Full text of "What I saw in the tropics; a record of visits to Ceylon, the Federaed Malay states, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, republic of Panama, Columbia, Jamaica, Hawaii"

B M SEE D3fi

THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

GIFT OF
HORACE W. CARPENTIER

The CELLAR BOOK SHOP

Box 6, College Park Sta.

Detroit 21, Mich. -U.S.A.

WHAT I SAW

i IN THE

TROPICS

A RECORD OF VISITS TO CEYLON,
THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES,
MEXICO, NICARAGUA, COSTA
RICA, REPUBLIC OF PANAMA,
COLOMBIA, JAMAICA, HAWAII

BY HENRY C. PEARSON

Editor of The India Rubber World

NEW YORK
THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO.

CARPEMTIER

THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING Co.

HENRY C. PEARSON

PREFATORY

I HATE to write a preface, in fact I always resolve not to, and then
do it. When I brought out "Crude Rubber and Compounding
Ingredients,"' a captious friend complained that it was too matter
of fact, that it "lacked imagination." As it was practically a diction-
ary of methods of rubber manufacture, I did not care, that is, I did
care, but didn't show it. This book is different. The story of rubber
planting is most romantic and at the same time as a whole is sound
and successful. I should like to stop a bit just here to say to a lot
of good fellows who smiled at my predictions ten years ago "I
told you so.'' But they have forgotten, and if they haven't, what's
the use?

Starting again, this book is not a scientific treatise. It contains
the personal experiences of the author in his search for rubber plant-
ing information in the tropical world.

As a scientific treatise it may be scorned by some intellectual
ones who have a string of letters following their names (I wish I
had them myself) but whose attenuated digestive organs preclude
the possibility of wedding fun with fact.

At all events the statements regarding rubber made herewith are
facts and can be gambled on. As to miy personal experiences and
adventures, think of them as you like.

Another word I want to thank planters the world over, for
their interest and hospitality, but then they know that too, and if I
called them all by name here this book would contain a three hundred
page preface.

HENRY C. PEARSON.

675

CONTENTS

CEYLON AND FEDERATED MALAY STATES

FIRST LETTER.

FROM NEW YORK TO CEYLON

Some Experiences of the Journey ; Opinions of English Manu-
facturers Regarding- Ceylon Rubber; Points of Interest
in the Tropics; Beautiful Ceylon; A Visit to Typical
Hevea Plantations.

SECOND LETTER.

RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS AT THE ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS . . 22

Growth of Hevea and its Yield at Various Ages; Canker

Fungus and its Treatment; Plantation Scenes.

THIRD LETTER.

A VISIT TO THE NEW EXPERIMENT STATION, THEN TO CULLODEN 37

Tapping Rubber Trees at Peradeniya Garden ; Ficus Elastica

Seventy-five Years Old; Prospective Increase in Planting;

Rainfall and Labor ; Some Incidents of Travel ; Library of '

Singalese Sacred Literature; The Para Output from

Ceylon; The Weeding of Crops in the Island.

FOURTH LETTER.

SOME PROFITABLE DAYS SPENT AT CULLODEN 40

Hevea Trees at the Beautifully Laid Out Tea Estate; Night

Tapping; Results of an Experiment in Scraping the Outer

Bark from the Trees ; An Oil made from Seeds of The

Rubber Tree; A Rubber Drying House and Methods

of Coagulation; Some Valuable Information

Gleaned from Visits to Other Rubber Plantations.

FIFTH LETTER.

FROM CEYLON TO THE MALAY STATES 65

Arrival at Singapore; A Word About the Seat of 'Govern-
ment; Visit to Royal Botanical Gardens; Hevea Re-
sponds to Cultivation Here; Phenomenal Growth; Dis-
tance Planting; Castilloa and Ceara Less Promising
A Visit to Chinese Merchant Quarters Where Gutta
Percha is Prepared for European Markets ; Pro-
cesses Watched with Interest; From Singapore
to Selangor.

CONTENTS

SIXTH LETTER.

DAYS SPENT WITH PROFIT IN SELANGOR 80

Rubber Plantations at Klang; Distance of Planting-; Age

at Which Hevea Trees Yield ; The Labor Question ; The

Chinese as Rubber Planters ; The Selangor Rubber

Company ; Return to Singapore and Departure for

Hong Kong.

ISTHMUS OF TEHAUNTEPEC

FIRST LETTER.

ON THE WAY TO THE LAND OF THE CASTILLOA 95

The Mining City of Zacatecas ; Queretara Where Maxi-
milian Was Executed ; Mexican Opals ; The Eternal Snows
of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl ; From the City of Mex-
ico to Achotal ; Experiences at the Latter Town ; First
Sight of Cultivated Rubber.

SECOND LETTER.

PROSPEROUS PRIVATE PLANTATIONS 115

Careful Study of the Situation Proved to Investors that
Rubber Would be More Profitable than Coffee; Results
of Planting in Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions ;
Continual Tapping Showed Latex Given Out by All
Trees; Knowledge of Climatic Conditions Neces-
sary to Successful Planting; La Junta; The
Laborers.

THIRD LETTER.

A GRASP ON THE RUBBER PLANTING SITUATION 130

Clearing and Burning by Contract ; Danger from Fires ;

Gathering Castilloa Seeds ; Costly Seed Failures ; The

Journey to Coatzacoalcos ; Morning Glory Vines ; The

Problem of Tapping and Preparing for Market.

FOURTH LETTER.

ACROSS THE ISTHMUS 1 44

Views of Many Plantations ; Vast Tracts of Land Needing
Only Irrigation to Make Them Valuable ; Mexican Laws ;
Animals and Insects of the Temperate Zone ; Manner in
Which Plantations are Taxed ; The Cow Pea and Vel-
vet Bean \Vhich Should Receive the Attention of
Rubber Growers.

CONTENTS

NICARAGUA

RUBBER INTERESTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA

Witnessing a Waterspout ; Through the Lagoons to the Rub
ber Plantations; The Manhattan Plantation; Too Much
Water Detrimental to Castilloa ; The Rainfall; Sim Irons'
Rubber Groves and Cukra Plantations: Careful Tap-
ping; Four Hundred Thousand Castilloas in This
Vicinity a Conservative Estimate; A Scale that
Affects the Rubber Trees ; Samples Brought to
United States and Examined at th e Connect-
icut Agricultural Experiment Station at
New Haven ; Letters from State Entomol-
ogist, Connecticut, and Acting Chief
of Bureau of Entomology at Wash-
ington; Treatment Suggested for
Extermination of "the Pest.

COSTA RICA

A PLANTATION OF OVER ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND CASTILLOAS. 185
Bananas the Chief Product of the Country Interplanted with
Rubber in Many Instances ; Proper Drainage the Onlv Sal-
vation for Rubber Trees; Watery Latc.v; Interest 11
Rubber Planting in Costa Rica * Dates Back About
Twelve Years; Some' Plantations That are
Flourishing.

PANAMA

FIRST LETTER

To PANAMA IN THE RAINY SEASON . . 201

Colon; Along the Panama Canal; Panama City; Toboga

Island ; Quebro Outlaws ; Almost Wrecked ; Ashore at Last ;

Castilloa Growing Within One Hundred Feet of the

Shore ; Interesting Stories of the Pioneer.

SECOND LETTER

ROUGHING IT 21 ^

Camp Rio Negro; Castilloa Groves; Birds, Animals, and
Reptiles; Trips of Exploration; Coagulating Rubber with
Amole Juice; Native Rubber Gathering; Process of
Tapping and Tools Used; Trails Cut in Every Direc-
tion Followed by Long, Hard Tramps.

CONTENTS

THIRD LETTER

CAMP IGUANA 228

The Forest Primeval ; Bees and Rubber ; A Land Without
Law ; Breaking Camp ; Mountain Climbing ; Plantation
Las Margharitas ; On Board Quartos Hermanos; Pan-
ama, Colon, and New York.

COLOMBIA

IMPRESSIONS OF THE COUNTRY 245

Journey from the Port of Colombia to Barranquilla : Amus-
ing Hotel Experiences in That City; The Stay in Carta-
gena; Little Information to be Gained About Rubber;
Meeting Mr. Granger, L^nited States Consular Agent
at Quibdo; His Interesting Account of the Reason
for the Present Lack of Interest in Rubber Plant-
ing; His Prophesy for the Future Based upon
Present Well Founded Indications.

JAMAICA

OUTLINES OF A FLYING TRIP 263

A W^ord Concerning the Island of Jamaica; Information from

the Departtment of Agriculture; A Visit to Castleton

Gardens; Something About the Rubber Produced There

and the Conditions Attending it ; Hope Gardens ;

Hevea and Castilloa ; The Milk Withe.

HAWAII

RUBBER CULTURE IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 279

The First Sight of Hawaii ; A Bit of the History of the Sand-
wich Islands ; Temperature, Crops, etc. ; Prospects for Rub-
ber Growth ; First Rubber Plantings ; The Nahiku Rubber
Company, Limited ; Principal Planting Done by United
States Settlers.

RUBBER PLANTING IN

CEYLON AND THE

MALAY STATES

FIRST LETTER.

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC ENGLISH MANUFACTURERS AND CEYLON RUBBER ON
BOARD THE HIMALAYA STROMBOLI PORT SAID AND THE SUEZ CANAL THE RED
SEA AND ADEN BEAUTIFUL CEYLON AT THE GALLE FACE HOTEL SINGALESE,
TAMILS AND CHINESE QUAINT CUSTOMS DIRECTOR WILLIS, OF PERADENIYA AND
HENERATGODA THE OLDEST PLANTATIONS OF HCVEA IN A BULLOCK ''HACKERY"
TO HENERATGODA GARDENS.

TO those who are interested as to why I chose the Leyland liner,
Devonian, to carry me across the Atlantic at the beginning of my
journey toward the Far East, I beg to explain that she is a big,
roomy, seaworthy craft of 11,000 tons, that there were only six passengers
all told, and although she carried some eight hundred cattle, they did not
appear on the deck, or at table, nor would one have dreamed of their
existence, once they were driven abdard. The ten days that were occu-
pied in crossing, spent chiefly on the promenade deck playing quoits with
the ship's doctor, put me in fine trim for the brief view of Liverpool and
London that I had before the alleged train de luxe bore me to Marseilles,
to join the P. and O. steamship, the Himalaya. My stop in England was
only long enough to allow me to see a few of the leading rubber manu-
facturers, and get their ideas as to the value of the new Para rubber that
Ceylon planters are sending to that market.

One who has probably used as much of this rubber, or more than
any other, summarized his experience as follows : "It shrinks on the aver-
age about 1.4 per cent. I use it successfully in all grades of fine work,
including cut sheet, but do not like it for cements. It stands all tests
after vulcanization compression, stretch and return, oils, etc., just as
well as fine Para, and is perfectly satisfactory."

Another detailed the results of his own experiments thus : "This is a
general summing up of the practical results, obtained from approximately
two tons of rubber, from about twenty different plantations. The irregu-
larity in quality is very great, varying from tough elastic gum, apparently
equal to Manaos Para, to soft, sticky short rubber, with little more elas-

4 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

ticity than recovered rubber. This irregularity I find in all the forms of
pancakes, whether thick or thin, translucent or opaque, except those which
have been smoked; which, whether owing to the smoke or some other
reason, have in the lots (from three separate plantations) which I have
tested, proved even in quality throughout. I have been favored by one
plantation with unsmoked samples (separately treated and marked) from
eighteen year old trees, and from young five year old trees. Each of these
samples proved regular throughout, but the quality was very different,
that from the old trees being tough and very elastic, while that from the
young trees was soft and green. It appears to me, therefore, probable
that the irregularity I have noted in the quality of shipments may arise
from the varying ages of the trees, and that until they have reached abso-
lute maturity, the latex of one season's planting should not be mixed with
that of younger or older trees, but that each year should stand on its own
merits to attain regularity in quality. The smoked samples may have come
from old trees only, and the smoke perhaps had nothing to do with the
quality. This want of regularity utterly shuts out Ceylon rubber from
fine work, such as thread, cut sheet, bladders, etc., and as the strength
of a chain is but that of its weakest link, it cannot at present, for general
work, be classed higher than the good mediums. For the special purpose
of making cement, however, it has found a place for itself on account of
its extreme cleanliness, and the very convenient form of the pancakes in
which it is shipped, practically ready for the naphtha bath. I believe in
a great future for rubber planting, properly carried out. It might be
done by the government forest department, and the trees rented when
old enough."

Thus the only "out' 7 about the rubber, from the viewpoint of the
user, seemed to be the presence of immature, or partly cured gum, some-
thing to be expected when the fact is remembered that the plantations
are young and the planters without long experience in gathering or pre-
paring for market. The added fact that it brings the highest price
in the market led me to believe that I had before m? a most inter-
esting series of plantation visits, once I should reach Ceylon and
the Federated Malay States.

As I said, therefore, I took train at Dover, crossed the channel,
landed at Calais (so called from the way they handle one's luggage),
shivered all the night in the absurd little French train de luxe, and finally
arriving at Marseilles, stepped aboard the steamer that was to be my
home for nearly three weeks. In due course we left the granite quays,
the shipping, and the splendid limestone cliffs of the French port behind

AND THE MALAY STATES 5

and settled down to the Mediterranean trip. We passed through the
straits of Bonifacio in the night, so that I had no chance to observe, or
photograph, and the next morning we were out of sight of land. The
day following we all started in to get acquainted. I was the only Ameri-
can aboard, the major part being English people who had interests in
India, Ceylon, or Australia, and some even were going beyond to Hong-
kong and Yokohama.

