during
the whole interregnum, up to the date of the last law passed.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

For the protection of Brazilian rubber, and in order to facili-
tate and develop its culture, as well as its final handling, a Fede-
ral law was passed on January 5th of the current year. (No.
2513 A.)

Its principal measures are especially concerned with Amazon
rubber and the country in which it is produced, viz.: the States
of Amazonas and Matto-Grosso and the Acre Territory. The
scheme embraces the construction of railways and roads, the
clearing of rivers, reduction of import duties and of dues on river
navigation, the establishing of coal depots, living accommodation
for laborers, centres for the production of foodstuff, model cattle
farms, prizes to rubber planters and exemption from import
duties on all material for rubber working.

Besides the Madeira Mamore Railway, which benefits prin-
cipally the Madeira River district of Matto-Grosso, and a further
branch of the same railway, now in course of construction, and
which is intended to open up the Bolivian district of the Beni
River, the Brazilian Government will construct another railroad
(in the route of which the Commercial Association has suggested
some alterations) to commence from Manaos and to work through
the region of the Rio Branco, to link up with the English railroad
already constructed in British Guiana up to the Brazilian bound-
ary. This railway will open up to the State of Amazonas a huge
tract of country admirably suited to agriculture of all kinds, and
to colonization by Europeans.

The Association Commercial will also propose the construc-
tion of a further railroad to communicate by means of branch
lines with the various provinces of the Acre Territory, in order
to bring the product of that region to the lower Purus River, at
a point which will admit of free access to steamers of deep draft
to and from Manaos.

156

‘VINODVLVd WOW NAXS AWOV AdddN AHL

DR. CERQUEIRA PINTO’S PROCESS
EXTRA FINE PARA

This rubber was cured for export in the rubber estate “IRA-
CEMA,” in the Federal Acre, Amazonia, Brazil, by Dr. Cerqueira
Pinto’s process of smokeless coagulation. (See The India Rubber
World, August 1, 1909, page 396, and copy of the same journal
of Ist September, the same year, page 435.)

The enclosed sample contains 68 kilos and belongs to the lot
of 5.000 kilos (11.025 lbs.) that Dr. Cerqueira Pinto holds to be
sold in New York.

Dr. Cerqueira Pinto’s process is one of coagulation of the
latex of the “Hevea Brasiliensis” by an ingredient patented by
the Brazilian Government—“LACTINA”—absolutely free of any
acid.

The latex after the coagulation is pressed through a cylinder
in order to dry out.

This rubber was tested and classified as of STANDARD type
by the Government of the United States of America.

It offers the resistance of 2,010 pounds per square inch accord-
ing to the experiments made by The Manhattan Rubber Com-
pany in July, 1909. This rubber means a saving to the manu-
facturer of at least 20 per cent, in the opinion of the Favorite
Rubber Mfg. Co. of New Jersey and of 25 per cent, as per the
analysis made in London.

The author of this process calls the Jury’s attention to his
rubbers and is willing to furnish with the sufficient quantity in
order to prove to the entire satisfaction of his assertions. It
vulcanizes as well by acid as by vapor. Dr. Cerqueira Pinto will
prepare, during the Exposition, in September, before the public
and the manufacturers, his rubbers with both Hevea and Castillda
latexes, yield of the trees in October, 1911, in the Federal Acre,
Brazil. He shall present as well a large quantity of similar rub-
bers cured by the author on different occasions. They are true
rubbers of commerce cured for export. They are clothed by a
vegetal varish, soluble in water, which is also a discovery of
Dr. Cerqueira Pinto, to prevent the mould.

CASTILLOA OR CAUCHO.

Prepared by the process of Dr. Carlos de Cerqueira Pinto.
(See the India Rubber World of September 1st, 1909, page 435).

The included sample weighs 68 kilos. The author holds 1,400
pounds of this quality to be sold in New York market.

The article was cured by rubber laborers of the estate “TIra-
cema” in the Federal Acre, Amazonia, Brazil, during the months
of July to December, 1911. They are rubbers of commerce and
cured for export.

158

“LNAWdIHS YO AGVAA SLINOSIA VAGINA HLIM
GaTild ‘SSONVNYAH ‘A ZAUVNS ‘SUSSHW AO INAWATLLYS AHL AO GCUVALYNOD

‘AUNdGVH AO NMOL AHL

AOIMALNI FHL OL ASIGNVHOWAW DNIAUUNVD SAINW HLIM OVONV OLYOd AO LNAWATLLYS

‘OW ALNOW AO LNAWYTLLAS

‘XHLVI ONIAMUVS OUIHNONIVAS

THE STATE:

OF

MATTO GROSSO

BALLS OF RUBBER.

THE STATE OF MATTO GROSSO IN THE THIRD
INTERNATIONAL RUBBER EXPOSITION
IN NEW YORK, 1912:

BY

LEOPOLDO DE MATTOS

Dr. Joaquim Augusto da Costa Marques, President of the State
of Matto Grosso, 1911-1915

The State of Matto Grosso, Brazil, at the Third International!
Rubber Exposition in New York, 1912

Of the twenty states composing the Republic of the United States
of Brazil, Matto Grosso is second to the largest in its territorial
extension. It is situated south of the States Amazon and Para,
having on the East the States of Goyaz, S. Paulo and Parana,
on the South the Republic of Paraguay, and on the West Bolivia.

It embraces on the map that portion of the earth’s surface
which extends, approximately from the fourth degree South of
the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn. Its immense area is
about 50,175 square leagues, or according to Mr. Candido Mendes
it has an area of 1,379,651 square meters. Its population is
actually about 350,000, not including a considerable number of
uncivilized Indians, whose improvement is carried steadily for-
ward by the united efforts of the State and Federal Governments.

Without mentioning its capital, the principal cities of the
State are Corumba, S. Luiz de Caceres, Miranda, Nioae, Focoué,
Santa Aunade Paranabyba, Diamantina, Rosario, Livramento,
and the new and recentlv incorporated municipality, S. Antonio
de Rio Madeira. Its capital, Cuyaba, is situated on the left bank
of the river of the same name, 288 meters above sea level, and
owes its origin to the Paulistas, who formed colonies in the
western part of Brazil during the first’ part of the Eighteenth
Century.

In 1719 Paschoal Moreira Cabral ascending the River Coxipé
Mirim, founded on the left bank of this stream a village which

167

was called Forquilha, but to-day is the city of Cuyaba, where
in those early days a rich gold mine was discovered. In those
days, according to Elysés Reclus, the vast region of Matto
Grosso, was hardly anything except a narrow, ordinary zone,
nothing more than an immense solitude of undefined limits and
unknown, but given over to Indians and wild beasts. It was
joined to the rest of Brazil by the lonely paths of hunters, and by
channels of the rivers that had their origin there. Really in
those days communication with the remainder\of Brazil was as
difficult as with Matto Grosso. It is within the memory of many
and known to those who read the history of Brazil, that it was
impossible for the troops who were enrolled and equipped in the
coast provinces, to go directly to the aid of their compatriots in
Matto Grosso, when the Brazilian people had to respond to the
declaration of war by Paraguay.

With the thousands of obstructions in their path, a portion
of the army composed of 3,000 men, which left Rio de Janeiro
in April, 1865, and which could only be organized in Uberaba,
in the upper basin of Parana, was reduced to about 700, when it
arrived at that safe and impregnable place.

The war with Paraguay being ended, there is no doubt that
the victory gained by Brazil opened wide the ports of Matto
Grosso, for the natural declivity of the soil, the course of the
streams, with the free river navigation, guaranteed by her tri-
umph, established a regular line of packets between Rio de
Janeiro, Corumba and Cuyaba, by way of the River La Plata,
passing by Montevideo, Buenos Ayres and Assumption.

The fluvial ways of the Guaporé, Madeira and Amazon
were constantly used in the Eighteenth Century, after the ex-
ploration made by Manoel de Lima in 1742. Navigation by
the Guaporé river to the Madeira, in short to S. Antonio, which
is the initial point of navigation on this last mentioned river, is
long and full of difficulties. Withal, Matto Grosso is gradually
approaching the coasts of Brazil by means of railroads, such as
the Northwestern Road, which will shortly unite it with Rio de
Janeiro, and the railroad, already projected, which, parting from
S. Luiz de Caceres, will reach the old city of Matto Grosso,
where the Gauporé begins to be navigable, to Guajara-Mirim, the
terminal point of the great Madeira-Marmoré Railway.

In a short time, as can readily be seen, these roads will be a
reality, the navigable rivers being united by the stretches of rail-
roads between them. The Paranapanema and the Ivahy in the
States of Parana and S. Paulo, continue on the one side of the
Parana River, ascending the Ivanhema, and the Brilhante, as
far as the neighboring mountains of Miranda, in the meridional
part of Matto Grosso.

168

AVMTIVY AMOWUVN VUIHACVW AHL AO NOILVIS V OL NAAVL

The - magnificent regions of Matto Grosso promise in the
near future, to be great centers of population and consequently
a future focus of civilization by probable fusion of the different
elements of immigration, which will certainly come together
there in the flight of time, and the increased facilities in the way
of transportation. Somewhere it has been said, that colonization
without doubt will come from the South, from Paraguay and
Argentina; but at the present time, with the completion of the
Madeira-Marmoré Railway, undoubtedly colonization will also
come from the North, communication being facilitated by the
Amazon River, the Madeira being one of its tributaries, on the
right bank of which is situated Porto Velho, the initial point of the
Madeira-Marmoré Railway. These effects are already commenc-
ing to produce results as may be seen from founding of a new
municipality and district of Matto Grosso, called the municipality
of St.. Antonio of the River Madeira, reached by the above-
mentioned railway and to which region we will devote a special
chapter later on.

