The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-04

in about minute the rubber had hardened
upon IL. then thrust ii into the bowl again
for fresh coat OF milk. hardened this in
the smoke in the same way and thus went
on until had built up layer after layer OF
sap on my paddle.
The smoke came into my eyes. / wept
almost as many tears as there were drops
Of rubber sap in the bowl, and finally, hav-
ing made very small quantity. j handed
the job over to the professionals.
They continued It the smoking for hours,
and in the end had one OF the rubber hams
OF commerce about the paddle. This was
now cut open with knife and the paddle
taken out. From the cut part could easily
see the layers made by the smoking. 1t was
cut rubber ham, looking much like cheese.
In the smoking the rubber loses its beauti-
full white. II turns yellow and brown. 1t
looks greasy, and il is for all the world just
like a ham.
THIEVES AND SLAVES.
Rubber is, you know, salable everywhere.
1t is better than the wheat and the rubber
planters and shippers have 10 watch care
fully to prevent its being stolen. The rub
Der at Para is watched by both the custom
house officers and the shippers. 1t is care
fully weighed. being put up in pine boxes.
each of which contains somewhere between
800 and 100 pounds.
The boxes are watched as they go to the
ship. They must be carefully handled, for
If one is broken pieces are liable to be
stolen, and the steamship company is re-
sponsible for the loss. There is great deal
Of rubber stealing at the ports to which the
rubber is taken. Bits are often carried away
by the sailors and traded for drinks at the
saloons. A sailor will often give rubber
worth ten times the price of a glass OF
whisky for a schooner of beer.
One of the great troubles in the rubber
districts is labor. 1t is hard to get men 10
collect the sap and smoke it, Emigrants
are now being brought from Ceara and
other parts Of Brazil to work in the rubber
forests. The places where the rubber
trees grow are usually malarious and 9TH
erwise unhealthy. Many of the workmen
die. and on the upper Amazon many of
them are kept at their work by fear of their
masters. A great many are debt slaves,
They are supplied by their employers with
food. and with some the accounts are so
manipulated that they are kept in debt.
The question as TO how long the rubber
will last is unsettled. There is a variety of
opinions on the subject. AT present, how
ever, there is no reason for alarm. The
trees are more carefully worked now than
ever, and every tree, If not abused, will
produce milk in abundance for thirty or
forty years. There is no doubt but that the
trees can be grown, and eventually there
will be great rubber plantations, owned by
large companies, planted and cared for as
longtime investments.
| There is no doubt but there is a great
deal of money in the business. The cap
| italists make a big percentage on every
| thing. They sell their goods at the high
| est prices and they charge enormous rates
| of interest, They weigh the rubber which
| they buy of the smaller gatherers so that
| the odd half ounces are always in their
| favor, and, in short, the only persons who
| do not make money are the poor. men who
| go from tree TO tree and do the work
| Still, the business is fraught with great
! danger, and 1 should not advise any Amer
| lean to come down here without insuring
| his life. The chances of sickness and death
| are many. and on the upper Amazon there
| are wild Indians, who delight in sending
| poisoned arrows through their blow guns
4! at the white rubber lords.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.