I had thought to do some writing on this voyage, but some kindly
soul put me on the "amusements committee," and what with tourna-
ments for deck quoits, cricket, ball, needle and cigarette races, etc., not
to speak of two concerts, my time was pretty well taken up. My revenge

THE AMUSEMENTS COMMITTEE.

[On H. M. S. "Himalaya."]

came with the concerts, however. I made a speech at each, relating vari-
ous well known American stories as personal experiences, and they were
most -enthusiastically received. As the British are firmly convinced that
all Americans are speech makers, it is well for those who propose to travel
with them to prepare to be called upon.

On the night of November 21, we had a splendid view of the volcano
of Stromboli, which gave us a veritable special exhibition. The night
was moonless, and the sea as smooth as glass. About nine o'clock we

6 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

caught the first red glow of the crater, and two hours later we
were near enough to dimly discern the outline of the cone shaped island
mountain, and to see plainly the red lava torrents that tumbled down
its sides and were quenched in the sea. We all staid up until the island
was lost to sight, and left the deck only when a faint reflection on the
gathering clouds was all there was left to us of one of the most impres-
sive sights.

We passed the straits of Mycenae so early in the morning that none
of us were up, and on Monday we saw Crete in the distance. By this time
the boat had developed a pretty fair roll, but few were ill, and the deck
games went on that is, for the men. On Tuesday noon we were behind
the breakwater at Port Said and surrounded by coaling scows, crowded
by dirty Arabs who did the coaling with baskets. As the air was full

PORT SAID WATER FRONT.

of coal dust a half dozen of us secured a boat and went ashore, spending
the afternoon in roaming the sandy streets, followed by a crowd of beg-
gars, jugglers, pox-pitted street venders, sellers of indecorous photo-
graphs, and all of ^the riffraff of the nastiest of all the cities of the Orient.
Port Said is built on soil, chiefly sand, that was dumped there dur-
ing the excavation of the canal. It is a busy, bustling place, due to the
constant arrival and departure of steamers. It has a fair harbor made

AND THE MALAY STATES J

by two breakwaters, that extend out into the shallows, one 7,000 feet, the
other 6,000 feet.

We expected to get away early the next morning, but the mail from
Brindisi being late, it was four o'clock in the afternoon before we en-
tered the canal. According to rules, we steamed at four miles an hour,
tying up to the bank when another boat was met. As we passed by three
during the night, this occasioned quite a delay. It was cool, and
a light overcoat was necessary after the sun set, but we did not stay long
on deck as both sand flies and mosquitoes were quite abundant.

In the light of our own American canal projects, it is interesting
to remember that the Suez plan was entertained and dismissed as im-
practicable by Napoleon I, who was advised by his engineers that the
Red Sea was thirty-three feet higher than the Mediterranean, and later
when M. de Lesseps had proved that the difference in levels was but six

IN THE SUEZ CANAL.

inches, such an eminent authority as Robert Stephenson declared the
plan to be commercially unsound. There was also a rival plan brought
out for a 250-mile canal from Alexandria to Suez. Nevertheless the great
work was completed. It is one hundred miles long, only about one-quar-
ter of it being artificially made, the rest traversing natural lakes such
as Bitter Lake and Lake Timsah. The plan of the canal was for a depth
of twenty-six feet, the bottom of the ditch being seventy-two feet wide
and the top about three hundred feet. This was carried out in places,
but where the digging was especially hard it is .somewhat narrower. The
canal shows a slight current, and slowly though the boats go through it,

8 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

there is a constant crumbling of the sandy banks so that a force of steam
dredgers is employed keeping the channel clear, nor is this work allowed
to flag for an hour.

The next morning we were still hemmed in by sandy banks, and the
scenery was not inspiring, being varied only by small stations about
which clustered a few lebec trees, the big dredges and an occasional
native boat with its huge yards and dingy sail. Passing both the old
and the modern cities of Suez, we left the canal and were in the gulf
of Suez. Here the water was of a marvelous blue, the sun brilliant, and
the far off, lofty sand dunes, scored and seamed by winds and rain,
showed wonderful effects in yellow, brown, violet and purple. Here
we began to get the warm weather. With Asia on our left, Africa on
our right, and both in sight, a smooth sea and blazing sun, white flannel
and duck suits soon appeared ; the punkahs were started in the dining
saloon, and the whole of the deck shaded by both top and side awnings.
Wind scoops were also placed in the open ports, and we felt at last that
we were in the tropics.

The next point of interest to be noted was the Daedelus shoal, from
which our Captain Broun once rescued one hundred and eighty souls,
who, escaping from the wreck of their vessel, were gathered in a shiver-
ing crowd, waist deep in water.

We had a further evidence of the genuineness of the hot weather
the next morning at three o'clock, when the order came to close the
ports as the water was slopping into the cabins. How most of them
stood it I don't know, but I took a blanket and went on deck, and even
then it was stifling. At daybreak we passed the "twelve apostles," a
dozen big rocks rising abruptly from the sea, a grim weather beaten
row. It was near here that the Turkish government, after much pressure,
erected fine light-houses furnished with the latest illuminating devices,
but after keeping them lit for two weeks, the lights went out and not a
glimmer have they shown since. As navigation is a bit perilous herea-
bouts, and mariners need the lights, it is just as well perhaps, that I
did not make careful note of the quartermaster's opinion of the unspeak-
able Turk, given as he told me the story.

The days were now long, hot, and a bit monotonous. Shut out
as we were on the promenade decks by canvas walls, the peeps that we
got at the sea showed a glare of light that was almost unbearable. The
only relief was when a sudden drenching shower obscured the sun and we
got glimpses of mountainous islands, distant peaks, and still more distant
ranges. We were fortunate, however, in seeing the volcanic island Jebel

AND THE MALAY STATES 9

Tair, and later Mocha, Mt. Sinai having been passed in the night. With
a glorious setting of the sun over Somaliland, we passed through the
straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, by the barren island Perim, and the next
morning cast anchor in the harbor at Aden.

It must have been two o'clock in the morning when I awoke and
found that we were at anchor. The sound that brought me to a sense of
my surroundings, and the insufferable heat of the cabin, was the chanting
of a gang of coolies who were warping a huge freight scow up to our
steamer. Their song was the iteration of two phrases that sounded like
"Esco darn ye ! Perri go darn ye !" and with each "darn" they all gave
a pull. Besides this, there was a constant chatter from a half hundred
boatmen, that drove me on deck, where wrapped in a rug, and lying in
the scuppers, I got a few more winks. Aden is as uninteresting as it
is unhealthy. It is well called "the white man's grave," as hundreds lie
buried on its rocky slopes.

It is built on a flat, sandy, treeless plain, hemmed in by hills, arid
and barren to the last degree. It rains here regularly once in three
years, and the water is stored in huge tanks five miles away up in the
hills. Anyone who wishes to enjoy a long cool -drink, and then another,
should seek this thirstiest of all thirsty spots. It was here that the
passengers whose destination was India were transferred to another
steamer. And sorry we were to have them go, for many friendships had
been formed which were of the sort that should continue.

Here left, tco, a young man who had not only been my partner at
deck quoits, but who had given me much information about America.
Shall I ever forget the evening, just after our excellent course dinner,
when he said to me, with the kindest of intonations :

"Don't you miss the sweets (candy) between the courses?"

"What sweets?" was my bewildered query.

"Why, you know, in America, at a course dinner, they serve sweets
after the soup, and the fish, and the entree, and right through the dinner."

I had no vivid remembrance of that custom myself, but his faith
in the exactness of his information was so great that it would have been
a sin to upset it, so I agreed that I was pining for chocolate creams after
the consomme, and molasses candy as a chaser for the fish, and it made
him my friend for life, for which I am exceedingly glad, as in spite of
that one absurd idea, he was one of the finest chaps I ever met.

Speaking of the people one meets in distant lands, it is sad to say
that one's own countrymen are often the biggest freaks. I met one of
the freak sort later. He had not been in the smoking room ten minutes

io RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

before he had told his whole history, and got every Briton and European
there white hot by his comparisons, invidious and startling. In the
midst of it I was pointed out to him as a fellow countryman, and he
tried to get me into the fight, but I balked. Then he started in to impress
me with his importance.

"I come from God's country,'' he said, "but I've been all over every-

wheres. I used to be consul at A . I lecture, too. When I was consul

at A I often used to go aboard a man-of-war and lecture, sometimes

for two or three hours, and I always got seven guns ; what do you think
of that?"

''Mighty poor shooting, so far, but they will get you some day/' I
said with conviction.

BREAKWATER AT COLOMBO, CEYLON.

After leaving Aden I was able to secure an upper deck cabin, which
was much cooler than those either on the main or spar decks. Now that
we were in the Indian Ocean, the sea grew much smoother, and early in
the morning, after a salt water bath, the men promenaded the deck in
pajamas until eight o'clock, after which ordinary clothes were required.

We now began to feel the breath of the monsoon, while the water
took on an even bluer blue, and flying fish in shoals fled to right and
left from the onrushing ship. The heaviest sort of showers also began
to come with more or less regularity, the ship's officers came out in white
duck suits, prawn, fish, and other currys appeared at dinner, and we
knew that we were in the tropics.

On the evening of December 5, we sighted Minecoi Island, a low
lying, circular bit of land crowded with graceful cocoanut palms, and

AND THE MALAY STATES

a well-known copra producing place. On the day following, at 1.15 in
the morning, we passed behind the great breakwater and dropped anchor
in Colombo harbor, in the midst of a great fleet of passenger and tramr>
steamers of all nations, native boats, lighters, etc. Most of the men
aboard were on deck, although pa jama-clad, and as the coaling was
soon to begin, I went ashore, passed the little black customs inspector
without difficulty, and, getting in a jinrikisha, was soon at the Galle
Face Hotel and sound asleep in a big wide bed that seemed delightfully
steady when contrasted with even the comfortable berths of the
Himalaya.

PADDY [RICE] FIELD IN CEYLON.

It may, perhaps, be well just here to refresh the reader's knowledge
of Ceylcn with the following facts. The island lies south of India
proper, and is two hundred and seventy-one miles long and one hundred
and thirty-seven miles broad, and contains about 24,700 square
miles. It has under cultivation, or used for pasture, some
3,500,000 acres more than a fourth of its area. Of this about 520,000
acres are devoted to rice and other grains, the next largest planting
being tea, of which there are about 400,000 acres. Other important
products are cocoanuts, spices, coffee, sugar, cacao, tobacco, essential
oil grasses, etc.

The population of the island is about 3,500,000, of which less than
10,000 are Europeans. The majority of the natives are Singalese, of

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

whom there are over 2,000,000, the other races being Tamils (of whom
there are nearly a million), Burghers, Eurasians, Moors, Malays, Vedahs
(aborigines), and so on.

The island has an excellent government of the paternal sort, admin-
istered by a governor who is appointed by the King of Engand. He is
assisted by an executive council of five, but has power to overrule their
advice. There is also a legislative council of nine, including members of
the executive, together with eight unofficial appointed by the governor,
representing the mercantile and planting interests and the native com-
munities.

CATAMARAN WITH SAIL., CEYLON.

The island became a British possession in 1795. Prior to this the
Dutch, who had held it for 138 years, had 1 wrested it from the Portuguese,
who ruled it for 141 years. Interesting reminders of both of these
conquests are found in the high-sounding Portuguese names that many
of the Singalese bear, and in the Burgher types which remain quite
Dutch, both in name and appearance. Neither the Dutch nor the Portu-
guese had ever conquered the whole of the island, which was accom-
plished by the British in 1815. Since then there have been a few
rebellions, which, however, were easily suppressed. During the last one,
in 1848, some 2,000 up-country Singalese were put to flight by thirty
Malays who wore the British uniforms, a proof that the ancient warlike
spirit of the Kandyans is practically extinct.

AND THE MALAY STATES 13

My first task after I was comfortably settled at the Galle Face was
to buy a sun helmet, or topee, which I was lucky enough to find in one
of the native stores that occupy the ground floor of the hotel. There
are two dangers against which visitors to this part of the world must
guard most carefully ; one is exposure to the sun, and the other a sudden
chill. In no part of the world, if reports are true, is the sun so deadly as
here, but the danger may be reduced to a minimum if one will but listen
to the advice of the older residents, and take reasonable precautions. A
pith sun helmet is indispensable, as straw or felt hats are sources of

STREET SCENE IN COLOMBO.

danger, and a cap is worst of all. In addition, one should at first carry
an umbrella as well. Nor is the danger present only at midday, or when
there are no clouds. It is practically as bad at seven in the morning, or
when the sky is wholly covered with clouds. The habits of the dwellers
here that is, the Europeans, speak of this danger. Mfen and women
wear sun helmets and carry sun umbrellas, while broad verandahs and
close lattices guard the houses. Even the railway carriages have, in
addition to curtains, visor-like projections to keep out the searching rays

I 4 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

of Old Sol. There have been cases even of sunstroke through the
<eyes, from the intense glare reflected from white roads or from the
water, while a single shaft of sunlight, entering a crevice in a shutter,
and falling on a man's temple, has been known to result fatally.