Already one sees the farthest northern side of Matto Grosso
filling with people, while the southern side really contains the
greater number of inhabitants.

Matto Grosso is one of the regions of least roughness on the
continent of South America. There are no elevations of the
land which constitute real mountains.

_The elevated lands have their points of culmination in the
western bases. of the Mantiqueira, the Aymores, and the Espin-
haco, and continue, gradually lowering from this side to the
West of Goyaz, and on the other side are the elevated lands at
the basé of the Andes, which incline to the East with its sup-
ports. Elysée Reclus says that an intermediary plain, separating
the two geographical districts, goes winding in the form of a
valley, that in other ages certainly was a maritime strait separat-
ing the two islands—Western Brazil and the Andes.

To-day rivers run in the depression where formerly there
was a sea and the plain is actually full of alluvial soil. The true
center of South America is between the two cities of Cuyaba and
Corumba.

To those who do not know the region, the slopes of the hills
are mistaken for mountains and geographical maps show a chain
of mountains more or less continuous, between the basins of the
Tapajoz and the Madeira, between the head waters of the same
Tapajéz and Paraguay and finally between the Tapajéz and the
Araguaya. Nevertheless this semi-circular plain exists only in
fragments, because the elevations which are found in the plains
of the upper Paraguay and its tributaries are only a high, level
ground of horizontal sections or slight elevations and worn away
by the rivers which flow into the great Amazon,

170

‘A

REMOVING THE BALL OF RUBBER AFTER IT HAS
BEEN SMOKED.

area

They are rather tablelands than mountains, for they do not
reach an elevation, except in some parts of the tableland, of more
than 100 meters, while the mean elevation of a range of moun-
tains is 500 meters.

This geographic district in the State of Matto Grosso is in-
differently called the cordillara of Parecys, but does not present a
mountainous aspect except on the South side. On this scarred
side, the rock is cut into peaks, or cut away into obelisks. On
the other side towards the Tapajéz and Xingu, a long range ex-
tends and gradually declines into the plains of the State of
Amazonas. D’Orbiguy found in the high northern part of Matto
Grosso, the existence of beds pertaining to the carboniferous age
and corresponding to rocks of the same nature which on the
opposite side of that region are found in the Bolivian bases of
the Sierra of Santa Cruz. After this Hart and Derby verified
the fact that the southern parts of the Araxa, which are the
elevated borders of the tableland, date probably from paleozoic
epochs, and there are found the carboniferous, devonian and
silurian beds. Fossil beds found by the Geologist Smith below
the hillocks of the plains, 50 kilometers east of Cuyaba, place
these facts beyond doubt. More to the North is the zone of
the rocky places, which in links cut the Madeira, Tapajéz, Xingu,
Tocatius and their tributaries, the walls denuded by erosion, are
all of the crystalline formation, granite, ‘gueis, porphory and
quartzite. The elevations that unroll in the direction of the
South, between the sources of the Paraguay and Araguaya, fol-
lowing between the Paraguay and the Parana, do not present the
same characteristics as the tablelands of the North. The high
parts of Western Matto Grosso were separated from the East
and West sides and devastated by lateral excavations, take in
certain places the aspects of true mountain chains, and for this
reason they are named, from the North to the South, the Sierras
of S. Jeronimo, Maracaji and Anhauhaly.

Eruptive rocks, called basaltic in this country, probably por-
phyritic rend the beds of sandstone, of which the mountains are
composed and appear to form by their disintegration “red lands,”
similar to those which give the farmers of S. Paulo their abun-
dant harvests of coffee.

In a sort of circle limited by a semicircle of elevations iso-
lated masses have been lifted up, rocks whose outlines, seen
from a distance, have a perfect regularity. The hills proper, for
the greater part, have geometrical forms, which it should be
said, great forces have crumbled, leaving smooth walls like the
sides of pyramids. The tops of the tablelands, as well as summits,
have been maimed by a force certainly corresponding to
the other summits, which now may be seen as part of the same

172

COLLECTING THE LA
173

prairie. According to Taunay, who traveled over the country,
these masses of sandstone in horizontal beds regularly placed
one above another, are formed of marshy sediment deposited
by the sea of fresh water, which in former times covered this
region.

The ruins of these hills and slopes contributed also to change
the physiognomy of the landscape. These excoriations were
picked up and dragged by the rivers, to form new beds and
soil, and much rock disappeared below the continued crumbling
of the mountains. Others show nothing except their summits
above the land of recent formation. Masses that held them to
the tablelands and the chains of the interior are separated from
them, because their bases are buried and they emerge abruptly
from the soil. These distinctive peaks to which the name of
itambea has been given, raise their heads above a sea of trees,
like some great buildings erected by the hand of man. To the
East, the southern part of Matto Grosso, they range themselves
in files and group themselves in archipelagoes, each time becom-
ing higher and more numerous. The part that goes towards the
West are solitary peaks on the circle of the horizon and may be
seen along the banks of the River Paraguay, and even on the
other side of the same.

The Upper Guarporé, Itenez of the Bolivians, although situ-
ated in the immense basin of the Amazon as a tributary to the
Madeira River by the Marmoré, belongs to the State of Matto
Grosso, for the city of this name was founded on its banks and
nearly the whole population of the state accumulated in this de-
pression, through whose western half the river finds its way. Its
principal source is very obscure. It rises in a grotto along the
the border of the Araxa, and takes first a southerly course, parallel
to other rivers which descend towards Paraguay. On leaving
the last hills it curves to the West, and afterwards to the North-
west, where already enlarged by numerous tributaries it crosses
the plain, where there is found the city named at its founding
Villa Bella and to-day called Matto Grosso.

The Paraguay is one of the most known rivers of South
America, as a way.of navigation, as Elysée Reclus affirms. Few
rivers have such a slight declination in proportion to their length.
Castelnaw says that it rises at an altitude of 305 meters, in
places where tranquil waters glide slowly to the sea, the altitude
of the land being scarcely 200 meters. At a point 4,000 kilo-
meters from the sea, the declination is scarcely 5 centimeters.
Therefore, steamers of light draft can freelv ascend to the con-
fines of Brazil, far to the North of the two Republics of Argen-
tine and Paraguay and arrive at the base of the tableland by
the principal river and its tributaries, Jauru, Sepotuba, Cuyaba,

174

Waqddnad ONIMOWS

S. Lourenco and Taquary. The Paraguay presents another not-
able phenomenon, which is the crossing its sources with those of
the tributaries of the Amazon.

The River Jauri approaches the Guaporé so closely that it
would be easy to make a canal from the waters of this western
river to a tributary of the Jauri. Another tributary of the Para-
guay, the Aguapehy, is only separated from the Alegre River,
which flows by the old city of Villa Bella, to-day called Matto
Grosso, by a low and narrow isthmus, which according to
Leverger measures 5,280 meters. During 1772, and even later,
it was proposed to cut a canal at different places in this isthmus,
but the work was never done because of the little commerce of
that locality. Certainly, railroads, in the near future, will supply
the absence of a canal and will join Montevideo to Para, passing
through the larger part of the State of Matto Grosso, and by a
continental navigable water way of 8,300 kilometers, as Bar-
tholomo Bossi says.

The Paraguay River has as its principal tributaries the S.
Lourengo, enlarged by the waters of the Cuyaba, the Taquary,
the Mondego, and the Apa, the last marking the boundary be-
tween Brazil and the Republic of Paraguay. At the time of
the floods, its level, and that of its tributaries, rises 10 to 11
meters and overflows to the right and the left, forming a tem-
porary sea, which extends to great distances, being lost to sight
and continuing in lakes. The first Spanish explorers gave it the
name of Lake Xarayes, in its lower section, where it receives
the nearly dormant waters of its principal tributaries. This lake is
about 600 kilometers in length from North to South, between
the mouths of Jaurtt and the hills of “Fecho-dos-Morros,” and in
certain places reaches a width of 250 kilometers.

It is not permanent, as you already know, but at certain
seasons of the year there are overflows, which the Indians called
bays and rightly, for here there were bays of an ancient sea,
which to-day are nearly dry, and most of these lakes are in con-
stant communication with the Paraguay River, either by under-
ground openings, or by long canals. These latter are called
the lakes of Uberaba, Gaiaba, Mandioré, Caceres, etc. Some of
these lakes contain only fresh water from the overflowing rivers,
while others being ancient cavities are now filled with salt water,
and have in their depths beds of salt, which give to the liquid a
soapy characteristic. It is singular that this contrast by nature
of fresh and salt water is also found in the lands of the vast
plains, and thus it is, that these extensive fields, covered by a
rich alluvial soil, bear heavy forests. Here the agriculturist can
certainly obtain marvelous harvests. It is certainly true that
these fields of Matto Grosso will serve for agriculture as well as

pastoral industry.
176

The height of the lands, formed in the center of this vast
valley, hinders the tributary from remaining in a regular channel,
and the waters escaping from both sides ramify in a labyrinth of
rivers and false rivers. The lateral branches follow in the zones
of the lakes, to the confluence of the Taquary and Miranda
Rivers, which descend from the mountains on the East. These
receive in the upper region, a tributary called the Coxim, which
travelers consider one of the most picturesque rivers of Brazil.
It is curious to see, in some places, the waters of the Coxim
crowded between perpendicular walls 50 meters in height and
the small vessels floating on their bosom at the bottom of an
opening not more than 10 or 12 meters in width.

