The Nome daily nugget., 1935-09-28

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
 Washington. D. C.-wNU Service. nARA. Brazil, at the mouth of
 the Amazon river, is the A threshold of the vast Amazon valley and regions as yet unseen by explorers.
 It is colorful city. The mar ket square where throngs of house wives and servants come to select the days menu from gorgeous piles of fruits and vegetables, the cal cimined walls, the outdoor murals, and even the roofs of the city, as sail the eye of the visitor from the somber North. Colors may scream, but never clash in Para. A house of shell pink may abut a neighbor of orange or of cobalt blue, and the result, under magic skies, Is har- mony.
 Founded in 1915, Para looks every day of her 3OO-odd years, and bellies her looks. Aside from a few churches. it Is doubtful whether there are many buildings really old. Grasses and weeds lift defiant heads from the creyices of roof tiles and the cobbles of the streets and blotches of mold and lichens creep irexorably over the walls. But these bespeak the exuberance of the Tropics rather than senility. The | n1I io hA same.
 Notwithstanding her age and her l population of more than 236000, Para Is still beleaguered by the jungle. She is at once In and of the jungle. While she must fight ceaselessly to prevent recapture of her streets, even her houses. 1t is to the forest that her nonlndustrial, nonagricultural people owe their ex- istence.
 Wild rubber for a time made Para's name a household word in the industrial world. Rubber has since fallen upon lean days. but the people have merely turned to other 1 gifts of the forest. though less effec- 1 lively. Warehouses that once reeked pf crudcly smoked latex now are heavy with the sickly sweet, copra- Ike odor of Brazil nuts, or are piled nigh with conical bales of piassaba.
 Clean City; Poor Water Supply.
 The city Is clean, neatly ordered, and up-to-date, despite an economic depression that has endured for more than 20 years. since 1910, when the rubber boom burst like an over distended toy balloon. There are tramways, motor cars, tele- phones, motion-picture theaters, and parks that are delight to the soul.
 Yet there must needs be fly in the ointment. The water supply still dribbles inadequately from three old tanks set together on an iron tower halfway up from the docks. Only he who, soaped from head to heel, has had the bath shower suddenly sicken and die can justly appreciate the joyful squirt 1 from a faucet with 75 pounds pres sure behind it
 Here the traveller takes twin screw triple-decker, blunt-nosed and square of stern, perfectly designed in the Netherlands for the comfort of the Amazon tourist. A crowd packs her decks, blast from the whistle starts an epidemic of back batting, some tears, and general rush for the gangplank; and when the confusion subsidies there are left a mere handful of passengers. Here, as at home, the bon voyage Is fet- ish, though with more reason in a region where all travel Is by wa ter and cities are days instead of hours apart-where the journey from Para to Manaos, for example. requires more time than the passage of the North Atlantic. -.
 Cool Cabins on the Steamer.
 Wherever privacy is not essential, | SOlu WOOu lS ICpiaSCu oy "iiC screen in the construction of the cabins to permit maximum of ventilation while assuring prOtec- tion against mosquitoes. Even dur ing the day. therefore, the state rooms are comfortable unless struck by the sun. However. most of the na- tive passengers use them merely as dressing rooms and spend much of the day as we'll as the night in their hammocks, which are slung in a place especially provided on the top deck.
 This custom may account in part for the fact that a passenger in pa- jamas is considered fully dressed. But if he appears in shirt sleeves, no matter how immaculate, he Is thought ill-bred.
 The first day you stream north.