Where the heat is so great, it seems almost absurd to talk of chills,
but when the sun goes down, and it still remains so hot that collars
wilt, and the whole body is wet with perspiration, there comes that
-danger. The breath of the northeast monsoon, the regular wind of the
winter months, while not cold, has brought on many a fatal chill, and
resulted in fever and death. Hence most of the Europeans wear flannel
bands about the abdomen (cholera belts they are called), and are very
careful not to sleep in a draught, or to cool off too suddenly when very
^vfarm.

The natives, on the other hand, seem to be almost invulnerable both
to the sun and to the " 'soon." They go about bareheaded, and almost
bare-bodied, and sleep when and where they will, and rarely suffer from
-such exposure.

Equipped though I was to stand the heat, I was not proof against
surprise, nor the delight that I felt when I saw standing in the hotel
lobby, my good friend, Henry Ml Rogers, of Boston, one of the directors
of the Revere Rubber Co. He did not see me, and as my sun helmet
would be a sort of disguise, I went up to him, and said :

"Do you wish a guide, sir?"

"No, I thank you," he responded politely.

"But you do I" I insisted, "You are lost now, and don't suspect it.
I will not only guide you for nothing, but will be glad to pay for the,
privilege."

I saw a gleam of recognition come into his eyes, as he said : "My
dear boy, the rubber trade of the United States sent me over here to
watch over and guide you. It is you who are lost, and I am delighted
to find you."

Then we had a love feast, and instead of feeling far from home,
kindred, and friends, it seemed as if the miles between Ceylon and the
States were few, and most easily annihilated. At the same time, it did
seem a bit unusual that we two, starting from the same city, and circling
the globe in opposite directions, without any knowledge of the other's
.absence from home, should meet as we did. It was also very jolly.

AND THE MALAY STATES 15

After proving to a score of Mohammedan merchants who haunt
the hotel that I desired to buy no jewelry, silks, curios, or unset stones,
and threatening the native tailor and shoemaker with my umbrella, 1
had a chance to look about. The hotel is beautifully situated on the
seashore, its courtyard crowded with cocoanut palms, its broad verandahs,
latticed blinds, and high ceilings making it as cool as one could expect
in so torrid a clime. It was impossible for me to communicate with
any of the planters that day, so I gave myself up to the pleasant task of
watching the strange people that surrounded me. For example, a Hindu
juggler, with the inevitable native flute, and a basket of cobras, invitee 1

BANYAN TREE, CEYLON. '

me out upon the lawn to view his magic. I thought it worth a rupee
to see the "mango trick," and I was not able to detect any fraud in the
sleight-of-hand by which he apparently planted the seed, made it sprout,
and within two or three minutes grew a pretty shrub more than two
feet high. By encouraging a rival of his, I also saw a lively little mon-
goose attack and kill a huge ratsnake, but no inducement was effective
in getting him to trust his cobra within reach of its traditional enemy.

Just as the exhibition ended, along came a steamer friend, with
the information that he had engaged a gharry to take us out to Mount
Lavinia, a favorite shore house some three miles away. As it promised
to give me a view of the country, I gladly consented, and we were soon
bowling along over the fine roads, drawn by a very diminutive but

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

energetic pony. On the way, we stopped at a Buddhist temple, and,
under the guidance of a priest who spoke excellent English, we saw the
great image of Buddha, in the forehead of which is set a sapphire as
big as a teacup, which glows and sparkles with a most uncanny luster
when the room is darkened.

We also saw the small temple, where, securely sealed forever from
human sight, are the sacred books engraved on plates of gold and
silver. The doors to this little building, by the way, were walled up
some eleven hundred years ago. As a special favor, the priest showed
us a footprint of the god in solid rock. To my mind, it didn't do Bud
justice, as the pedal extremity was exceedingly flat, and the toes looked

PLANTAINS, CEYLON.

as if they might have been whittled out of soft pine by a very poor
whittler. The size of the foot, however, was all that could be desired
by any believer.

He also showed us a series of striking pictures, illustrating the
various types of torture in the hereafter for those who killed any living
thing here on earth, even to the insects that make the fine-toothed comb
a necessity. I was surprised to find among them special tortures for
those who fish and hunt.

In the temple enclosure we were at peace, but once outside a half
hundred beggars, big and little, crowded about us, following closely
down the narrow lane towards our carriage. I was afraid some of

AND THE MALAY STATES 17

them would give me of their various skin diseases, so I hired the priest
for a rupee to keep them all at a distance, until we were on our way out,
which he did.

The drive to Mount Lavinia was so full of novel scenes that it is
almost impossible to select even a few that are typical. Through the
narrow streets, crowded with native houses, from which swarmed half-
clad men and women, and nude children, meeting Tamils, Singalese,
Chinese, Moors indeed all types of black and yellow men, turning out
for carriages of all sorts, jinrikishas, bullock hackeries and huge two-

NATIVE METHOD OF TREE CLIMBING.

wheeled thatched-roof wains, getting a glimpse of a rare tropical garden,
then of a squalid Tamil hut, by Chinese graveyards, European villas,
cocoanut plantations, banana patches all over a road of good hard "cha-
"bok," we went, until we drew up at the little hotel^crowned height of
Mount Lavinia. Here we had tiffin, with coffee, out on the lawn under an
umbrella-like tent, where we lay in reclining chairs and watched the
sapphire sea studded with native fishing boats, their huge brown sails
swelling with the breath of the northeast monsoon. It was scorching
"hot in the sun, so we waited until late in the afternoon, and drove slowly
back to the hotel.

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

I was awakened early next morning by my black Tamil bedroom
man, who brought coffee and bread and fruit, and informed me that
''Master's' 7 bath was ready. As I pulled the mosquito curtains aside,
and got slo\vly out of bed, I was startled by a flapping of wings, and
a very black and impudent crow alighted on the window-sill, his eye on
the tray of food, and waited impatiently for me to go to the bathroom.
On the tiled roof opposite were half a hundred more, awaiting the

AN UPCOUNTRY TEA ESTATE IN CEYLON.

[Great Western Mountains in the background.]

results of his investigation, so I took my coffee then and there. On my
return, not a crumb of food remained, much to the disgust of a couple
of sparrows who were investigating my belongings with all sorts of
profane comments. They left, however, when the lizard began to sing,
and I didn't blame them, for however common and useful the house-
lizard is in Ceylon, and even if it can catch more flies and mosquitoes
than anything- else, its song is not real music, and if you try to stop it,
by throwing a boot, the tail drops off, greatly injuring its looks.

AND THE MALAY STATES 19

Very early in the day, I was introduced by my request to the dhoby
man, who is the washerwoman of the East. He takes one's clothing out
to the nearest stream, wades into the water, and pounds the dirt out on
the rocks, then partially dries and irons them. He also has a habit of
infesting them with a parasite which results in the "dhobies 7 itch." I
had a mixture of starch, boric acid, and powdered zinc, which I desired
to try on this parasite, and although I told him when he took the contract
to be sure to give me my money's worth of germs, I didn't get one, and
I am sure he had some, for he was always scratching. I fancy he deliv-
ered mine to the chap who had the room next to me, for I used to hear
him scratching and "saying things" when night had fallen, and the "spicy
breezes blew soft o'er Ceylon's isle."

"HEVEA" AT HENERATGODA.

[Large tree in foreground on which tapping experiments were
made for several years.]

The next morning I called on Mr. Ferguson, of the Tropical Agri-
culturist, who for many years has been a high authority on tropical
planting. To my regret, he was absent, being then in the United States,
and, his nephew informed me, likely to call at my New York office at
any time. I learned, however, that Director J. C. Willis, F. L. s., of the
Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, was then in town, and at the hotel
familiarly known as the "G. O. H.," meaning the Grand Oriental Hotel,
where I found him, and was able to secure his assistance in planning
my visit to the typical Herca plantations.

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

Prior to my visits to the plantations, in talking to those who were
supposed to know about rubber plantations, there was a great unanimity
of opinion as to the profits shown. One man, not an optimist either,
said that in two cases he knew of, the first year's tapping had paid for
the whole of the the original investment, and that the second year's
production had shown a profit of 120 per cent. He was not quite sure

PARA RUBBER TREES (HEVEA BRASILIEN SIS ; AT HENERAT-
GODA.

[Tapping with Mallet and Chisel.]

of the age of the trees when first tapped, but said they were certainly
not ten years old.

He said that when the planters had in view any new product that
looked pretty good, the natives always planted a little of it, so that when
harvest time came, they could secure a little from their own plantation,
which, added to what they were able to steal from the white planters,
often made a very good showing. Thus they were already planting the
Hevea in a small way, and wouM doubtless later do more or less night

AND THE MALAY STATES 21

tapping on the plantations of the white men. Of course, once they have
the rubber, it is impossible to prove title to it.

In chatting with Director Willis, it was easy to see that he was
enormously interested in the success of the Hevea experiments in Ceylon,
and, indeed, in the whole of the East, and that he was doing much to
further them. That the whole of the tropical world in the East was fully
alive to the opportunity that rubber offers, he acknowledged. The
botanic gardens at Peradeniya, and the plantations as well, are constantly
receiving visitors from Java, Sumatra, French Indo-China, Siam, and
similar countries, who are investigating the subject, and often trying to
contract for seed on the spot.

As the oldest planting of Hevea rubber in the island is at Henerat-
goda gardens, which is one of the government gardens, under the direct
charge of Mr. Willis, he thought that ray plan to go there first was a
good one, and at once gave me a letter to the contractor in charge, Mr.
William Perira.

On the following morning, therefore, I had coffee at 4.30, and took
a 'rickshaw" to the railway station, and ere long was speeding along
the seacoast toward my destination. The rising sun disclosed long
stretches of swamp and jungle, stretches of sandy shore crowded with
cocoanut palms, native villages just awakening, fishing villages where
the whole population was engaged, in pulling nets that had been filling
up all night, and in time we reached the railway station at Heneratgoda.
Here as I could get neither gharri nor rickshaw, I was obliged to charter
a bullock "hackery."

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

SECOND LETTER.

GROWTH OF HEVEA TREES AT HENERATGODA THEIR YIELD AT VARIOUS AGES
VISIT TO PERADENIYA DIRECTOR WILLIS AND His WORK CANKER FUNGUS IN
HEVEA AND ITS TREATMENT BY MR. CARRUTHERS RAILWAYS IN CEYLON PLAN-
TATION SCENES LEECHES AND OTHER INSECT PESTS.

A BULLOCK hackery is a small two-wheeled cart, gaudily painted,
with oilcloth top, no springs, and a seat on which sits the driver,
so close to the little hump-backed bullock that he easily twists
his tail, or punches his ribs to make him trot, while the passenger, sitting
back to the driver, clings as best he may. It is a most jerky mode of

BULLOCK HACKERY AND RICKSHAW, COLOMBO.

progression, as the bullock starts and stops with surprising suddenness;
indeed, his whole progress is a series of jerks against which it is difficult
to guard. Were it not for the little step behind on which one's feet
rest, it would be impossible to hold on for more than five or six minutes.
The bullock is a tough little beast, about four feet high at the shoulders,
and is supposedly *guided by a pair of rope reins that run through his
nostrils. He is, however, more influenced by the half bark, half yell,
of the driver, and the vigorous tail-twisting that he indulges in on
occasion.

AND THE MALAY STATES 23

From the station I rode through a most densely populated native
village, with narrow streets and a smell of stale fish that was simply
appalling. Here we gathered a lot of flies, but as they ultimately settled
on the bullock's hump, no especial annoyance came from their presence.
Finally we reached the entrance to the gardens, turned in, and in due
time found Mr. Perira, who at once put himself at my disposal. On the
way he showed me some Ceara rubber trees which appeared to have
grown well, but as that tree in Ceylon has not proved profitable, .it was

EXPERIMENT GARDEN, PERADENIYA.

[Ceara rubber in foreground.]

to me of only transient interest. I did, however, measure one, twenty
years old, which was two feet in diameter three feet from the ground,
and was probably fifty feet high. That it contained some latex I proved
by cutting into it.

A short distance away, on a somewhat lower level, was a grove of
Hevcas twenty years old, sixty to seventy feet high. They were planted
about ten feet apart, and had taken full possession of the soil, no weeds

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

or grass growing in the dense shade they cast. The trees looked very
healthy, with smooth bark and straight limbs, the branches appearing
about thirty feet from the ground. There were about three hundred
trees in this lot. They have been tapped experimentally a few times, but
they are kept as seed bearers rather than rubber producers. The soil

PERADENIYA GARDEN.

[Castilloa clastica planted among cocoanut palms.]

is gravelly, but seems to grow almost anything. The land is but thirty-
three feet above the sea level, and the annual rainfall less than one
hundred inches.

Not far from "here is the oldest planting of Hevca at this place.
These are trees about thirty years old. They are fine specimens, with
massive trunks three or more feet in diameter. As a rule the trunks

AND THE MALAY STATES

are straight, single stems, but here several of the larger ones have divided
trunks. I had a look at a few specimens of the Castilloa elastica, but
they did not appear to be doing well. I was also interested to see a
good specimen of the Landolphia Horida, which did not strike me as
a vine that it would be at all profitable to cultivate.

PORTION OF OLD ' HEVEA ' TREE.

[Showing proper healing of wounds that do not pass

through the cambium, and injury caused by those that

go too deep. Wounds made by chisel and mallet.