THE CLIMATE

The climate of Matto Grosso is relatively warm in the lower
parts and those overflowed by the high waters of the Paraguay
and other rivers. In the region of the tablelands the climate
is cool and healthy. The movement of the air columns is de-
termined by the open passage way between the Andes moun-
tains and the highlands of Brazil, as well as in the center of the
South American continent, and are held by it. The warm winds,
coming from the region of the Amazon, are succeeded in the
Winter time by the winds which blow from the cool pampas.
In the high parts of the circle of hills and mountains which sur-
round the tablelands of Matto Grosso, the cold goes below the
freezing point. The copious rains brought by the cooling winds
refresh the central tablelands of Brazil and then dash themselves
against the sides of the Andes. They fall with great regularity
in the Summer and are frequently accompanied by thunder-
storms. According to observations taken by some, the annual
fall of water is 3 meters, and in Cuyaba about 135 days of the

ordinary year are rainy ones.

ITS SITUATION

The State of Matto Grosso, from its geographical situation
in the Continent of South America, placed at the point of separa-
tion of the two great basins of Brazil, contains at the same time
the flowers and faunae of the Amazon and Plata regions. Never-
theless, the tropical flora predominates with its infinite variety
of vegetable forms in all the forest regions, that is to say, along
the banks of the rivers, and among the famous species found
along the shores of the River-Sea, there are few which are not
found in the region of the Upper Cuaporé, and specimens of
which may not be seen.

177

In no other parts, like here, will the development of Cipo’s
palm be found. In 1875, a boundary commission discovered
one of these palms Urumbamba (Calamus procumbeus) or Des
Moncus rudentum de Martins, of more than 20 meters in length,
with hardly the thickness of a centimeter. The cotton tree, to-
bacco, ipecac, there called “poya,” grow spontaneously on the
plains and in the forests. The last grows abundantly in the
forests of the Upper Jaurii and the neighboring rivers. Maté,
the most notable product of the tablelands of the South, and’
which has made some regions rich, as the State of Parana, grows
here spontaneously between the Rivers Miranda and Apa, with-
out speaking of the seringa, which is found in immense and thick
forests in a district that extends from Cuyaba to Madeira and
which will be the special subject of this leaflet.

The woods for building are very abundant and of a great
variety, such as Brazil wood, Jacaranda, Peroba, Canella, Cedro,
Jequitiba, Massaran-duba, Arco, Ferro, Setim and Vinhatico.

Among the animals are found deer, tapir, panther, and also
a large number of small animals usually found in tropical regions.
The fowls and birds along the streams and the songsters in the
forests are, because of their variety, almost innumerable. The
ostrich is found in the region of the pampas and on the margins
of the upper Paraguay. There are many varieties of fish in
the large and small rivers.

In the mineral kingdom, the State of Matto Grosso: has
numerous mines of gold, silver, platinum, copper, tin, mercury,
coal, iron, precious stones, diamonds, etc. There are already
four English companies developing gold mines. There ‘is also
granite, crystal, malacacheta, limestone, sal-geunna, etc. Finally,
in the region of the Araxa, there are sulphur mineral springs.

In Matto Grosso are found the largest cattle ranches, not only
as to their territorial extent, but’ also as to the number of horses
and cattle, some of them numbering 100,000 head. The number
of cattle is calculated to be 2,000,500,000 head. Although the
transportation of cattle from Matto Grosso to Rio de Janeiro
is difficult, it is generally done by a road running West to
Uberaba, where they pass the Winter season of two or three
months and being recuperated are sent by railroad to Rio de
Janeiro. Hence it is easy to see that with the completion of the
Northwestern Railway of Brazil, the problem of transportation
to the coast will be solved. Also with the completion of the
Madeira-Marmoré Railway the navigable rivers of Matto Grosso,
will in short time, be linked with the port of Para. Before long
another railway will extend from S. Luiz de‘Caceres, the ancient
city of Matto Grosso, where the River Guaporé commences -to
be navigable to Guajara-Mirim, the terminal point of the Ma-

178

UMHAIM VWNVUVd ADV “OD ® VOva Tad :
4O SALVLISA HHL LV AVM TIVE AYONUVNW VUISGCVW NO dadddIHS ONIdd Wadd

deira-Marmoré Railway. This will solve the problem of the
transportation of cattle to the States of Amazonas, Para, etc.
From this brief exposition one concludes that the State of
Matto Grosso is very rich in cattle and gold, diamonds and coffee,
tobacco and mate, rubber and ipecac, and all other products
of the tropical and temperate zone. Without doubt it will come
to be one of the largest and richest empires of the world.
Endowed with a warm climate in the North, it has in other

regions a temperate and even cold climate. The tablelands ~

contain a rare accumulation of wealth, yet little explored. Natur-
ally people, in their activities and progressive conflict for a liveli-
hood, will come here from all parts of the world. By their intelli-
gence and endeavors they will make that part of Brazil an in-
dustrial, commercial and maritime mart. Here from the fusion
of the different races, a great civilization will arise, and man-
kind will progress onward and upward to the final conquest of
the land.

RUBBER

The rubber sent to this Exposition, comes from the vast
regions served by the Rivers Machados, or Dgy-Parana, Jamary,
Jacy-Parana, Mutum-Parana, Paca-Nova and Guaporé and their
tributaries, which in turn are tributaries of the great Madeira
River, on whose right bank is situated the new municipality St.
Antonio do Rio Madeira, installed July 2, 1912.

The new municipality has the following limits: Starting at
the falls of St. Antonio do Rio Madeira, on parallel 8° 48’, the
River Madeira above; the River Madeira above to the mouth
of the Guaropé on parallel of 12°, and on this parallel to its inter-
section with the River Camararé; on this river below to its con-
fluence with the Juruema; on this river below to the point where
it unites with the Arinos; on the parallel at this point which
passes to its intersection with S. Manuel River; it follows this
river down to its confluence with the Tapajoz; and from this
point back to St. Antonio Falls, along the line that divides
Matto Grosso from the Amazonas. All this immense territory
of the new municipality is traversed on the North by the
Madeira-Marmoré Railway, which was completed and opened
for traffic, September 7, 1912. It starts at Porto Velho and
terminates at Guaraja-Mirim, a distance of 390 kilometers,

The Madeira-Marmoré Railroad, in addition to the stations
already opened in Porto. Velho, Candelaria, St. Antonio, Jacy-
Parana, Abuna, Villa Murtinho, and Guarjara-Mirim has 46 places
of stopping, which corresponds to the number of camps.

Among the ways of communication that St. Antonio do Rio

180

Madeira, the new municipality, has with the neighboring States
of Amazonas and Para, as well as with the capital and other
cities of Matto Grosso, we would mention the telegraph line
which the Federal Government is constructing along with its
public road ways. There are two gangs of engineers and work-
men engaged in the construction of the telegraph line. One
started at St. Antonio in the North, and the other at Diamantina
in the South. Leaving St. Antonio the telegraph line follows
parallel 8° 48’ until it comes to the River Jamary, a distance of
about 60 kilometers. Arriving there its course is changed to the
headwaters of the Dgy-Parana River, to a place called Urupa.
Here it will meet and be joined to the line coming from the
South. On June 3, 1912, at the very headwaters of the Dgy-
Parana River, the telegraph station of José Bonifacio was opened,
by the gang from the South, while those from the North had,
previous to this, opened the stations of St. Antoino do Rio
Madeira and Jamary. This notable undertaking is under the
efficient and extraordinary devotion of the Colonel of Engineers
of the Brazilian army, Candido Roudon, who has a record for
the construction of telegraph lines in Brazil and South America.

Within a year, more or less, the telegraph line will follow
along a roadway 40 meters wide, and about 200 leagues in length,
extending from Cuyaba to St. Antonio on the Madeira River.
This immense roadway of communication cutting all this vast
interior, rich in rubber and gold, will have a telegraph station
every 10 leagues. In Porto Velho, the initial point of the Ma-
deira-Marmoré Railway, there is already working a wireless
telegraph station of the Marconi system. There is daily com-
munication with Manaos. Also with Iquitos and with the Federal
department at Acre, Purus and Jurua.

Transportation from Manaos to St. Antonio on the Madeira
River is made in good condition and comfortable vessels. Dur-
ing the time of low water, that is during the dry season of the
great Amazon and its tributaries, only vessels of 500 tons can
ascend to those places from Manaos. In the time of high waters,
when the valley of the entire Amazon is overflowed, the trans-
Atlantic steamers of 7,000 to 9,000 tons, ascend in four days
from Manaos. This has been done in the transportation of
materials for the construction of the Madeira-Marmoré Railway.
The vessels easily approached and made fast to the two wharves
made of wood, one of which is in front of the offices at Porto
Velho and the other at Candelaria. The Government of the
Republic, however, has determined to build of stone and lime
the wharves between Porto Velho and St. Antonio on the River
Madeira.

The small steamers which navigate during the dry season,

181

‘LNHWdIHS YOA AAGVAA HOVAd AHL NO Baaana

SERS Le SS ee

have accommodations for first and third class passengers, are
lighted by electricity, have an artificial ice plant and make the
voyage from Manaos to Porto Velho and St. Antonio in about
five days, at the average speed of ten miles an hour, calling at
the small Amazonian ports and cities situated on the banks of
the Madeira River. In descending the river both the large and
small steamers make the voyage in from three to four days.

The rubber from St. Antonio on the Madeira River is of the
same physical and chemical constituents as all the rubber of the
Amazon Valley. This is worth remembering, when we think
of this new municipality in the State of Matto Grosso, being
the frontier of the States of Amazonas and Para.