Heneratgoda Garden ; tree 13 years old.]

It is here at Heneratgoda gardens that the first successful planting
of Para rubber occurred, and what is more important, it is due to the
eminent scientists in charge of this garden and that at Peradeniya that
we have any sort of knowledge of the growth and productiveness of
the Hevea tree under cultivation. Their work dates back to 1876 under

26 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

Director Thwaites, when 70,000 seeds, sent from the Amazon to Kew
gardens, London, were set out, only four per cent, of them germinating.
From there about two thousand plants were sent in wardian cases to
Ceylon in charge of an experienced man, Mr. W. Chapman, and ninety
per cent, reached the gardens in an excellent condition. These were
set out in bamboo pots and the next season were transferred from Pera-
deniya to Heneratgoda and flourished almost from the beginning, but
the planters had set their hearts on the Ceara tree and paid little atten-

"HEVEA BRASILIENSIS."
[Leaves and nuts on greatly reduced scale.]

tion to the reports that the Director of the Gardens, Dr. Trimen, Dr.
Thwaites' successor, made from time to time as to their growth.

In 1883 several of the Hevea trees at Heneratgoda flowered, and
from the ripened seeds two hundred and sixty plants were raised and dis-
tributed to various planters. One year later, one thousand plants were
raised in the same way and sent out.

In 1886, the "Para plantation at Heneratgoda was thinned out, all
of the smaller trees being cut down, after which there was a noticeable
improvement in the growth of the remainder. Seeds were sent that

AND THE MALAY STATES

TRIMEN.

WILLIS.

year to Jamaica, Madras, Rangoon, Penang, and the botanic gardens
at Buitenzorg, Java, while from the crop of 1888 there were sent to
the Straits Settlements some 11,500, together with 1,000 to the Fiji
Islands.

Dr. Trimen made annual measurements of a typical tree at Hener-
atgoda, which are as follows, the tree being planted in 1876. The meas-
urements are circumferential, and taken, as is the custom, three feet
from the ground :

The first of the above measure-
ments was taken by Director Trim-
en, and the latter by Director Willis,
his successor, who says very justly
thatjnore useful data is secured by
measurements that give the mean
girth of all the trees. He therefore
measured in 1897, forty-five trees
that stand about thirty feet apart,
that were then twenty-two years
old. The measurement was taken
at about 5| feet from the ground. The largest tree was 7 feet 5 inches,
the smallest 2 feet I inch, the mean girth being 4f feet.

In this connection it is interesting to note the measurements of wild
Hevea trees made by Robert Cross in 1877, near Para. These trees
had been tapped for from five to fifteen years, and their age was

ur known. The figures are given here-
with.

All of these measurements were
taken at three feet from the ground. It
would seem, therefore, that the trees at
Heneratgoda had about reached their
growth.

It is as a seed-bearing proposition
that the garden I was visiting appealed
to me most. A hasty bit of figuring gave
me the total of between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 Para seeds that had
teen sent out to planters all over the Eastern tropical world. A wonder-
fully practical piece of work and one for which the tropical planter
should be devoutlv thankful.

i88i

4 o f

1882

1883

' 6

1884

' O

1885 ....
1886 ....
1887

3
4

' 7
' i

1888 ....

' o

1889 ....
1890

5
c

1891 ....
1802

6
6

' i

i8cn

1804

..6

' 8

No. i

. 6 f

t 9 in

No. 2

.. 6 '

' 10 "

No. 3

No. 4 .

.. . 4 '
^

' 7 '
' o '

No 5

' IO

No. 6

No 7

' 3
' o

No 8

' IO

No 9

' o

No 10 ....

' 6

No. ii . ,

No 12

... 4

' 8
' 8 '

Mean

. 4

' 10

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

One of the few tapping experiments extending over a series of
years was carried out at Heneratgoda under the late Dr. Trimen. He
selected a twelve-year-old tree that was 50^ inches in girth, three feet
from the ground. This was tapped the first, third, fifth, seventh, and
ninth years, the product being thirteen pounds seven ounces of dry
rubber. As in any of the tapping years but seventeen tappings were
taken, and they were well distributed through the twelve months, it
would seem as if the tree might just as well have been producing every
year instead of every other year, and that its average of one and one-
half pounds a year might just as well have been three pounds.

FERAEENIYA GARDEN ENTRANCE.

These experiments were followed by others by Director Willis, in
which from smaller trees he secured on an average about one-half pound
a tree, but where the trees were planted much more closely together. A
curious fact in connection with the two experiments is that, supposing
the Trimen trees had been tapped yearly and produced three pounds
each, and the Willis trees produced one-half pound each, the result
would mean the same production per acre, as the former stood fifty to
the acre, while the latter were three hundred, in either case the produc-
tion reaching one hundred fifty pounds per acre.

AND THE MALAY STATES 29

These yields, by the way, are not large, as Heneratgoda is not to
be compared with other parts of Ceylon as a rubber producing locality.
The many other and valuable experiments that were carried out here
and at Peradeniya would fill volumes. Exhaustive experiments were
made, for example, as to the kind of incision that gave the best results,
whether the "herring bone/' the X tne V> or the single / was the best
with records carefully kept and compared to lead to the right conclusion.

Then, too, experiments by the score were made to find what part of
the tree was the best to tap, whether near the base or high up on the
trunk. In addition to this, a long series of experiments in the coagu-

FICUS ELASTICA; PERADENIYA GARDEN.
[Showing spreading buttressed roots.]

lation of the latex were instituted both by centrifugal machinery and by
the employment of a variety of acids. It is due directly to this investi-
gation that the Ceylon planter to-day, if he wishes to hasten the coagu-
lation, adds a few drops of acetic acid to the latex. Nor were these
experiments done in secret. The results were published and scattered
broadcast among planters all through the tropical world, with wonder-
ful results for good.

After a hasty look at the magnificent palms, of which the garden
has more than fifty varieties, the banana, pepper, and other plants, I
resumed my hackery, and jolted back to the railway. As the return

30 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

train was not due for half an hour, I went to the "Rest House," a hotel
owned by the government and run by a trusty native, where I had an
excellent breakfast. I paid the fixed charges, signed my name to the
visitors 7 book, saying that I was well pleased, and walking on to the
station, caught the train back to Colombo. In the afternoon I hired a
jinrikisha, and rode around the town. These "rickshaws" are simply
huge perambulators drawn by a half naked coolie who trots along all
day content with ten cents an hour (gold). Most of the rickshaws are
old and rattley, but a few lately introduced have pneumatic tires, and
it is only a question of time before they will all have them.

As Director Willis had been good enough to invite me to make my
home with him when I went up country to visit the Peradeniya gardens,
and as I had only one suit of white flannels, I got the tailor at the Galle
Face to make me another. I was measured in the morning and the suit
was delivered that evening. It cost ten rupees [=about $3.64] for the
making, and the man who delivered it got two rupees, because the tailor,
his master, was such a hard man to work for, and the boy who was with
the man who delivered it got one rupee because of some affliction that
he had suffered, and the dog that accompanied the boy who was with
the man well, he didn't get anything, but I vow he sat up and begged
just as long as I was in sight.

I made an early start for Peradeniya, which means "guava plain,"
going by the government railway in a very comfortable first-class car
that is a sort of compromise between the American smoking car and
the English compartment car, and about half the size. The government
railways, by the way, are pretty generally good in Ceylon. The equip-
ment is all that could be expected, although the cars are small ; the
freight cars, for example, being twelve-ton affairs with corrugated iron
roofs, and the locomotives look very light. The railway stations, how-
ever, are extremely good, and in most of them a white man need not
wait at the ticket window, but may march into the agent's sanctum,
and get his ticket before the natives are served. The profits that the
railroads earn is expended on the carriage roads, a plan that some praise
and some condemn. Anyhow, the latter roads are first-class, and an
automobilist could go from one end of the island to the other if the
elephants did not object.

Soon we were bidden to the "refreshment carriage' 7 where a good
breakfast was served for about sixty cents, after which I sat on the shady
side in my car, and took note of the great paddy fields in which sullen
water buffalo wallowed and fed, and where natives, clad only in breech-

AND THE MALAY STATES

cloths and daubed from head to foot in clayey mud, toiled in a half
hearted way. Then the scenery became more interesting as we climbed
to higher ground, the road running above a winding valley where great
stretches of jungle were broken by banana and rice plantations, with

"DENDROCALAMUS GIGANTEUS.

[Giant bamboos in the Perademya Gardens, showing the young
shoots, and a section of one.]

occasional glimpses of splendid government carriage roads, while rugged
mountain ranges in the distance made an effective background.

Every now and then we stopped at a neat railway station, crowded
with natives, interspersed with a few Europeans, for whom, by the way,
the first-class waiting rooms and cars are always reserved. Between

32 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

Polgahawela and Rambukkana, by the side of the track, is a very con-
siderable plantation of Hevea, covering some sixty acres, the trees being
planted about eight feet apart. They are about three years old, and
would average, for a guess, thirty feet in height.

Further on, as we still ascended, the valley below was often a series
of terraced paddy plots for miles. Then as we still skirted the valley,

PERArENIYA GARDEN.

[Mr. Carruthers inoculating a young Hei'ea with Canker.]

which was farther and farther below us, we crept through many tunnels,
clung to the sides of precipices, getting occasional glimpses of Adam's
Peak, the famous mountain of the island, and still far below, we saw
winding through the jungle crossing rivers the white roads, hard,
smooth, wide, equal to any park roads at home, and then up, up, we
climbed, the cabbage palms, bread fruit trees, and tropical growths now
finding their home on the rocks, or in the wash of steep mountain ravines.

AND THE MALAY STATES

The air was rapidly growing drier, a decided relief after the steamy
atmosphere at the sea level : nor did I note the heat as I leaned out to see
as much as possible of the great tea plantations that now filled the
valleys, and encroached often on the steep hill and mountain sides. The
soil, where it was in evidence, had a reddish look, and would not suggest
fertility were it not for the luxuriant growth it produced.

After a journey, full of intense interest, we reached Peradeniya
station, and, alighting from the train, I found Director Willis awaiting
me. One of his coolies took my luggage in charge, while his master and
I walked up the broad, shaded road that runs by the beautiful entrance

FICUS BENGALENSIS BANYAN TREE

[In the main street at Kalatnra.]

to the Royal Botanic Gardens, A few minutes brought us to the Willis
bungalow, a very pretty two-story house, set on a little eminence, and
hemmed in with foliage plants, flowers, and magnificent shade trees. As
the new governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry Blake, had requested the presence
of my host in Colombo, he turned me over for the moment to Mr. J. B.
Carruthers, F. L. s., the mycologist and assistant director. Mr. Car-
ruthers, by the way, had but just returned from a month's visit to various
Hevea plantations, where he had been studying the canker that had
appeared upon some of the Hevea trees. He was of the opinion that

34 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

the alertness of the planters in discovering the disease in its first stages,
and calling for expert advice, would result in its extinction before serious
harm came to the trees.

The disease, although new to the Hevea as far as known, has long
been an enemy to apple trees, cacao, tea, etc., and frequently kills the
tree cr shrub upon which it grows. Mr. Carruthers, when first it
appeared, examined portions of diseased trees, and recognized the fungus
as a species of nectria. He then visited both Jhe government planta-
tions of Hevea and the larger private plantations. In one district, Kala-
tura, he found only one tree in two hundred affected, but ontheEdan-
goda estate, twenty per cent, of the trees were diseased; while at Yati-
porua there were forty per cent. The appearance of the fungus on the
trees is a swelling or roughening of portions of the tree trunk or branches.
If the outer bark is cut off, the tissue beneath shows at first a neutral tint,
and later a brownish or claret color. When the fruit of the fungus ripens,
it is a very minute red dot which is carried by the wind, by water, or by
tree insects, to a moist spot -on the bark of the same or another tree, and
there it thrives, and soon fills the tissues with its mycelium.

It was practically eradicated by cutting out the diseased portions
and the burning of them. This is best done in dry weather. Nor did
the cutting of the trees appear in any way to weaken them or hinder
their growth. Mr. Carruthers had brought with him some cultures with
which he proceeded to inoculate a young Hevea tree, while I stole aWay
into the grass with my back to the sun, turned my kodak upon him, and
pressed the button. A moment later, happening to glance downward, I
saw that the grass was fairly alive with leeches, all making their way
toward me. I retreated very hastily, and at once began a frantic search
for them about my person. I found a lot on my shoes, trousers,
and outer clothing, but was lucky enough to remove the last one before
getting bitten.

Speaking of insect pests, there are very few in Ceylon that are
troublesome to man at least I saw or felt but few. The mosquito was,
of course, more or less in evidence, but I did not get too badly bitten. I
did, however, resent its mode of attack. It does not approach you with
a song, but, in a silent, crafty, suspicious way, alights, bites, and flees.
So suspicious is the creature that it is almost impossible to clap it on
the back, as is the custom in America when he has succeeded in punc-
turing one's epidermis. It, therefore, has no friends, and beds every-
where are enclosed in huge muslin screens ; otherwise one would be
constantly bored.

AND THE MALAY STATES

There is also the leech. It lives, not in the water, but in the grass,
and in the jungle. When exercising on an empty stomach, it is very
small, about the diameter of a knitting-needle, and from one-half to
one and one-half inches in length. On hearing footsteps, it hastens
toward the sound, getting over the ground at a surprising rate of speed
for so tiny a creature, and without hesitation attacks instantly. If left
to themselves, they fill themselves with blood, swelling to the size of
one's little finger, and then drop off. Nor does this end the incident,
for during their meal they inject something into the veins, which keeps

YOUNG HEVEA TREES.

[Planted among tea along a watercourse, in Kalatura.]

the blood from clotting, and the wound therefore remains open and goes
on bleeding. If roughly removed during feeding, it is very apt to leave
its teeth in the wound, which causes inflammation, and, in some cases,
troublesome sores. The best way to treat them is to wear close-knit
stockings, into which the lower ends of the trouser legs should be
tucked. This keeps most of them off, but if they do get on one, a few
drops squeezed from a fresh lime makes them let go at once. Many of
the natives, who expect to encounter leeches, carry a lime or two with
them. Others simply pull them off, and take the chance of having an
inflamed wound. In certain districts these leeches are a great pest, but
as the land comes under cultivation, they gradually disappear. It is said

3 6 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

that during the conquest of the island by the British, many a private
soldier lay down in the jungle after an exhausting day's march and
never awoke, his veins being literally drained dry by the swarming
leeches. They are as tough as if made of India-rubber, and about the
only way to kill them is with fire. If cut in two, the separated parts
will join together again, and they are always voracious, active, and
absolutely devoid of fear.

-AND THE MALAY STATES

THIRD LETTER.

TAPPING RUBBER TREES AT PERADENIYA GARDEN VISIT TO THE NEW EXPERI-
MENT STATION SEVENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD Ficus ELASTICA THE STUMP SPEECH
KANDY TEMPLE OF THE SACRED TOOTH HOTEL TIPS ON THE WAY TO KALATURA
EARLY TEA AT THE "REST HOUSE" M^. HARRISON AND CULLODEN ESTATE.

SPEAKING again of canker, and the absence of the disease on the
South American Hevea trees, Mr. Carruthers said that it was
quite possible that individual trees there might have been attacked
by it, but as the trees are wild, and grow singly, the disease, after exhaust-
ing its victim, would probably die out, as it would have no other Hevea

SATIN WOOD BRIDGE, PERADENIYA.

near enough to reach. This, of course, led up to what has been proved
since planting of any sort has been carried on on any considerable scale.
That is, the occurrence of diseases and insects unknown before, but which
found in great plantings of a single kind the most favorable field for
rapid growth and reproduction.

38 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

It was while discussing these subjects that we visited the adminis-
tration buildings of the gardens. They are neat and business like, and
with their tropical setting form a very pretty picture. We visited the
museum, where sections of the woods, in which the island is very rich,
are displayed ; while seeds, fruits, and everything pertaining to the life
of the plant growths are carefully prepared and preserved. He also
showed me the offices of Director Willis, his own laboratory where
some very interesting experiments in determining the vitality of the
Hevea nut were then being carried on introduced me to Mr. E. E.
Green, F. E. s., the government entomologist, and then led me to some
of the fifteen-year-old Para trees, which we tapped. It was really too

' HEVEA ' AT EDANGODA.

[Government Forest Department plantation, 8 years old. Mr.
F. Lewis, assistant conservator of forests.]

near the middle of the day for the latex to do more than ooze out very
slowly. The tool used is well known. It only needed a very few cuts
with it, however, to convince me of its usefulness ; indeed, for the Hevea
it is far superior to any form of machete that I have seen.
The incision is really a drawing cut that takes out a strip
of bark, laying the cambium bare. The cut is clean, small
and may be made by the most unskilled coolie with but
little chance of" injuring the tree. I had with me a small two-bladed
tapping-axe, invented by a friend in the United States, which I had
brought along to test. We all tried it, but the simple little tool far

AND THE MALAY STATES 39

outdistanced it. Leaving the collecting and straining of the latex to
the coolies, Mr. Carruthers took me to his bungalow for breakfast, which
meal occurs at noon, and there we discussed various phases of rubber
planting. In referring to the government plantations of Hevea, he said
that there were about one hundred and fifty acres now planted, and it had
not been decided yet just how they would be administered. According
to his figuring, these plantings cost about 1,200 rupees [=$389.32] an
acre when matured. If they are to be leased under proper restrictions,
the opinion seemed to be that the government should not reap more than
five per cent, interest on its venture. But most of the experts think that
it would be better for the government to sell the plantations as near cost
as possible. For further information he referred me to Mr. F. Lewis, the
assistant conservator of forests, Colombo.

The following morning we crossed the Mahaweli River, a deep,
swift, muddy stream flowing by the gardens, to visit the great experi-
ment stations that are under the charge of Mr. Herbert Wright, A. R. c.
s. There is no bridge, so one is ferried across in a very narrow wooden
dugout, with the usual outrigger one side to prevent upsetting. This
experiment garden is new, and contains about 1,200 acres, I believe, and
takes in the native villages of Gangaruwa and Yatiyalagala.

Mr. Wright kindly piloted me over the sections devoted to rubber
planting. Just to see what the Castilloa and the Ceara rubber will do
in that climate under varying conditions ; he has many different plots,
both in the shade and in the open. Perhaps the most interesting is the
planting of the former where it is shaded by cocoanut trees. All of
these rubber plots were small of course, and the trees very young, so
that at the present it is impossible to say what results will be attained.

As we walked about the place, it occurred to me to learn just how
hot it was, and I found that it was 127 F. in the sun, and the guess was
that it was about 85 in the shade. As we were in the sun most of the
time, we had no reason to feel a chill.

In the afternoon, Director Willis having returned, we had a look
at the Ficus elastica trees planted some seventy-five years ago. They
are huge growths, and unlike the Straits trees of the same name, do not
send down aerial roots, but instead form great root buttresses. They
produce little if any latex, as my own tapping experiments abundantly
proved. Further than that, they are dying, so that every now and then
it becomes necessary to fell one of them, for if it unexpectedly dropped
its one hundred and fifty feet of length across the carriage road, a serious
accident might result.

40 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

Speaking of the Hevea plantings in the island, Mr. Willis said that
at that time there were about 11,000 acres, and as the annual production
of seeds was about 3,000,000, he thought that the planting increase

PERADENIYA GARDEN.

[Planted Castilloa elastic a and cacao/

would be about 5,000 acres annually. He said that the Hevea could
undoubtedly be planted in sheltered valleys, up to 4,000 feet altitude. In
many situations the trees would mature more slowly, their growth depend-
ing upon the rainfall, and the richness of the soil. At Peradeniya those

AND THE MALAY STATES 41

that had matured more slowly had produced latex as good and abundant
as had the others. The Castilloa had proved itself more tender than
he could wish, and the general sentiment among the planters was that
it would not be as profitable a venture. Speaking of rainfall at Pera-
deniya, they could always reckon upon ninety inches quite well distrib-
uted. Labor, of course, is very cheap, ten cents a day being the regular
wage, shelter being furnished, but not food or clothing.

As an incident to this visit, I walked over the gardens, by well-kept
roads, shaded by magnificent trees, and visited the "hot house" for
orchids. As there is also a tea factory near the gardens, Mr. Willis

RUBBER TREES KILLED BY FLOOD.

[Part of a Forest Department Hcvea plantation in a valley sub-
ject to flood, showing the way in which the flooded trees died.]

was good enough to take me through that, and show me every process,
the plucking, withering, rolling, drying, sorting, and packing, all of
which was most interesting. After taking leave of Director Willis and
his good wife, Mr. and Mrs. Carruthers, and all who had made my stay
so pleasant, I took the train for Kandy, four miles away, where I planned
to spend the afternoon with a steamer friend, and do a bit of sightseeing.
As I waited for the train, I was conscious of careful inspection on the
part of a man near me. He was a nice, well-fed, self-satisfied old gentle-
man, who sat by my side in one of the three cane-seated chairs that
stand on the depot platform for the use of the white patrons of the rail-
road.

42 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

"You couldn't have cane-bottomed chairs in a railway station in
America, now, could you?" said he to me.

"Why not?" I asked, much surprised.

"On account of the extraordinary habit you Americans have of
standing on chairs, and making stump speeches," he responded with con-
viction.

That he was in dead earnest, and that no denial of mine would
affect his belief, one look at his countenance showed. It seemed a pity
that he should not add to his store of knowledge along that line, so I
said carelessly :

"That, of course, used to be so a few years ago. Indeed, it was a
great nuisance. In public and private, at the theatre, at concerts, at
receptions, even in church, stump speakers would suddenly mount chairs
and harangue all in .sight. It was a disease, you know, caused by a
germ that was bred in the cotton fields of New Hampshire.* 7

"Fancy!" gasped my listener.

"Oh yes, pure and simple," I continued (referring to his exclama-
tion). The germ is known as the Septennis vociferens, and I may say
modestly that it was due to a little invention of my own that it is no
longer feared in America."

"How interesting! And pray what was your invention?'*

"Is it possible that you never heard of Pearson's Patent Orator
Discourager?" I asked with pained surprise. "It sold very well; indeed,
I made a comfortable sum out of it. Quite simple it was, but it did the
work. It was, in a word, a semi-spherical rubber spring, so placed
beneath the chair bottom that when one tried to step there, he was
instanly thrown over backwards, the shock killing the germ, but rarely
injuring the man. If, however, one sat in the chair, the spring had no
effect."

"Very ingenious ! A most excellent device ! I congratulate you !"
exclaimed my listener, warmly. "Of course, it was only useful in your
own country."

"I was coming to that. Having sold all I can in America, I am now
about to prepare a foreign market for it."

"But but no one makes stump speeches here, for instance !" he
said.

"Ah, that's just it. They don't now, but they will. Our laboratory
is working night and day producing healthy cultures of the germ. I am

AND THE MALAY STATES 43

traveling around the world planting them everywhere. They are invis-
ible, practically. The back of your chair this moment is covered with
them where my hand rested before you came along. Here is my train.
Good bye."

As the train left the station, a once peaceful and self-satisfied ency-
clopedia of American habits, with red face and anxious mien, was stand-
ing far away from the three chairs, and making a stump speech to a large

SENSATION ROCK, NEAR KANDY.

crowd of bewildered coolies. Those germs worked so quickly on him
that I almost believed in their existence.

A few minutes later I was in Kandy, and comfortably established
at the Queen's Hotel.

The city of Kandy (Hill town) is noted chiefly as having been the
seat of the Kandyan kings, the possessor of the temple of the Sacred
Tooth, and at the present time for having only one hotel, "The Queen's,"

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

where a German tourist finds good entertainment for about two dollars
a day, while an American or an Englishman must pay five dollars. The
city lies in a lovely valley, and is built around an artificial lake, on an
island, in the middle of which once stood the royal harem. The walks
and drives around the city, over beautifully kept roads that ascend with
only the slighest grades, are simply ideal.

As a matter of duty, I visited the Buddhist temple of the Sacred
Tooth during service. It was after nightfall, and the beating of the tom-
toms and noise of conches were almost deafening. I secured a guide at
the main entrance, or rather he secured me, and, accompanied by two
self-elected explainers, and a boy carrying a lighted candle, we went

KANDY LADY HORTON S WALK.

from one shrine to another, giving up contributions of small change
before each, jostled by crowding worshippers, lacjen with fruit and
flowers.

Of the things that linger in my memory, the library of Singal-
ese sacred literature is most prominent. There are hundreds of volumes,
the leaves of the books being strips of fiber from the Tallipot palm,
the letters being etched into the surface and then filled with ink. They
are beautifully bound in gold and silver, and ornamented with jewels.
There was also an image of the god, three feet high, of solid gold, as well
as one carved out of a single block of crystal, some ten inches in height.

AND THE MALAY STATES 45

Then there were copper, ivory, silver, and gold carving and filigree
work that would look just as well in America, but there were too many
around. I did not see the Sacred Tooth, which is carefully guarded,
and needs an order from the government before one is permitted to
view it. The true believers are sure that it was once a part of Buddha's
dental equipment, while the scientists say it belonged to a crocodile.

I didn't tarry long in Kandy, but took the morning train back to
Colombo, as I now had more definite knowledge of the typical planta-
tions, and how to reach them, as well as letters to the men in charge.
Perhaps, as a hint to others, I should say that when I left the hotel in
Kandy, after paying my bill, the following servants put in a claim for
tips: Bedroom man, bath man, head porter, waiter, doorman, gharri
driver, the porter who puts your bag into the train, and any other native
who can catch your eye.

It was early in the morning when*the writer and Miguel de Silva r
the Singalese plant collector at Peradeniya, who was loaned me by
Director Willis, entered rickshaws and started for Slave Island station,
on our way to Kalutara. For some distance the railroad follows the
sea coast, disclosing the beautiful villas of Europeans, native fishing
villages, and the blue sea itself. According to custom, Miguel rode
with the natives, and I, in the car reserved for the whites, was not able
to question him as I had planned. A friendly planter, however, did
explain that the land over which we were passing was very valuable,
through the palms which grew upon it, that were used in the production
of the native liquor, "arrak." He said also that the ownership of these
palms was most complex, one tree often being owned jointly by as many
as five natives. I had noticed that many of them had a wattle of reeds
braided about the stem some six feet from the ground, and was amused
to learn that this was to guard against thieves. It seems that the night
climber cannot surmount this apparently flimsy barrier, nor remove it
without making such a crackling that the owner is awakened sufficiently
to remonstrate usually with a knife.