In the Manaos market, where the rubber comes by way of
the Madeira River, and in that of Para, which it reaches by way
of River Tapajéz, it is always quoted at the same price and
under the same conditions as those produced in the regions of
the Amazon proper.

The production has been increasing annually since 1906 and
is actually about 2,000,000 of kilos annually. This will cer-
tainly increase to an amount that cannot be foretold, with the
completion of the Madeira-Marmoré Railway, the wagon road
and telegraph line and the constant improvements in navigation.

During the first six months of the current year, the produc-
tion of rubber was greater than for the same length of time in
any year since 1907, as can be verified from the report annexed.

In those regions, between Cuyaba and the new municipality,
there exist rubber (seringa) forests capable of producing in one
year, more than 40,000,000 of kilos of rubber.

To attain this ideal, it is only necessary that the captains of
industry should join in the development of extraction. This
fountain shoots forth from the earth spontaneously without the
necessity of cultivation. To encourage and stimulate those who
wish to employ there, their endeavors and capital, the law of the
State of Matto Grosso offers special favors. These are offered
to those who wish to develop the vast forests of rubber existing,
as well as to those who wish to plant and cultivate the Sypho-
nia elastica. ao ;

Speaking of the Rubber Exposition soon to be held in New
York, it is proper to call attention to the well-known fact that
already the capitalists of North America have begun the develop-
ment of that region. .

The large capitalist, Percival Farquhar, of North America,
has already incorporated two rubber companies, the Muller and
Guaporé, under the social terms of July, for the purpose not
only of developing the extraction industry of the hevea brazil-
iensis, but also for the different branches of agriculture necessary
for the making of sugar, petton: cleih etc,

83

Actually the extraction of rubber in the vast seringaes of
the municipality of St. Antonio of the River Madeira employ
about 5,000 workmen. This number will constantly increase, as
the said municipality becomes the center of the currents of com-
merce, industry and agriculture, from Matto Grosso and the
Republic of Bolivia.

This is easy to imagine, when we see that the Madeira-Mar-
moré Railway will place it in communication to the South with
S. Luiz de Caceres, by means of the River Guaporé, and by the
railway, which, from S. Luiz de Caceres will extend to the ancient
city of Matto Grosso, thus joining the basin of the Plata—by
means of the Paraguay River, to the basin of the River Amazon.
And to the West the same Madeira-Marmoré Railway, reaching
to Ribeira-Alta, will bind the vast and rich regions of the Boli-
vian Republic to the basin of the Amazon, by means of the Ma-
deira River. Presently the chief engineer and director of the
Madeira-Marmoré Railway, Mr. H. Dose, will leave for that
region, to begin the construction of the branch Guajara Mirim—
Matto Grosso, to Ribeira Alta, Bolivia, which will be finished
within a year and a half, and be about 100 meters long.

In addition to this with the prompt construction within a year
of the wagon—telegraphic line—roadway from Cuyaba to St.
_Antonio on the Madeira River, we can easily conclude, that the
municipality of St. Antonio on the Madeira River, will indeed
become the converging point of these great and strong currents
of development of progress and of civilization.

In conclusion it should not be forgotten that this territory
herein described serves not only for the production of rubber,
which there, as in the whole valley of the Amazon, is native
and grows according to the laws of nature. It also should be
mentioned that cacao and cotton are native, while there can
be planted and cultivated, sugar cane, coffee, vanilla, corn, beans,
rice, tobacco, potatoes, brazil nut, etc. The Madeira-Marmoré
Railway Company has the concession of a vast amount of land
along its line, which it proposes to plant in cacao, sugar cane,
etc., thus improving these lands.

From this description, in which we have endeavored to set
forth only the truth, giving the facts concerning the region in
question, it can be concluded that the new municipality of St.
Antonio on the River Madeira, which actually exports to the mar-
kets of the world, via Para and Manaos, about 2,000,000 kilos
of rubber, will in a few years, with immigration and from other
causes, export from 10 to 15,000,000 kilos.

The author of this article asks indulgence for any shortcom-
ings it may contain, as it was written in the. spare moments
he could find, while laboriously collecting the samples of rubber

184

‘TIVd AHL NO MIIN AO SYHAVI LISVT AHL ONILINd

and putting them on board the steamer at Manaos for New York.

The samples of rubber from the State of Matto Grosso, which
are seen in this International Rubber Exposition; have been ex-
hibited by order of the Government and at the expense of the

Commercial Association of the Amazonas.

STATE OF MATTO GROSSO

Inspection Department of the North

Table showing the production of rubber in the valleys of the
Madeira and upper Tapajéz, for the years 1907-1912, in compari-
son with the first six months of 1912:

Origin 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
Machado and Jamary.. 1,092,454 1,252,194 910,982 1,295,605 1,317,917 1,315,995
Jacy-Parana, Upper Ma-

deira and oré..... 98,464 152,713 150,759 142,458 201,562 259,612
Upper Tapaj6z .....6. 0 seeaae 156,034 167,841 107,458 73,688 118.453
1,190,918 1,560,941 1,229,582 1,545,521 1,593,167 1,689,060

InG

Riera No 6)
TAPPING THE RUBBER TREE.
187

1. STATE OF MATTO-GROSSO

The capital, Cuyaba, and the principal port, Curumba, belong
to the hydrographical system of the Paraguay River.

The boundaries of this State, formed by the Amazon River,
embrace the upper basin of the Madeira River, which as the result
of an agreement with the State of Amazonas appertains to Matto-
Grosso, whereas it previously belonged to the former State.

This territory constitutes the judicial and administrative prov-
ince of Santo Antonio do Madeira.

The executive and fiscal administration is entrusted to a Fis-
cal Delegate in Manaos. The collection of duties is attended to
by the State Customs of Amazonas.

The rubber producing rivers, with total production of Matto-

Grosso, are:
1908 1909 1910 1911
Kilos Kilos Kilos Kilos

Machado and Jamary. 1,253,000 911,000 1,296,000 1,318,000

Jacy Parana, Upper Ma-
deira & Mamore.... 153,000 150,000 143,000 202,000

During the first half of the current year the production has
shown a considerable increase, this being largely due to the open-
ing and developing of the Madeira Mamore Railway, which passes
through the whole region of these rivers.

188

awaddnd LAD OL MAATY VNVUVd ADVE YAddN AHL OL ODNIOD SLVOd

= 5 ' SA

WALKING THROUGH THE FOREST ESTATE OF
FIDEL BACA & CO., JACY PARANA RIVER.

ESTADO DE MATTO-GROSSO NA
EXPOSICAO INTERNACIONAL DE
BORRACHA DE 1912 EM NEW-YORK

POR

LEOPOLDO DE MATTOS

NEW-YORK, 1912

DR. JOAQUIM AUGUSTO DA COSTA MARQUES

PRESIDENTE DO ESTADO DE MATTO-GROSSO
1911-1915

O ESTADO DE MATTO-GROSSO NA
EXPOSICAO DE BORRACHA DE
1912 EM NEW-YORK

Dos vinte Estados que compdem a Republica dos Estados
Unidos do Brasil, Matto-Grosso esta collocado em segundo
plano, pela sua extensdo territorial situado ao Sul dos Estados
do Amazonas e Para, tendo a Leste os Estados de Goyaz, S.
Paulo e Parana, ao Sul a Republica do Paraguay e a Oeste a
Republica da Bolivia.

Abrange no mappa uma porcgdo que vae approximadamente
desde 0 14° grao ao Sul do Equador até o Tropico do Capricornio.
Sua 4rea immensa é de cerca de 50175 leguas quadradas, segundo
Candido Mendes, ou melhor, tem uma superficie de 1379651 kilo-
metros quadrados.

Sua populacdo é actualmente de cerca de 350,000 habitantes,
nZo incluindo consideravel numero de indios bravios, cuja
cathechese se procede com afinco, dia a dia, com o concurso simul-
taneo dos Governos Federal e Estadoal.

Sem contar a Capital, as cidades principaes do Estado sao.
Corumba, S. Luiz de Caceres, Miranda, Nioac, Poconé,
Sant’ Anna de Paranahyba, Diamantina, Rosario, Livramento e o
novo Municipio recentemente installado de Sto. Antonio do Rio
Madeira.

Cuyaba, sua capital, esta situada 4 margem esquerda do rio
do mesmo nome, a 288 metros acima do nivel do mar, e deve
as suas origens aos Paulistas que formaram as legendarias
bandeiras e que percorreram o Brasil Occidental no comeco do
seculo XVIII.

Em 1719 Paschoal Moreira Cabral subindo o Rio Coxipé
Mirim, fundou 4 margem esquerda d’esta corrente uma povoacao
que denominou Forquilha, hoje a cidade de Cuyaba, onde
naquelles tempos se descobriu uma rica mina de ouro.

Em outros tempos, conforme Elysée Reclus, a vastissima
regiao de Matto-Grosso era apenas, salvo uma estreita zona
mediana, nio mais que uma immensa solid4o de limites indecisos
e senao desconhecidos pelo menos ainda entregues aos indios e
as feras, a qual se ligava ao resto do Brasil por simples picadas
de cacadores e pelos cursos dos rios que ali nascem. Realmente
em outros tempos eram tamanhas as difficuldades de communi-
cacao do resto do paiz com Matto-Grosso, que ainda esta na

192

A RUBBER GATHERER MAKING A RUBBER SACK BY
COVERING CANVAS WITH LIQUID RUBBER.

memoria de muitos e no conhecimento dos que leem as paginas
da Historia do Brasil, a impossibilidade que tiveram as tropas
reunidas nas provincias do littoral para irem soccorrer direc-
tamente seus compatriotas de Matto-Grosso, quando a nacao
brazileira teve de responder 4 declaracgao de guerra do Paraguay.