Arriving at Kalutara, Miguel appeared, and with a commanding
gesture secured a coolie to carry my bag, and we wended our way to
the ''Rest House" for breakfast. As the day was already a scorcher, its
broad verandahs, square rooms, and cement floors gave one an impression
of coolness which was truly grateful. Here I had ''early tea." consist-
ing of ''papaya" (the luscious fruit of the paw paw tree), ham and eggs,
bread, butter, and coffee an excellent meal, the whole charge for which
was, I believe, one rupee.

4 6

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

After breakfast (I would say "early tea") we secured a gharri,
drawn by a horse that must have been a survival of the Portuguese occu-
pation, so ancient was he, and started off for Tabeuwana, five miles
away, where was another rest house. One advantage of the horse over
the automobile, and the slow horse over the fast one, is that it allows
one to take in the beauties of the scenery to a greater degree. The
languid creature to which I had entrusted myself gave me ample chance
to enjoy the cinnamon groves, the cocoanut plantations, and the paddy

CEARA RUBBER TREE.

[At Polgahawella ; planted about 1886.]

fields. Besides this, I was interested in the natives, and when we mean-
dered slowly through a village with the houses close to the road, and
smelling like a fish glue factory that had soured over night, I simply held
my nose, but kept my eyes wide open and saw much that is not set down
here. We tarried at the "Rest House" at Tabeuwana only long enough
for noon breakfast and then pushed on for Culloden, which, by the way,
is in Neboda, or at least that is the nearest postoffice. The roads were
good, as all in Ceylon are, and there are some 4,000 miles of them, but
the scenery began to show a decided change. The country became more

AND THE MALAY STATES

hilly, great masses of black gneiss showing out through the luxuriant
foliage. Finally, we ascended a long hill, turned into a tea plantation,
and leaving the gharri, followed a winding pathway to a pretty bunga-
low, situated where it commanded a view of much of the surrounding
country and even gave a glimpse of the sea in the far distance. Here
I was met and welcomed by Mr. R. W. Harrison, and a neighbor, Mr.
J. T. Withers, of Clontarf.

It was really too hot just then to start out to view the rubber, so
we sat in huge planters' chairs that have broad shelf-like arms that

VIEW FROM HILLY ROAD NEAR CULLODEN.

extend far out in front, arranged so that the lounger can have his feet
as high as his head, and talked planting experiences.

Culloclen is, of course, primarily a tea estate, beautifully laid out
with fine gravel roads all over it, and not a weed to be seen at any time
in all of its broad acres. Indeed, the weeding of crops in Ceylon has
been reduced to an exact science. It is all done by contract, and costs
thousands of pounds a year, but it effectually stops the danger from fire
that an occasional cutting of the weeds invites.

4 8

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

Mr. Harrison, the manager at Culloden, is perhaps the best equipped
rubber planter in the island, either from the planting or gathering stand-
point. While he is in direct charge of Culloden estate, which, in 1903,
produced 10,500 pounds of Para rubber, he had also supervision over the
following estates : Heatherly, which produced, the same year, 3, 500 pounds ;

FIFTEEN YEAR OLD "HEVEA" TREES.

[Planted among tea on an estate in Kalatura.]

Tudugala, 6,000 pounds ; Yatupauwa and Edengoda, 5,000 pounds. Thus
it will be seen that fully one-half of the early crops of Ceylon Para
passed through his hands, and in visiting him I was sure to be at the
center of the rubber planting interest. It might be well to remember
also that this 25,000 pounds annually, with a decided increase each year,
came from about 20,000 trees that on an average are eight years old.

AND THE MALAY STATES 49

FOURTH LETTER.

RUBBER TREES AND TAPPING AT CULLODEN NIGHT TAPPING RUBBER CURING
HOUSE OIL FROM HEVEA NUTS COST OF PARA RUBBER AT COLOMBO ARAPOLA-
KANDA ESTATE SMOKING CEYLON RUBBER SUNNYCROFT ESTATE ENEMIES OF
THE HEVEA A TOUCH OF FEVER THE FOREST CONSERVATOR A PADDY FIELD
EXPERIENCE.

AT the close of my first day at Culloden, when the sun had dropped
low enough to make it fairly comfortable in the open, at Mr.
Harrison's invitation, we started out to see the rubber. The
plantation is primarily for tea, the rubber having been planted later
through the tea and also in some of the valleys. The land is very rocky,
ironstone abounding, but there must -be something in the soil that
suits the Hevea, for it flourished wonderfully. The only place where
it did not appear to do well was in very low ground, where there wds
no drainage. The swampy portions of the land have, therefore, been
thoroughly drained; indeed, where some of the seven and eight year
old rubber now is there had once been a bog where cattle were wont
to get mired. The rubber on this soil, which was very rich, had some
three feet of drainage. Of course, it was to be expected that the Hevea
would grow in such soil as this, but I must confess that I was amazed
to see it flourishing far up on rocky hillsides, and sending its laterals in
all directions for food. The Hevea has proved itself, in Ceylon at least,
a most voracious surface feeder, and in this connection it is worth while
to examine the illustration of the uprooted tree held erect between two
cocoanut palms, with the laterals stretched right and left, showing a
growth longer than the tree trunk itself. The photograph from which
my illustration was made was taken by Mr. J. B. Carruthers, and is most
graphic.

The tapping of the trees begins just as soon as it is light in the
morning, for through the middle of the day the latex does not flow
freely, but starts up again about four in the afternoon and is continued
until dark. The trees are tapped when they show a girth of two' feet,
without regard to their age. No ladders or supports are used in tapping,
as it wasn't found profitable to tap higher than a coolie can reach while
standing on the ground. The tool is a very simple V-shaped knife with
two cutting edges, and a single slanting cut about eight inches long has
been found to be best, a tin cup being placed under the lower end of

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

the cut and held in position by forcing its sharp edge under the bark.
These cuts, by the way, are about a foot apart, sometimes closer, and
all run in the same direction, the herring bone and the V-shaped cuts

"HEVEA" RUBBER TREE.
[Suspended, to show extensive lateral root growth.]

being no more in evidence. The practice is also followed now of cutting
a very thin shaving from one side of the cut, every other day; eleven
times, in other words, reopening instead of tapping. Before placing

AND THE MALAY STATES

ths tin cup under the cut, it is rinsed out in cold water to keep the late.r
frcm adhering to the tin, and also to keep it from too quick a coagula-
tion. While I was there, a very interesting experiment in scraping the
outer bark from the trees had just been finished. The results, as far
as could be determined, were such a stimulation to the lactiferous ducts
that the flow was increased nearly fifty per cent. The oldest trees on
this plantation, by the way, are eighteen years, and have produced three
pounds a year ; by scraping the outer bark off they expect to get six

"HEVEA" TREES AT CULLODEN.
[Seven and eight years old.]

pounds a year from each of these. There are only a few of these older
trees, however, most of them being seven or eight years of age. All
through the rubber orchards on this estate were hundreds of young
Para trees that were self sown ; indeed in many places they had come
up so thickly as to be a nuisance. The workmen on this estate, one
hundred in number, are all Tamil coolies, as the Singalese do not care
to work, preferring to cultivate rice, a good crop of which insures them

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

a two or three years' vacation. By the time we had examined a few
COrStilloa trees that were planted by way of experiment, night had fallen,
and we wended our way back to the bungalow, where, after a hot bath,
as is the custom of the country, we sat down to dinner in pajamas, the
"punkah walla" stirring the heavy, moist air by most vigorous pulls
at the "punkah" cord throughout thv meal.

HEVEA TREES AT CULLODEN

[Eighteen years old from planting.]

The rainfall up here in Kalutara is rather more than down at the
coast, being, so I was informed, one hundred and forty-four inches, and
the maximum temperature 94 F. While I was there it was unusually
dry, yet the rubber looked well and there was a record of six weeks with-
out rain, which had no apparent effect upon it. The next morning we

AND THE MALAY STATES

visited other parts of the plantation, and saw a great deal of fine rubber.
At present there is an excellent market for the seed, as so many new
plantations are going in. As a better preparation, however, against the
time when the seed will be a drug in the market, my host was experi-
menting with an oil made from the seeds. With a rude native mill he
turned out an oil which the native women eagerly purchased to burn
before their gods, while the pressed cake made an excellent food for
cattle. During the forenoon I saw a large Ceara rubber tree cut down
and it seemed to have no latex in it at alL I also saw a Para rubber tree,

SCENE IN KELANI VALLEY, CEYLON.

self sown, growing out of a cleft in the rock where there was apparently
no soil, the trunk being ten inches in diameter and apparently very
thrifty.

One of the most interesting features of this plantation was the
rubber curing house, where the milk is coagulated and the rubber pre-
pared for market. This is a one-story, brick building, 30X80 feet,
smelling for all the world like a dairy, as one steps within its doors. At
one end of the room is a long table upon which are hundreds of enamelled
iron pans, capable of holding about a quart each. Into these pans the
milk is poured through a cheese cloth strainer, after having been previ-
ously strained in the field. To it is often added a very little acetic acid
a few drops only. This is allowed to stand over night, and in the
morning there is to be found in each pan a pure white pancake of rubber,
soft, spongy, and full of water. Each cake is rolled on a zinc-covered

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

table with a hand roller and much of the water thus expressed. The
name of the estate is then stamped upon it with either a wooden or metal
die, when it is ready for the heater room. The heaters used are simply
charcoal ovens, the rubber being spread on wire screens above the fire,
and left for three or four hours. By this time the pancakes have lost
about 50 per cent, in weight and are beginning to assume a decidedly
darker hue. Cakes in the condition described, if in South America, would
be immediately marketed, but not in Ceylon. From the heaters they go
to drying racks, where they are air dried for a month or six weeks, the

RUBBER CURING HOUSE, CULLODEN.

time depending somewhat upon the weather, and are shipped only after
careful examination as to quality and dryness. The care which the
planters are expending upon the preparation of the rubber is the best
sort of guarantee that the quality will be sustained, and that the day
will come when the name of a plantation on a cake of rubber will tell
its value almost to a penny. To follow the rubber a little further, it is,
when perfectly satisfactory to the planter, packed in chests, the counter-
part of the regulation tea chest, made of "momi' 7 wood that comes in
shocks from Japan, each package containing about two hundred pounds.
There is also a coarse rubber that is secured by picking the scrap
from tapped trees. It is a very excellent rubber, and while I was there
it found a market at 3$. 5-Jrf., while the fine was bringing 45. gd. There

AND THE MALAY STATES

are those who claim that it is unwise to pick the film of rubber out of
the tapping wounds in the tree, as there is danger that insects or disease
enter there. Such a theory is plausible, but so far I have not heard of
ill resulting from such removal of the air dried scrap.

This coarse rubber, by the way, was not absolutely clean ; that is,
it contained bits of bark, and vegetable matter oftentimes. As labor
is so cheap, and there is plenty of water, it could be very easily washed.
For this purpose the ordinary corrugated roll washer that is used in the
rubber factories has been suggested, but it hardly fits the case, as the
scraps are so very small. A more practical plan would be to run them
through a winnowing machine such as is used to blow the dirt out of

COAGULATING AND PRESSING PARA RUBBER.

peas and beans and let the air blast take out as much bark as possible.
Then, if necessary, use a washer of the paper engine type to wash and
beat the rest out. Of course, for quick drying, the gum should then be
sheeted, and either plain or corrugated rolls would accomplish that, and
it could hang until dry. There is so little of the scrap, however, that
the simple winnowing machine is probably all that would be necessary
or profitable.

The time will come, however, when the coagulating and drying will
have to be done on a different plan. The present method takes up too
much room and is too slow. It would be perfectly easy to have coag-
ulating pans that would deliver strips of rubber ten feet long, a foot
wide, and a quarter of an inch thick. These strips could then be run

56 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

through rolls that would squeeze the excess water out, and at the same
time imprint the plantation name every few inches. Then the strips
could be hung up to dry and any degree of artificial heat applied that
was thought best.

There have been suggested, also, a variety of quick coagulating
devices, such as endless belts that take a film of milk into a drying cham-
ber and deliver it to the other side coagulated and dried. Some such
plan may prevail, but as yet the planters are not ready for it.

After many experiments the manager at Culloden has satisfied him-
self that only the very early morning or the late afternoon are the proper

MR. HARRISON S BUNGALOW, CULLODEN.

times to tap, as in the middle of the day the flow of latex is almost
nothing. The trees are therefore tapped from 4 until 7 A. M., and after
3.30 P. M. and as long as it is light. Indeed, the collection of the latex
is often done by torchlight. As an instance of Mr. Harrison's alertness
in getting all he can out of the trees with safety, he told me of a series
of experiments that he was about to institute for all night tapping. It
'seems he learned that certain sugar estates did all their cutting of the cane
by electric light, and that the amount of saccharine matter secured was
much larger than in the daytime, and as the habit of the-//fr<?a tree

AND THE MALAY STATES

pointed toward more latex at night he felt that a similar experiment
would be justified.

At the present time he keeps a careful record of the production of
each tree and for this purpose the trees are numbered. When a tree
has a circumference of thirty inches it is fit to tap, whether it is five,

JACK FRUIT.

six, seven, or more years old. His first year's tapping in 1901 was 4,010
trees, from which he secured 4,600 pounds of first quality Para. In
1902 the production was about the same, the production for 1903 from
8,300 trees being 10,500 pounds. From 2,500 trees on Heatherly, which
have just come in bearing, he gets 3,500 pounds.