Com os mil estorvos da travessia, o corpo de exercito composto
de 3000 homens que partiu em Abril de 1865 do Rio de Janeiro
e que sé poude organisarse em Uberaba, na bacia superior
do Parana, estava reduzido apenas a 700 homens quando chegou
a ponto inatacavel e seguro.

Vencida, porem, a guerra com o Paraguay, nado ha nenhuma
duvida que a a victoria do Brasil escancarou-lhe as portas de
Matto-Grosso, pois que o declive natural do solo e o curso das
aguas com a liberdade da navegacdo fluvial, garantida pelo tri-
umpho, estabeleceu um servico regular de paquetes do Rio de
Janeiro a Corumba e Cuyaba, pela via do Rio da Prata, passando
por Montevideo, Buenos Ayres e Assumpgao.

O caminho fluvial do Guaporé, Madeira e Amazonas foi muito
utilisado no seculo XVIII, depois da exploracao feita por Manoel
de Lima em 1742. A navegacao pelo Rio Guaporé até o Rio
Madeira, até enfim Sto. Antonio, que é o ponto inicial da na-
vegacao d’este ultimo rio, é longa e cheia de fadiga.

Comtudo Matto-Grosso vae gradualmente se approximando
do litoral do Brasii por meio de estradas de ferro, taes como a
Noroeste do Brasil que ligal-o-A dentro em breve ao Rio de
Janeiro e a estrada de ferro ja projectada que partindo de S.
Luiz de Caceres ira até a antiga cidade de Matto-Grosso, donde
o rio Guaporé comeca a ser navegavel até Guajara-Mirim, ponto
terminal da grande via Madeira-Mamoré Railway.

Dentro de pouco tempo, como se vé, as estradas mixtas serao
una realidade, comprehendendo rios navegaveis por vapores e
os trechos de communicacao entre estes rios. O Paranapanema
e o Ivahy, nos Estados do Parana e S. Paulo continuam para
outro lado do rio Parana subindo o Ivinhema e o Brilhante, até
as visinhas montanhas de Miranda, na parte meridional de
Matto-Grosso. As magnificas regides de Matto-Grosso pro-
mettem ser de futuro, e futuro ja bem proximo, um grande centro
de povoamento, e conseguintemente um futuro foco de civi-
lisacéo, pela provavel fusao dos diversos elementos de im-
migracéo que para alli certamente concorrorem com o correr
dos tempos e a facilidade que forem apresentando cada vez mais
os meios de communicacgao. Algures se disse, que a colonisacio
far-se-ha sem duvida pelo Sul, pelo lado do Paraguay e da
Argentina; mas nos dias que correm, com a presenca da Madeira
Mamoré Railway, indubitavelmente a colonisacao darse-A
tambem pelo Norte, facilitada a communicagio pelo Rio.

194

Amazonas, de que é um dos affluentes o Madeira, 4 margem
direita do qual esta Porto Velho, ponto inicial da mesma
Madeira Mamoré Railway. E estes effeitos ja se comecam a
produzir com a fundacdo de um novo Municipo e Comarca de
Matto-Grosso, que 6 0 Municipio de Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira,
cortado pela referida via ferrea e a cuja regiao dedicaremos
adiante um capitulo especial.

Ja vae portanto sé enchendo de populacdo a extremidade da
vertente septentrional do territorio de Matto-Grosso, postoque
a da vertente meridional é realmente a que contem maior numero
de habitantes.

Matto-Grosso é uma das regides de menor relevo do conti-
nente da America do Sul; alli nao se encontram elevacgdes de
terreno que constituam verdadeiras montanhas.

As terras elevadas do Brasil tem os seus pontos de culminan-
cia nas cadeias orientaes da Mantiqueira, dos Aymorés e de
Espinhago e vao-se abaixando proporcionalmente d’este lado
para o Oeste do Estado de Goyaz e do outro lado sao as elevadas
massas da cadeia dos Andes que se inclinam para Leste com os
seus contrafortes. Diz Elysée Reclus, que separando os dois
systemas orographicos, vae serpeando em forma de valle uma
planicie intermediaria, que certamente foi outr’ora um _ estreito
maritimo separando as duas ilhas—Brasil Oriental e Andes.

Hoje correm aguas fluviaes na depressdo por onde passaram
outr’ora as aguas marinhas e a planicie esta cheia actualmente de
suas alluvides. O verdadeiro centro da America do Sul esta entre
as duas cidades de Cuyaba e Corumba.

Para os que desconhecem a regido, as vertentes s40 as vezes
confundidas com as serras, e em cartas geographicas se desenha
uma cadeia de montanhas mais ou menos continua, entre as
bacias do Tapajéz e do Madeira, entre as nascentes do mesmo
Tapajoz e do Paraguay em seguida, e finalmente entre ainda o Ta-
pajoz e o Araguaya. Comtudo este relevo semicircular nado existe
senao fragmentado, pois que as elevacdes que dominam as planicies
do alto Paraguay e seus affluentes sAo na realidade um alto cha-
padao de extractos horisontaes ou mui ligeiramente inclinados e car-
comidos pelos rios que descem para o grande Amazonas.

Sao antes taboleiros que montanhas, ou ao menos estas nfo se
elevam senao em alguns pontos do grande planalto, attingindo,
aqui e alem, uns mil metros de altura, emquanto a elevacdo media
do proprio paredao é de quinhentos metros.

Assim, 0 conjuncto orographico do Estado de Matto-Grosso
chamado indifferentemente cordilheira dos Parecys, néo apresenta
aspecto montanhoso senao para o lado do Sul; n’esta face escar-
pada, a rocha é talhada a pique ou recortada em agulhas, mas do

. . 195

outro lado para o Tapajéz e Xingu, uma encosta longa se estende
e vae morrer gradualmente nas planicies do Estado do Amazonas.

D’Orbigny reconheceu na eminencia da parte septentrional do
Estado de Matto-Grosso a existencia de camadas pertencentes a
edade carbonifera e correspondendo as rochas da mesma natureza,
que do lado opposto da regido se apresenta nos contrafortes
bolivianos de Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Depois d’este, Hart e
Derby verificaram que as partes meridionaes do Araxa, que sao
as bordas elevadas do planalto, datam provavelmente das epochas
paleozoicas, e que alli est&éo representadas as camadas carboni-
feras devonianas e siluricas. Leitos fossiliferos encontrados pelo
geologo Smith abaixo das collinas da Chapada, 50 kilometros 4
Leste de Cuyaba, puzeram fora de duvida estes factos. Mais ao
Norte, na zona de rochedos que em travessdes cortam o Madeira,
o Tapajéz, o Xingu, o Tocantins e seus affluentes, as paredes
desnudadas pela erosao sdo todas de formagao crystallina: grani-
tos, gneis, porphiros e quartzitos.

As elevagdes que se desenvolvem na direcgao do Sul entre
as nascentes do Paraguay e as do Araguaya, em seguida entre o
Paraguay e o Parana, nado apresentam as mesmas caracteristicas dos
planaltos do Norte. As eminencias da parte Oriental do Estado de
Matto-Grosso foram esbarancadas dos dois lados a Leste e Oeste e
devastadas por estas excavacoes lateraes, tomam em certos pontos
o aspecto de verdadeiras cadeias de montanhas, e assim é que
desenham-se do Norte ao Sul as serras de S. Jeronymo, do Mara-
caju e Anhanbahy.

Rochas eruptivas, chamadas no paiz bassaltos, provavelmente
porphyricas, romperam as camadas de grez que compdem as mon-
tanhas e parece que formaram pela sua desaggregacdo “terras
roxas,’ analogas as que dao aos fazendeiros de S. Paulo tao
copiosas colheitas de café.

Na especie de circo limitado pelo semi-circulo das elevagdes
levantam se massigos isolados, rochas, cujos extractos, visiveis
de longe, tem uma regularidade perfeita. Os proprios morros
tém pela maior parte formas geometricas: dir-se-ia que se
esboroaram vastos langos, deixando pareddes lisos, eguaes aos
flancos de uma pyramide. Os cumes horizontaes como se as
pontas tivessem sido decepadas por um instrumento cortante
correspondem a outros cumes, e vé se que outr’ora faziam parte
de um mesmo chapadao. Segundo Taunay, que percorreu o paiz,
estes massicos de. grez, de camadas horizontaes e regularmente
superpostas, sao formados de sedimentos lacustres coados pelo
mar de agua doce que outr’ora cobriu a regiao.

As ruinas d’estes paredées e das escarpas contribuiram tam-
bem para mudar a phisionomia da paysagem. Os escombros,
apanhados e arrastados pelos rios, foram revestir de camadas

196 +

A. weer

iG

HUT OF RUBBER GATHERERS ON THE UPPER ACRE.
197

novas o solo, e muitas saliencias de pedras desappareceram de-
baixo dos restos esmigalhados das montanhas e outras nao
mostram sendo as pontas por cima doz terrenos de formagao mais
recente. Massigos que se prendiam aos planaltos e as cadeias do
interior estao agora separados d’ellas, porque suas bases se acham
soterradas e elles emergem abruptamente do solo. Estes picos
distinctos aos quaes se deu 0 nome de itambés, erigem seus cabe-
¢os por cima dum mar de arvores comparaveis a gigantescos
edificios erguidos pela mao do homem. A Leste da parte meridio-
nal de Matto-Grosso, elles enfileiramse e agrupam-se em archi-
pelagos, depois cada vez mais altos e menos numerosos, 4 pro-
porcgao que se caminha para Oeste, ou completamente solitarios
no circulo do horizonte, apparecem até nas margens do rio Para-
guay e ainda do outro lado do mesmo.