To show how thoroughly Mr. Harrison is seeking for knowledge of
the Hevea, he has even had the

leaves analyzed to know just what
they get in the way of food from
the soil of Culloden. The analysis
is as follows :

Fresh. Air Dried.

Moisture 90.605% 10.600%

Organic matter . 8.510% 85.150%
Ash .849% 4.250%

The analysis of the organic matter showed that it contained 3.696
per cent, of nitrogen, while the ash showed as follows :

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

Potash 1.320%

Phosphoric acid . . . . 398%

Lime 084%

Magnesia 2.117%

Hence 1,000 pounds dried leaves would contain about four pounds
phosphoric acid; 13.2 pounds potash; .8 pounds lime; 21.1 pounds
magnesia ; and thirty-seven pounds nitrogen. From this it will be seen
that the leaf is curiously rich in magnesia, but whether from selection
or force of circumstances it is difficult to say.

MdH of the work is done by contract, each coolie being expected to
get latex enough to produce one pound of dried rubber a day. It is

VIEW OF "HEVEA six MONTHS AFTER PLANTING.

very interesting to watch them as they troop up to the curing house
early in the forenoon, with huge tin cans of late.r on their heads, and to
note how they watch the straining that none is slopped over, and even
rinse cups, cans, and every receptacle and add it to the rest that no
precious drop escape.

The rubber landed in Colombo costs sixteen cents a pound, United
States money. Just to let the skeptical do a little bit of thinking, and
by the skeptical I mean the majority of rubber manufacturers who

AND THE MALAY STATES

believe that the Para from the Amazon is a better business proposition
just to start them thinking, therefore, I want to ask them to read the
following :

FINE PARA RUBBER FROM CEYLON.

Sells at Liverpool, per pound $1.20

Costs f. o. b. Liverpool 17

Export duty nil .17

Planters' profit $1-03

ELASTICA.

FINE PARA RUBBER FROM BRAZIL.

Sells at Liverpool, per pftund $I.OO

Costs f. o. b. Liverpool, minimum 21

Export duty 23 .44

Profit $0.56

The above figures both for Ceylon and South America are very
small that is the cost figures. It is probable that twenty cents a pound

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

for cost in Ceylon would be nearer actual practise, while Para rubber
costs, landed in Para or Manaos, often forty, fifty, and sixty cents a
pound, the figures being dependent upon the section that it comes from.
As a matter of fact, the Tamil coolie whom the planters employ is
not a high salaried individual. His pay averages about thirteen cents a
day, United States money. To this is added the coolie "lines'' or houses
which are free of rent to him, as is also medical attendance. The
planters keep no stores usually, but they do buy rice and furnish it at

"HEVEA" PLANTED 18,89; PHOTOGRAPHED 1903.

cost to their laborers, the allowance being one bushel a week for a man,
and three-quarters of a bushel for a woman. ,

It was while sitting on the cool flags under the broad porch at
the Harrison bungalow that the subject of snakes came up. Both my
host and his friend acknowledged that cobras were very plentiful, and
that they had a great liking for cool bungalows, which they sought to
enter whenever they thought they could safely do so. They said it was
a very rare thing, however, for a white man to be bitten by one. But
the natives are often bitten, and sometimes fatally. The Singalese won't

AND THE MALAY STATES 61

kill them, as they think the cobra quite likely to possess the soul of
some dead relative of theirs. The Tamils, however, have no such
prejudice and are perfectly willing to slaughter them whenever they can.
My informants acknowledged that the bite of the cobra was very venom-
ous, but not necessarily fatal. They said that some years before there
had lived in that district a man who was known as the cobra king, wno
not only cured snake bites in others, but was proof against poison him-
self. He used to tease the snakes to make them bite him, and even rub
their venom into cuts on his arms, and apparently without the least
injury. But he was finally attacked by a sort of rheumatism, which
made him a helpless cripple, and he went back to England to get cured.
Close to Culloden is Arapolakanda, where I next visited, being
entertained by the resident manager, Mr. H. V. Bagot. He has but
fifteen acres of Hevca in bearing, and gets twenty pounds a day. In
coagulating, Mr. Bagot did not follow exactly the process used by his
neighbor, Mr. Harrison, the difference being this : he added no acid to
hasten coagulation, and also smoked the rubber over a fire of sawdust
and bark. The final drying was accomplished by spreading on wire
screens, and not a pound was shipped until it was perfectly dry and
transparent. By the way, he reported that he had one "dumb" tree
that was big, thrifty, and apparently exactly like the others, but that
it gave no milk. At the lower end of Arapolakanda are some acres of
marsh land that have been drained and reclaimed and on which is
standing some fine rubber. As this land is near the river, it is some-
times inundated, the water standing four feet up on the trunks, but for
a short time only. Mr. Bagot acknowledged that the trees were set
back somewhat, but not very much. The general opinion in Ceylon,
however, is that inundations are very apt to kill out the Hevea.

The oldest rubber on this plantation is some fifteen to eighteen
years old, planted quite closely together in a sheltered nook. In this
lot the outside trees which get the sun are by far the largest, one that
I measured roughly being two feet in diameter and sixty feet high.
After having seen all of the rubber, I examined the tea, saw what sights
there were, and spent a very pleasant evening with Mr. Bagot, at whose
bungalow I slept.

Very early the next morning, with a coolie carrying my luggage, I
made my way to the river and climbing down its steep, clayey bank,
found myself aboard the steamer Kaluganga. This craft was some
sixty feet long and twelve feet wide, with a small wood-burning boiler
and engine amidships. The forward deck was reserved for the whites,

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

while the blacks huddled together at the stern. I had barely embarked,
when down came one of Mr. Wither's coolies with two steamer chairs,
one of which he had thoughtfully brought for me. After a most ear-
splitting whistle, the little steamer cast off and started down the deep,
muddy stream. Shortly after leaving the pier, we passed the Clyde
estate, which shows a large planting of tea and Para rubber, the trees
young, straight, and tall. The run down the river was a pleasant one,

HEVEA TREES AT SUNNYCROFT.

but in no way exciting, and early in the forenoon I took a train from
Kalutara and was again back in Colombo. As I planned to leave for
the Kelani Valley that afternoon, I went to the Grand Oriental Hotel
for breakfast and a? siesta, from which I was awakened by a pleasant
young reporter, who interviewed me most thoroughly. I want to say
in passing that all through the East the newspaper men seemed alive
to the importance of the rubber question, and printed many columns of

AND THE MALAY STATES 63

things that I did and didn't say. When he had finished with me I sum-
moned Miguel and we took rickshaws for Maradana Junction station
and there bought tickets for Karawanella. After a somewhat tiresome
ride in the train we reached our destination and I found Mr. W. For-
sythe, of the Sunnycroft estate, awaiting me with a very swell rig
consisting of a fine horse and high cart. Into the trap I got, and Miguel
hiring a bullock hackery, we drove merrily off. The Forsythe con-
veyance soon left the other far behind, and as evening fell and it began
to grow chilly, I was moved to ask how much further Sunnycroft might
be. I then learned' that it was eight miles from the station, whereas
I had been told that it was two. As the road was constantly ascending,
it grew colder and colder, and as Miguel had my coat, I suggested to
Mr. Forsythe that I was in for a chill. He therefore stopped at the
bungalow of a planter friend and secured^ a coat for me and our journey
was then continued. Had it not been for the chill in the air, I should
have enjoyed the ride mightily, as the road was most picturesque, wind-
ing through native villages, crossing rivers and often crowded with
strange conveyances. Mr. Forsythe entertained me very pleasantly that
night, and the next morning we walked some eight miles over his planta-
tion. His land was exceedingly hilly, but under a high state of cultiva-
tion, showing many hundreds of acres of fine tea. He also had about
three hundred Hevea trees planted in 1897, which would average forty
inches in circumference. In addition to this he had planted rubber
everywhere through his tea, but very little of it was over two years old.
In his section he found that when the Hevea trees were young it was
a constant fight to keep the porcupines and wild pigs from eating them.
He was, therefore, protecting the young trees in certain sections with
wire fences, the lower sides of which were buried in the ground.

It was during this walk that I discovered what it meant to get
chilled in a tropical climate, and to have the chill develop into an incipi-
ent fever. Although the sun was scorching hot and I was exercising,
I wasn't perspiring a particle.' When we got back to the bungalow in
the early afternoon, therefore, after due apology for being ill, I took
twenty grains of quinine, and wrapping myself in blankets, went to
sleep. The quinine or the blankets did the business, and the next morn-
ing I was able to take a bullock hackery at five o'clock and rattle and
bump down the mountain road to the railroad station, whence I took
train for Colombo.

The next day I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. F. Lewis, the
assistant conservator of forests, who has done a great deal to further

64 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

the planting interests in Ceylon, and whose opinions on rubber are
most sound. In the course of conversation, he acknowledged that
he and his co workers were continually on the outlook for the
appearance of disease in the rubber. He said that wher-
ever large areas of anything were cultivated, nature came forward
with some disease or pest. He believed, however, that intelligence and
vigilance would keep such visitations at least under control. I asked
him specifically about his idea of distances in planting rubber, and his
conclusions were almost identical with my own, that it was well to
plant closely at first, that weeds and grass might be kept down, and
perhaps cut out the weaklings later. Of course, in planting through
tea no such close setting can be indulged in.

My visit to Ceylon was drawing rapidly to a close, as I was booked
to sail on the Bengal on the 2Oth. Any further excursions that I took
into the country were, therefore, of minor importance, and of adven-
tures I had none except that little affair with the water buffalo. It
came about through my desire to see a paddy field at close range. I
was some little way out of town, and stepping down off the roadway
walked out on the narrow bank of clayey mud that separated one rice
plot from another. There were hundreds of these plots and miles of
narrow earthworks, and I had gotten some distance out, when a huge
water buffalo, wallowing in the mud, made up his mind that I was an
intruder, and started for me. As he weighed about a ton, and knew
the country anyhow, I didn't stop to argue, but raced back for the road.
I am considered a pretty fair runner, but I verily believe that the beast
would have caught me if it hadn't been for a native who ran out with a
switch and headed him off. The absurd part of it was that my rescuer
was a mite of a boy, his only clothing being a red string round his waist,
but he certainly knew the proper profanity to apply to water buffaloes.

By the way, speaking of paddy fields, it seems a shame that the
very best land of Ceylon should be given up to the culture of rice. If
those same fields were drained and planted to Para rubber, there is no
doubt but that they would show an infinitely bigger profit, even if those
who turned them into rubber orchards paid, as an annual rental, the
amount of rice that they are supposed to produce.

AND THE MALAY STATES 65

FIFTH LETTER.

DEPARTURE FROM COLOMBO FOR THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES CHRISTMAS EN
ROUTE ARRIVAL AT SINGAPORE THE BOTANIC GARDENS AND DIRECTOR RIDLEY
SUCCESSFUL GROWTH OF HEVEA GATHERING GUTTA-JELUTONG IN THE JUNGLE
REBOILING GUTTA-PERCHA BY THE CHINESE A VISIT TO JOHORE STARTING FOR
SALANGOR.

MY second experience on a P. and O. boat was when I boarded the
Bengal in Colombo harbor, being taken off in a catamaran,
whose crew seemed to enjoy narrow escapes so much that they
invited collision with every moving craft that came their way. Reference
to my notes develops one fact that seemed of prime importance then,
and that was that I sailed from Colombo "on the 2oth of December, and
had received no mail at all while in Ceylon. In other words, I had got
ahead of schedule time, and as a result was facing Christmas on a trop-
ical sea with no holiday greetings. However, the Bengal sailed just
the same. We got away soon after dark during an exceedingly heavy
rainfall. As there were only twelve passengers all told, I had a very
roomy, four-berth cabin to myself a great comfort in tropical waters.

The next morning I was up very early, took my last look at the
fading shores of Ceylon, and got well acquainted with a young planter
from Penang who was so much interested in India-rubber that he
described to me in detail the way the American importers bought it,
"melted it up with sulphur and lampblack and sold it to the manufac-
turers to be cast into goods." As we were still working south, the heat
became even more tropical, yet we were forced to take much exercise
to enjoy our meals. We therefore played ping pong, deck quoits, and
cricket, being every now and then driven to the smoking room by the
floods of water that poured along the decks, in spite of top and side
awnings. The air was exceedingly damp; one perspired constantly, and,
as one Briton expressed it, he felt like a chewed string. On December
24, we sighted the island of Puloh Wea, which, having no awnings over
it, was getting mighty wet, and on the following morning, which was
Christmas, we entered the harbor at Penang at 6.30 o'clock.

The rain had left us for a little, the sea was smooth, and all about
us were brown-sailed Chinese junks and sampans with double pointed
sterns, on which stood half naked dyaks with queer conical hats, sculling
with exceeding skill. The harbor was crowded with foreign shipping,

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

all gaily decorated with flags, and as we cast anchor we had a good
view of the town nestling at the foot of lofty mountains covered with
verdure to their very summits. We all got ready to go ashore and
stood watching the swarming native boats containing money changers,
curio sellers and jugglers. These gentry were not supposed to come
aboard, but whenever they got a chance they ran their boats close to
the ship's side, climbed the slender masts, and, swinging toward the
vessel, caught hold of the edge of a port, and clinging tooth and nail,
came aboard like so many monkeys. While we waited for permission
to go shore we learned that the huge, two-story building fronting us,
but, alas, an eighth of a mile away, was the custom house, and the factory
plant a long distance away with four brick chimneys was a tin smelter.