© alto Guaporé, Itenez dos Bolivianos, posto que compre-
hendido na bacia do immenso Amazonas, como affluente do
Madeira pelo Mamoré, pertence especialmente ao Estado de
Matto-Grosso, pois que a cidade d’este nome foi fundada nas suas
margens e quasi toda a populacgdo de Estado se accumulou na
depressdo, cuja metade occidental este rio percorre. Sua principal
nascente, muito ferruginosa, desponta n’uma grota junto a borda
do Araxa, e corre primeiro na direccao do Sul, parallellamente a
outros rios que descem para o Paraguay; mas ao deixar as ulti-
mas collinas o ribeirao curva-se para Oeste, depois para Noroeste
e ja engrossado por numerosos affluentes atravessa a planicie,
em que esta a cidade que se chamou na sua fundacao Villa-Bella
e hoje se denomina Matto-Grosso.

O Paraguay é um dos rios mais notaveis da Terra como via
de navegacdo, segundo affirma Elysée Reclus; poucos tem um
declive mais suave e fraco proporcionalmente a sua extensdo.
Affirma Castelnau que elle nasce na altitude de 305 metros; nos
lugares onde as aguas tranquillas deslizam lentamente para o mar,
a altitude dos campos é apenas de 200 metros, e a partir de um
ponto situado a quatro mil kilometros do mar, o declive é apenas
de cinco centimetros. D’este modo, vapores de pequeno calado
podem subir livremente até os confins do Brasil, muito ao Norte
das duas Republicas da Argentina e Paraguay e chegar a base do
planalto pelo rio principal e pelos seus affluentes, Jaurt, Sepo-
tuba, Cuyaba, S. Lourenco e Taquary. O Paraguay apresenta
ainda um phenomeno notavel, que é o do cruzamento de suas
nascentes com as dos affluentes do Rio Amazonas.

O Jaurt approxima-se tanto do Guaporé, que seria facil passar
por um canal as aguas do rio Occidental para um affluente do
Jaurti. Outro tributario do Paraguay, o Aguapehy, sé esta se-
parado do rio Alegre, que desce para a antiga cidade de Villa-
Bella, hoje Matto-Grosso, por um isthmo de pouca largura, de

198

fraco relevo, que segundo Leverger, mede 2400 bracas ou 5280
metros. No anno de 1772, e depois, tentou-se cavar um canal em
pontos diversos do isthmo, masas obras nao chegaram a termo por
falta de commercio na localidade. Certamente estradas de ferro,
em mais ou menos dias, supprirao a ausencia do canal que ligaria
Montevideo ao Para, passando em grande parte do Estado de
Matto-Grosso, e por uma via continental navegavel de 8300 kilo-
metros, segundo refere Bartholomeu Bossi.

O rio Paraguay tem como affluentez principaes os rios S.
Lourengo, engrossado pelas aguas do Cuyaba, o Taquary, o Mon-
dego e o Apa, limite este ultimo entre o Brasil e a Republica do
Paraguay.

Por occasiao das enchentes, seu nivel e o dos seus affluentes
eleva-se de dez e onze metros e derrama-se a esquerda e a direita,
formando um mar ephemero que se estende ao longe, a perder de
vista e se prolonga em banhados. Os primeiros viajantes hespa-
nhoes deram o nome de lago Xarayes 4 baixada onde se espar-
ramam as aguas quasi dormentes dos bragos principaes do rio.
Este lago tem de extensdo cerca de 600 kilometros de Sul a
Norte, entre as boccas do Jaurt e as collinas do Fecho-dos-
Morros e em certos pontos chega a 250 de largura.

Elle nao é permanente, como se pensava outr’ora, mas em
qualquer epocha do anno ha trechos alagados que os indios deno-
minam bahias e com razao, pois que sao bahias de um antigo mar,
que hoje esta meio secco, e a maior parte de taes lagoas esta em
communicagéo constante com o rio Paraguay, ora por furos
lateraes, ora por longos canaes, taes como os denominados lagos
de Uberaba, Gaiaba, Mandioré, Caceres, etc. D’entre estes lagos,
uns nao contem senao agua doce trazida pela innundagdo fluvial,
emquanto outros, que sao antigas cavidades outr’ora occupadas
por agua do mar, conservam no fundo de seus leitos camadas
salinas, que déo ao liquido um sabor caracteristico. E’ singular
que este contraste da natureza das aguas doces ou salinas tambem
se produza nos terrenos da vasta planicie, e assim é que campos
extensos, cobertos de ricas alluvides, deram nascimento a mattas
cerradas, e o agricultor pode muito bem alli obter colheitas
maravilhosas. E’ certamente por este motivo que os campos de
Matto-Grosso tanto se prestam a industria pastoril.

A horizontalidade do terreno, formada pelo centro da depres-
sao do immenso valle, impede que o confluente se conserve em
um leito regular, e as aguas escapando por ambos os lados rami-
ficam-se n’um labirintho do rios e falsos rios. Os ramos lateraes
seguem por entre as zonas dos banhados, até a confluencia do rio
Taquary e do rio Miranda, que descem das montanhas de Leste,
recebendo o primeiro d’estes, na regido superior, um affluente, o
Coxim, considerado pelos viajantes como um dos mais pitto-

199

AVMTIVa FAOWAVA VAEIFCVW ‘SHHAOTIWH NVOIMAWV AHL AO SHITINVA

rescos rios do Brasil. E’ curioso ver em alguns lugares o Coxim
estreitara-se entre pareddes a pique, de 50 metros de altura, e as
pequenas embarcac6es correrem sobre elle como no fundo de um
vallao que nao tem mais de 10 ou 12 metros de largura.

O clima de Matto-Grosso é relativamente quente nas regides
baixas e alagadas pelas enchentes dos rios, taes como Paraguay ;
nas regides dos planaltos o clima é salubre e frio. O movimento
das columnas de ar é determinada pela forma de corredor aberto
entre a cordilheira dos Andes e as terras altas do Brasil, bem no
centro do continente Sul Americano, e por elle sao arrastadas;
aos ventos tepidos proveniente da regido da Amazonia, succedem
no inverno ventos que sopram do frio pampa. Nas alturas do
circo de chapadées e montanhas que rodeiam a planicie do Estado
de Matto-Grosso, o frio desce abaixo do ponto de congelacio. As
copiosas chuvas trazidas pelo rebojo dos ventos que contornam o
planalto central do Brasil e vem esbarrar nos primeiros contra-
fortes dos Andes, cahem com muita regularidade no verdo e sao
frequentemente acompanhadas de trovoadas.

Consoante alguns observadores, a queda da agua annual é de
3 metros, e em Cuyaba contam-se mais ou menos 185 dias de
chuva por anno medio.

O Estado de Matto-Grosso, pela sua situacéo geographica no
continente Sul Americano, collocado no ponto de separacao das
duas grandes bacias do Brasil, reune ao mesmo tempo as floras
e as faunas da regiao da Amazonia e das regides Platinas. En-
tretanto, a flora tropical predomina com sua infinita variedade
de formas vegetaes em todas as regides das florestas, isto é, 4
beira dos rios, e entre as especies famosas habitantes das margens
do Rio Mar, poucas ha que nao estejam representadas na regiao
do alto Guaporé, ou das quaes se nao encontrem congeneres.

Em nenhuma parte se desenvolve como alli as palmeiras Cipés,
e em 1875 uma commissao de limites descobriu uma d’estas pal-
meiras Urumbamba (Calamus procumbeus) ou Desmoncus
rudentum de Martius, com mais de 200 metros de comprimento e
apenas com a grossura de um centimetro ! O algodoeiro o tabacco,
a ipeccacuanha, chamada alli poaya nascm espontaneamente nas
planicies e nas florestas; esta ultima sobretudo colhem-na nas
florestas do alto Jaurt e dos rios visinhos. O mate, a mais notavel
das plantas da zona meridional e que faz a riqueza de algumas
regides como do Estado do Parana, cresce alli espontaneamente
entre Miranda e 0 rio Apa, sem fallar propriamente da seringueira,
que é encontrada em immensas e cerradas florestas n’uma ex-

201

‘e893 UMALANOTIM LV AVMTIVA AAOWAVAN AHL XOA DNILVAVOXSA

‘AVMTIVY AYOWUVN VUIAGVW AO SHAAOTAWA UOHA IVLIdSOH

tensio comprehendida desde Cuyaba até o Madeira, e a qual fara
0 assumpto especial d’este ligeiro exposto.

As madeiras de construccao sao abundantissimas e em grande
variedade, podendo-se citar 0 pao-brasil, o jacaranda, a peroba, a
canella, o cedro, o jequitiba, a massaranduba, o pao-d’arco, 0 pao-
ferro, 0 pao-setim, o vinhatico, etc.

Entre os animaes, encontram-se os veados, as antas e as ongas,
alem de um grande numero de outros pequenos, proprios das re-
gides tropicaes. As aves e os passaros, aves ribeirinhas e passaros
cantores das florestas, sdo pela sua variedade quasi innumeros. A
avestruz vinda das regides dos pampas chegou as planicies margi-
naes do alto Paraguay; os peixes abundam n’uma riquissima e
magnifica variedade nos grandes e pequenos rios. ;

No reino mineral, o Estado de Matto-Grosso posste minas
numerosas de ouro, prata; platina, cobre, estanho, chumbo, mer-
curio, carvdo de pedra, ferro, pedras, preciosas, diamantes, &c.,
existindo ja quatro companhias inglezas na exploragao de minas
de ouro. Ha tambem granitos, crystal de rocha, malacacheta,
pedra calcaria, sal-gemma, &c. Finalmente nas regides do Araxa,
ha fontes de aguas mineraes sulphurosas.

O Estado de Matto-Grosse é a regiao do Brasil onde se encon-
tram as maiores fazendas de gado, nao so em extensao territorial,
como em numero de cabegas de gado. vaccum e cavallar, havendo
algumas que contam cem mil cabecas. Calcula-se o numero de
cabecas de gado vaccum em Matto-Grosso em dois bilhdes e
quinhentas mil.

Nos dias que correm, ainda é um pouco difficil o transporte de
gado de Matto-Grosso para o Rio de Janeiro, principalmente, e a
exportagdo é feita pelo caminho de Oeste até Uberaba, onde a
invernada se’ faz-em dois ou trez mezes, até que os animaes se
refacam e possatn ser conduzidos em caminho de ferro até o
littoral do Rio de Janeiro. Vé-se, entretanto que, com a terminacio
da via ferrea Noroeste do Brasil, o problema do transporte para o
littoral sera resolvido, assim como a Madeira Mamoré Railway,
contando Matto-Grosso presentemente com rios navegaveis e dentro
de bem pouco tempo com a via ferrea de que ja fallamos, de S. Luiz
de Caceres 4 antiga cidade de Matto-Grosso, donde comeca a
ser navegavel o rio Guaporé até Guarjara-Mirim, ponto terminal
da Madeira Mamoré Railway, resolvera tambem o problema da
exportacao de gado para os Estados do Amazonas, Para, &c.

D’este leve exposto conclue-se que o territorio do Estado de
Matto-Grosso é grandemente rico de gado e ouro, de diamante e
café, de tabaco e mate, de borracha e ipecacuanha e de todos os
productos dos tropicos e das zonas temperadas:—elle sé bastaria

204

‘AVM'IIVY AYOWUVN VUIFGVW ACISONOIV USAIN VUISCVW AWAddN AHL NO NOILVLS waqana

para constituir um dos mais vastos e mais opulentos imperios do
mundo!

Dotado de um clima, se bem que quente ao Norte, porem
temperado e mesmo frio nas demais regides, como a dos planaltos,
apresentando um accumulo de riquezas raro e ainda pouco ex-
plorado como esta, forgosamente para 14 o homem das diversas
partes da Terra, na sua constante actividade, na sua crescente lucta
pela vida, immigraraé e concorrera com a intelligencia e com o
esforgo do trabalho, para fazer d’aquella parte do Brasil um grande
emporio de industrias, commercio, navega¢do, caminhos de ferro e
conseguintemente uma grande nascente de civilisagao, donde, pela
fusao das diversas racgas, o mesmo homem surgira sempre grande,
sempre vencedor no immenso concerto e na elevada harmonia da
Vida e da Terra!

A borracha que se vé n’esta Exposicéo é extrahida e vinda toda
das vastas regides cortadas pelos rios Machados, ou Dgy-Parana,
Jamary, Jacy-Parana, Mutum-Parana, Paca-Nova e Guaporé com
seus affluentes, aquelles a seu turno affluentes do grande rio
Madeira, em cuja margem direita esta situado o novo Municipio
e Comarca de Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira, installado em 2 de
Julho do anno corrente.

O novo Municipio tem os seguintes limites: partindo da
cachoeira de Sto. Antonio no rio Madeira, no parallelo de 8 48’,
o rio Madeira acima; o rio Mamoré acima até a foz do Guaporé
no parallelo de 12, este parallelo até a sua intersecc4o com o rio
Camararé; este rio abaixo até a sua confluencia no Juruema; este
rio abaixo até o ponto em que se reune ao Arinos; o parallelo que
n’este ponto passa até a sua interseccao com o rio S. Manuel; este
rio abaixo até sua confluencia no Tapajoz; e d’este ponto até en-
contrar a cachoeira de Sto. Antonio no Rio Madeira a linha que
extrema os territorios dos Estados de Matto-Grosso e do Amazonas.

Todo o immenso territorio do novo Municipio é cortado ao
Norte pela Madeira Mamoré Railway, que conta 365 kilometros
de via ferrea ja construidos, partindo de Porto Velho no Estado
do Amazonas, distante 7 kilometros da sede propriamente do
Municipio, até Guajara-Mirim.

A via ferrea Madeira Mamoré, alem das estac6es ja construidas,
em Porto Velho, Candelaria, Sto. Antonio, Jacy-Parana, Abunda,
Villa Murtinho e Guajara-Mirim, tem 46 pontos de parada que
correspondem ao numero dos seus acampamentos.

Entre as vias de communicagéo do novo Municipio de Sto.
Antonio do rio Madeira com os visinhos Estados do Amazonas e
Para e tambem com a capital e outras cidades do Estado de Matto-
Grosso, comecemos por dizer algo da linha telegraphica ora ainda
em construcgao por conta do Governo Federal e da _ respectiva

206

“AVMTIVA AAOWAVA VAIEFGVW AO LNIOd TVILINI OHTHA OLdXOd

estrada de rodagem. Sao duas as turmas de engenheiros ¢
operarios que constroem a linha telegraphica, uma partida do
Norte—Sto. Antonio—e outra do Sul—Diamantina. Partindo de
Sto. Antonio, a linha telegraphica segue o parallelo 8 48’ até en-
contrar o rio Jamary, n’uma extensao de cerca de sessenta kilo-
metros; ahi chegando desvia se para o rumo das cabeceiras do rio
Dgy-Parana, no lugar denominado Urupa, onde se deve encontrar
com a turma do Sul e onde a ligacgdo sera feita. A 3 de Junho de
1912 na mais alta cabeceira do rio Dgy-Parana, ja foi inaugurada a
estacdo telegraphica de José Bonifacio, pela turma do Sul, emquanto
a do Norte tambem ja inaugurou em data anterior as estacdes de
Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira e Jamary. Este emprehendimento
notavel esta sob a intelligencia e extraordinaria dedicagao do snr.
Coronel de Engenheiros do Exercito Brazileiro, Candido Rondon,
que tem o record das construcg6es de linhas telegraphicas no Brasil
e quica na America do Sul.

Prompta dentro de um anno, mais ou menos, a linha telegraphica
marginara uma estrada de rodagem de 40 metros de largura, de
cerca de duzentas leguas de extensd4o a partir de Cuyaba até Sto.
Antonio do rio Madeira. Esta immensa via de communicacao
cortando todo um vasto sertao sobretudo rico em borracha e ouro,
tera de dez em dez leguas uma estacdo telegraphica.

Em Porto Velho, ponto inicial da Madeira Mamoré Railway,
ha ja por sua vez funccionando uma poderosa estac4o radiographica
do systema Marconi e que se communica diariamente com Manaos
e ja se tem communicado mesmo com Iquitos e com os Depart-
amentos Federaes do Acre, do Purtis e do Jurua.

Quanto 4 navegacio de Manaos até Sto. Antonio do rio
Madeira, ella é feita em boas condicdes e em navios confortaveis.
Nas aguas baixas, isto é, nos tempos da secca do grande rio Ama-
zonas e seus affluentes, sobem de Manaos até aquelles pontos os
navios de tonelagem até 500, nos tempos de aguas altas, em que
o valle do Amazonas todo se alaga, navios transantlaticos de 7
mil a nove mil toneladas sobem de Manaos até alli, em quatro dias
de viagem, como ja tem succedido no transporte de materiaes para
construcgao da Madeira Mamoré Railway, acostando facilmente
em 2 caes feitos de madeira de lei, o primeiro construido em frente
as officinas de Porto Velho e o segundo em Candelaria. Por sua
vez o Governo da Republica esta resolvido a construir um caes
de pedra e cal entre Porto Velho e Sto. Antonio.

Os pequenos navios que navegam durante a secca dos rios, teem
accomodagoes para passageiros de 1.* e 3.2 classe, sao illuminados
a luz electrica, possuem fabricas de gelo e fazem bem a viagem de
Manaos a.Porto Velho e Sto. Antonio em cerca de 5 dias, com uma
media de velocidade de 10 milhas por hora, fazendo escala por
péquenos portos e cidades amazonenses, situadas nas margens’ do

208 ES

MAAIN VNVUVd NO @DqIad NOUI

tio Madeira. Na descida tanto dos grandes transantlaticos como
dos pequenos navios de 500 toneladas, a viagem se faz mais rapi-
damente, em 3 e 4 dias.

A borracha de Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira é¢ da mesma
natureza phisica e chimica de toda borracha do valle do Amazonas,
e esta assercado salta 4 vista, quando nos lembramos que a parte
do Estado de Matto-Grosso occupada pelo novo Municipio ¢
justamente aquella limitrophe dos Estados do Amazonas e do Para.

Na parca de Manaos, para onde vem o producto pela via do rio
Madeira, e na de Belem do Para onde é enviada pela via do rio
Tapajoz, ella é sempre cotada pelos mesmos precos e nas mesmas
condigdes das produzidas propriamente nas regides da Amazonia.

A sua producc&o, que vem num crescendo desde o anno de 1906,
é actualmente de cerca de 2 milhGes de kilos annuaes, que augmentara
certamente numa proporcdo—impossivel desde ja de ser prevista—
com a presenca e 0 desenvolvimento da Madeira Mamoreé Railway,
da estrada de rodagem da linha telegraphica e os progressos cons-
tantes da navegacao.

No. 1ro. semestre do anno fluente a producgdo da borracha foi
superior a de nao importa qual seja o anno desde 1907, conforme
se verifica do quadro estatistico annexo.

N’aquellas regides, comprehendidas desde Cuyaba até a sede
do novo Municipio, existem seringaes capazes de produzir por si
sds dentro do periodo de um anno, mais de quarenta milhdes de
kilos de borracha.

Para attingir a este ideal, bastaria que os capitaes concorressem
para exploracgao de uma industria extractiva, cuja fonte brota es-
pontaneamente da terra sem carencia de cultivo e para animar e
estimular aquelles que-desejam ali empregar os seus esforcos e
capitaes, ahi esta a lei do Governo do Estado de Matto-Grosso, que
offerece favores especiaes aos que, alem propriamente da exploracao
dos vastos seringaes ja existentes, se quizerem dedicar ao plantio e
cultivo da mesma syphonia elastica.

Tratando-se uma exposicaéo de borracha em New-York, é
justo chamarmos a attengao dos que nos queiram ler para o facto
bem importante da concorrencia que ja comeca dos capitaes norte-
americanos para a exploracdo d’aquella regiao.

O grande capitalista Percival Farquhar, americano do Norte, ja
incorporou duas companhias sob as razdes sociaes de Julio Muller
Rubber, e Guaporé Rubber, com o fim nio sé de explorar a industria
extractiva de hevea brasiliensis, como tambem para os diversos
ramos de agricultura attinentes ao fabrico do assucar, dos tecidos
de algodao &c. &c.

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‘AVMTIVE BZXYOWAVW VUIFCVAN @te YALANWOTIN

Actualmente a extraccao da borracha nos vastos seringaes do
Municipio de Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira occupa cerca de cinco
mil trabalhadores, mas este numero augmentara cada vez mais,
positivamente, 4 proporc¢do que o referido Municipio se for tornando
o ponto de convergencia para onde affluirao as correntes com-
merciaes, industriaes e agricolas dos centros de Matto-Grosso e da
Republica da Bolivia.

Isto é facil de imaginar, quando vemos que a estrada de ferro
Madeira Mamoré por sea em communicacao para o Sul com S. Luiz
de Caceres por meio do rio Guaporé e da estrada de ferro que de S.
Luiz de Caceres ira até 4 antiga cidade de Matto-Grosso, ligando
assim a bacia do Prata de intermedio o rio Paraguay—a bacia do rio
Amazonas, e para Leste, a mesma Maderia Mamoré Railway levara
os seus trilhos até Ribeira-Alta, ligando as vastas e riquissimas
regides da Republica Boliviana tambem 4 bacia do Amazonas, de
intermedio o rio Maderia. Presentemente, parte para aquella regiao
o Engenheiro chefe e Director da Maderia Mamoré Railway, Mr. H.
Dose, que vai dar comego a construccdo do referido ramal de Guajara
Mirim—Matto-Grosso—a Ribeira Alta-Bolivia—, que ficara con-
cluida dentro do praso de um anno e meio e tera cerca de cem kilo-
metros de extensao.

Accrescendo a isto ainda a construccao prompta, dentro de um
anno, da grande estrada de rodagem da linha telegraphica de
Cuyaba até Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira, poderemos facilmente
imaginar o que n’um futuro, que nada faz pensar sera muito remoto,
ira ser o novo Municipio de Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira, como um
verdadeiro e incontestavel ponto de convergencia de tao.fortes e
ricas correntes de desenvolvimento de progresso e de civilizagdo.

Antes de terminar, nao devemos esquecer que o territorio
em questao nao se presta somente a produccéo da gomma
elastica, que alias como em todo o valle do Amazonas é agreste e
nasce a lei da natureza. Convem dizer que alli, alem do cacao e do
algodao, que tambem sao agrestes, podem ser plantados e cultivados
a canna de assucar, o café, a baunilha, o milho, o feijao, o arroz, o
tabaco, a batata, a castanha, &c.

A propria Madeira Mamoré Railway Co., concessionaria de
uma vasta faixa de terra 4 margem de sua linha ferrea, pensa em
fazer o plantio do cacao, da canna de assucar, &c., &c., aprovei-
tando os referidos terrenos.

De tudo o que fica exposto em linhas bem ligeiras e nas quaes
procuramos nos approximar sempre da verdade, dando noticias
sobre a regiao em questao, pode-se concluir facilmente que sd o
novo Municipio de Sto. Antonio do rio Madeira, que exporta

212

‘KVMITIVY AMOWUVN VUIFAGVW AO NOILONULSNOD YOA ASN NI Gvoud V AO NOILOUS

actualmente para o commercio mundial, via Para e Manaos, cerca
de 2 milhdes de kilos de borracha, passara a exportar dentro de
poucos annos, sobretudo com a immigracgdo que todos os factores
nos levam esperar, de 10 a 15 milhGes.

O auctor d’este exposto pede indulgencia para as lacunas que
nelle forem encontradas :—foi escripto nos raros momentos livres
ao trabalho fatigante de organisar a exposicao das amostras de
borracha até o respectivo embarque em Manaos para New-York.

As amostras da borracha de Matto-Grosso que figuram no
recinto da Exposicao, sio expostas por ordem do Governo, pela
benemerita Associacdéo Commercial do Amazonas.

ESTADO DE MATTO GROSSO

DELEGACIA FISCAL DO NORTE

QUADRO DEMONSTRATIVO DA PRODUCCAO DA BORRACHA DOS VALLES
DO MADEIRA E ALTO TAPAJOZ NOS ANNOS de 1907 a 1912, EM COMPA
RACAO COM A MESMA PRODUCGAO NO PRIMEIRO SEMESTRE DE 1912.

1912
Procedencia 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 sd o lo.
7 semestre
Machado e Jamary..... 1.092454 1.252194 910982 1.295605 1.817917 1.815995
Jacy Parana Alto Ma- '
deira e Moré ....... 98464 152713 150759 142458 201562 259612
Alte “Tapaioe scsveavys sxdeex 156034 167841 107458 73688 113453

1.190918 1.560941 1.229582 1.545521 1.593167 1.689060

214

“AVMTIVA GAOWAVW VAIFGVW AO NOILONULSNOD NI dWVD LSv1

‘OHTHA OLUMOd

STATE OF BAHIA

EXHIBITS OF THE STATE OF BAHIA AT THE
INTERNATIONAL RUBBER EXHIBITION
IN NEW YORK, 1912

STATE OF BAHIA.

1 bale of 100 kilos of superior manigoba rubber.

1 bale of 100 kilos of first quality manigoba rubber.

1 bale of 100 kilos of second quality manicoba rubber.

1 bale of 50 kilos of superior mangabeira rubber.

1 bale of 50 kilos of first quality of mangabeira rubber.

1 package of 20 kilos of caucho rubber.

Various statistical tables, photographs, diagrams and a pano-
ramic view of the City of Bahia.

Books and pamphlets concerning the natural resources of the
state.

BY S. HESS & COMPANY.

Samples of the various kinds of native rubber of Bahia.

Two sacks of the seed of the manicoba rubber tree cultivated
in Bahia.

Specimens of the manicoba tree.

BY F. STEVENSON & COMPANY, LTD.

1 bale of 100 kilos of superior manicoba rubber from

JEQUIE.

BY M. ULMANN & COMPANY.

1 bale of 50 kilos of superior manicoba rubber.

1 bale of 50 kilos of first quality manicoba rubber.

1 bale of superior mangabeira rubber.

1 package of caucho rubber from the State of Bahia.
218

BY VON DER LINDE & COMPANY.

Specimens of the various kinds of rubber, from the State of
Bahia, in a glass case.

BY MORAES & COMPANY.

1 bale of 100 kilos of superior manicoba rubber.

By JOSE C. DA COSTA SANTOS.

1 bale of superior manicoba rubber.

1 bale of first quality manicoba rubber.

1 bale of second quality manicoba rubber.
Specimens of the various kinds of rubber of Bahia.

STATE OF ALAGOAS.

Specimens of various kinds of rubber.

Specimens of the rubber grown in JARAGUA.

These specimens were sent by Mr. Americo Mello, represen-
tative of the Commercial Museum of Rio de Janeiro, in the State
of Alagoas.

STATE OF PERNAMBUCO.
Two large packages of the various kinds of rubber grown in
the State. These were sent by Dr. Antonio Valenca, represen-

tative of the Commercial Museum of Rio de Janeiro, in the State
of Pernambuco.

219

STATE OF
MINAS GERAES

STATE OF MINAS GERAES—PROVISIONAL NOTE

EXHIBITS

1. Wild Manisoba (Manihot) Rubber in the raw and cleaned
market condition.

2. Planted Manisoba Rubber, viz.: (a) Fine; (b) Seconds;
(c) Scrao.

3. Photographs taken on the San Francisco River, the rub-
ber region of the “Highlands of Brazil.”

4. Photographs of Rubber Trees, viz.: (a) Manihot
Glaziovii; (b) Manihot Heptaphylla; (c) Manihot Piauhyensis.

5. Photographs of Bello Horisonte, capital of the State of
Minas Geraes, and of other localities of importance and general
interest. Maps of the State and Climatological Charts.

221

BRAZIL DAY

Saturday, September 28