JOHNSTON'S PIER, SINGAPORE.

We were also informed that the town was not Penang, but was George-
town, Penaiig being the name of the island on which the town was
situated, and then all at once, when we were full of information, the
anchor came up and we sailed away. At first we were very much
disgusted, but as we circled the island and struck into the Straits of
Malacca in plain sight of the low lying shores covered with graceful
cocoa-nut palms, with ranges of mountains in the distance, and as island
after island appeared in sight, each wilder and more beautiful than the
last, we forgot our disappointment and became engrossed in the scenery.
Possibly to make us more good natured, we had a magnificent Christmas
pudding that night and then a musicale on deck, at which the first
officer sang and the fourth officer played, and all joined in games until
it was time to retire.

AND THE MALAY STATES

It grew rough in the night and the pagan who pretended to look
after my comfort . slipped in and closed the port, which drove me on
deck very early in the morning, to find the day lowery and dark, with a
high wind blowing. Toward night, however, the clouds had scattered,
-all except a great black mass that lay over Sumatra way. As the sun
dropped behind this mountain of cloud, and sent its rays through it,
lighting the interior, we looked into huge golden caverns, their crimson
ceilings upheld by twisted columns and arches of fantastic design, while
the light shining above the cloud mass flecked the sky to its furthest
horizon with wonderful combinations of gold and purple that held one
breathless with awe and delight.

After passing Malacca, which showed simply a white line close
to the water's edge, so far away was it, and many islets covered with

MALAY VILLAGE "PULO BRAM" SINGAPORE.

I The huts all on supports, over water.]

palms, we sighted Singapore about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. As the
tide was not right, we couldn't take the nearest channel, but were
obliged to go outside of the strongly fortified islands that form natural
breastworks for the fine harbor, and by putting on all steam, we were
able to get up to the P. and O. docks just as night fell. Those of us
who were going to stop in Singapore went ashore at once, leaving
our baggage to follow, and, in a square, box-like gharri drawn by a
little Burmese stallion, we drove by the Malay fishing village, around
through the Kampong Glam to Raffles Hotel, said to be the hotel de
luxe of the East. There we had dinner and later took rickshaws and
rode through the Chinese, Malay, and Japanese quarters, watching with
<eager eyes the strange street scenes, listening to and trying to remember

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

the grotesque calls of the street vendors, and finally seeing and hearing
so much that was new and strange that it was a relief to get back to
the quiet hotel and turn in on a bed that had neither top sheet nor
coverlet, because in that climate, even though the whole side of the room
was open- to the night air, no such covering is necessary. In the morn-
ing I had a new experience a bath in Eastern fashion, for the bath room
is a bit different from what the ordinary dweller in the temperate zone
expects. It is cement floored and gullied, with a huge urn in it from
which one dips buckets full of water to pour over the body. In other
words, one stands outside of the tub to bathe. To get into it is out of
the question.

ORCHARD ROAD., SINGAPORE.

And now a word about Singapore. It was founded, so the English
say, in 1819, by Sir Stamford Raffles. The real date was, however, 1283
when it was founded by the Malays and became at once a general rendez-
vous for their pirate craft. It is 8,000 miles from England, is the seat
of government for the Federated Malay States, and is a great and
growing business center. In the census of 1901 the population of the
island was 184,554. Of this, 101,908 were Chinese, 35,000 Malays,
16,000 natives of India, and 2,769 whites. The island contains two
hundred and seven square miles and lies rather low, the land being on an
average from twenty to thirty feet above sea level. The average mean

AND THE MALAY STATES 69

temperature in the shade is from 80 to 85 F. The rainfall in Singapore
and the Malay States is from ninety to two hundred inches. The city
is under excellent control, the buildings in the business portion being
quite imposing, and the harbor, with its magnificent fortifications, most
excellent. The visitor at once notes the strange mixture of races that
place their impress on architecture, business, and modes of life. The
naming of the streets is an example of this. For instance, there is
Victoria Street and Bukit Timah Road, together with Orchard Road
and Teluk Blangah Road, and so on.

After morning coffee, I took another ride through the crowded,
barbaric, festering, native quarters, and had my eyes opened to many

FIELD OF PARA RUBBER ("HEVEA").

[In Singapore Botanic Gardens.]

things. The European and business parts of the city are really very
fine, and, except in the heat of the day, quite comfortable. It was not
the rainy season, yet heavy showers came up almost every afternoon,
and although it was cooler in the evening it was still hot and damp,
and few of the hotel people showed much energy. Nor did they take
any especial interest in the wants of their guests. No time tables were
obtainable, nor was it possible to discover from the clerks anything
about the departure of trains, the sailing of steamers, or the time when
the postoffice would be open. They were not in the least discourteous,
but simply weary and vacuous.

70 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

In spite of the midday scorching sun, in which all of my spare
clothing was spread to kill the mildew, I took a rickshaw and rode
out over Orchard Road to the botanic gardens. I was most hospitably
received by Director Henry N. Ridley, F. L. s v and shown all of the
various rubber and gutta trees and vines that he has so industriously
collected. The Hevca was naturally my first concern, and I found Mr.
Ridley most willing to talk about it, as he has long advocated its very
general planting, and certainly the soil is excellent and the trees respond
to cultivation wonderfully. From one hundred cultivated trees on an
estate in Perak, Mr. Ridley has taken nine hundred pounds of Para
rubber in one season's tapping, and from nine to twelve pounds have been
taken from a number of trees in the peninsula, but planters do not always

SHOOTS FROM A FALLEN HEVEA TRUNK.

[With view of Director H. N. Ridley.]

get such returns. He has also taken three pounds from a single isolated
three-year old tree. The growth here is phenomenal, a tree eighteen
months old sometimes standing thirty feet high, while three-year-olds
often attain a height of sixty feet. I found in these gardens the Hevea
growing in a variety of soils, and all apparently thrifty. For example,
high up on a gravelly hillside, were a half hundred trees that were eight or
ten years old, and sixteen to eighteen inches in diameter. These were
planted in partial- shade, but had outdistanced all surrounding growths.
The other extreme from this was a large planting where there were
but six inches of soil above water, the soil being often submerged but
draining off very quickly. Here the trees grew well, but were apt to

AND THE MALAY STATES 71

be blown over because of their shallow rooting. To show how tenacious
of life the tree is, it is only necessary to examine the photographs of
many such trees that, blown over, took fresh root from the tops and
sent up shoots that soon developed into sturdy tree trunks. I counted
seven such trunks springing from one prostrate stem, each trunk big
enough to tap, and full of latex.

Another experiment in distance planting was a row of seventeen
trees that were set six feet apart, that although they were only eight

GUTTA-JELUTONG TREE.

[Botanic Gardens, Singapore.]

years old, were two feet in diameter and showed a magnificent leaf area.
These, of course, had the sun on both sides, and thus came along faster
than if in partial shade. The number of Hevea trees in the gardens
now ready for tapping is 1,300. A still further experiment with the
Hevea was the planting of the seed in specially prepared beds, in which
a variety of different manures was placed. The photograph tells the
whole story and would seem to point to cow dung as the best food for
young Hevea. The soil in the gardens is not particularly rich, being

72 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

of a red, gravelly character, showing traces of iron, but the moisture
and the sunlight make up for what it may lack.

Next after the Hevea I wanted most to examine the tree that
produces the Gutta-jelutong, or Pontianak gum. I found that it was
very common all through the Federated Malay States, and that the
gum was rarely "taken from it, the tree being regarded as useful only
for the cheap clogs that the natives wear. The tree is botanically the
Dyera costulata and when mature is a splendid forest creation. One in
the gardens, of which I have a photograph, was certainly one hundred
and fifty feet high, with a huge three part trunk, and a magnificent crown
of leaves. We did not tap this one, but went into the jungle, found a
wild one, and tapped it after the most approved method. The latc.v
Oozed out like clotted cream and seemed most abundant, but began to
coagulate almost at once. It is said that a mature tree produces as
much as one hundred pounds, by scraping the bark rather than tapping,
and mixing at once with kerosene.

In the bit of jungle where we found the Pontianak tree, there was
killed only a few days before a thirty-foot python, that had not been
thought a particularly undesirable neighbor until he swallowed a couple
of Mr. Ridley's swans, which ended his career.

The Castilloa in the gardens did not seem to be in a very flourish-
ing condition, nor did the Ceara rubber trees, although both have been
carefully experimented with. The former seemed to be stunted, while
the latter was apt to develop hollow stems. A further trouble with
the Castilloa came about through its habit of shedding its temporary
branches, which gives a nice, sheltered, tender spot for the beetles, of
which they often avail themselves. There was also a most luxuriant
growth of the Willughbeia firma, but it was such a tangle that it would
be almost impossible to get any rubber out of it economically. Indeed,
I have yet to find anyone that has experimented with the culture of
a vine that is a rubber producer who has any faith at all in it. The
Willughbeia, however, when wild, produces a good grade of rubber
that is known as "Borneo," and is very easily coagulated after tapping.
There were also a great variety of Gutta-percha trees, together with
the Ficus and the Kick.via, to which we devoted considerable attention.

Director Ridley is a most charming companion, and as he often
takes long journeys into the forests accompanied only by the wild men,
his stories of adventure are very interesting. His guides, by the way,
never can understand his interest in insects or plants, except upon the
hypothesis that he is after ingredients to make "gold water/' a magic

AND THE MALAY STATES 73

liquid that the white man is always yearning to make and which will
turn anything into gold. The type of coolie in Malaysia is, however,
far superior to that in Ceylon. They are better formed, stronger, and
far more self respecting. Nor do they call the white man "master" ;
to them he is "tuan" (sir).

There are many tigers in the Malay peninsula and some in the
island of Singapore. In the bit of jungle where we secured the latex
of the Gutta-jelutong there often lurked a tigress who swam over
from the main land and had her nest there. As a rule they are trouble-
some only as they steal the Chinamen's pigs, and while there is now
and then one who gets to be a man eater, it is not European meat that;
they seek, but the flesh of the coolies. They are very clever and hide
themselves so well that one may almost step On them in going through
the jungle. Once they are discovered* however, they charge for the
intruder, uttering a tremendous roar. If they are not wounded and
the charge is avoided, they slip off into the jungle and are almost instantly
lost to sight. There is a record of a large tigress with two cubs that
terrorized twenty miles of well traveled road, killing on an average a
coolie a day for months. She was finally killed by a spring gun, but
the cubs escaped. They did not turn out to be man eaters. The tigers
are fond also of killing the water buffalo. To do this they hunt in
pairs, one cutting the creature out of the herd, while the other lies in
wait, and at the right moment springs on his victim, seizes it by the
neck, and, leaping high in the air, throws the whole weight of his body
in such a way that the neck is instantly broken. Referring again to the
man eaters, they kill their prey by a stroke on the neck, and in feeding
eat only the coolie's legs.

The most vicious beast in Malaysia, and one that both Europeans
and natives dread, is a bison, something like that of India, only larger.
It is a huge animal, six feet high at the withers, short legged, and heavy
bodied. It lives in the forests, feeds on fruits, and usually attacks man
on sight. They are very hard to kill and are the dread of the foresters.
It is easily the largest ox in the world, and by far the most dangerous.

There are, of course, many snakes, and of them the cobra seems
to be the best known. The Singapore cobra is a much more vicious
appearing reptile than is its cousin of Ceylon, and with different habits.
It is known as the black cobra and rarely bites, choosing rather to
eject the poison at the eyes of its enemy, and at eight or ten feet distance
it is a pretty fair shot. If the eye is not at once treated by some sort
of alkali, or if the venom gets in an open wound, the results are quite

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

serious. While I was at the botanic gardens, Mr. Ridley was treating"
the eyes of his fox terrier, who had just killed a cobra, and in the fight
got his eyes full of poison.

Returning from the botanic gardens, I called upon Messrs. Hutt-
nach Brothers, to whom I had letters of introduction. They are large
traders, sending shiploads of rattan from Singapore, and bringing great
cargoes of coal from Japan. They are also agents for tin mines in
Johore, and incidentally handle much Gutta-percha. They w r ere of the

MALAY HOUSE IN JOHORE.

opinion that the Marconi system was already affecting the gutta market,
as there \vas much stock in Singapore, and according to their advices.
a great deal unsold in England. Through their courtesy I was taken
to the Chinese merchant quarters and shown the rebelling process that
prepares the gutta for the markets of Europe and America. We first
visited the offices and storehouses of the Teck Wah Liong Co., where
we met the senior member of the firm, a very polite, intelligent Celestial
who spoke good English. Our interview took place in a fine anteroom
furnished in Chinese fashion, with manv sturdv ebony chairs set close

AND THE MALAY STATES

to the walls, while huge lanterns hung from the ceiling. In the rear
rooms were many brick tanks about 20X20 feet and five feet high, covered
with cement, in which the gutta was stored under water. The floor was
tiled and piled high with blocks and rolls of gutta, which, to keep
off oxidization, was frequently wet down by turning a stream of water
on it by means of a hose. Although they were equipped with reboiling
tanks, none were then in use, so we were taken to a nearby warehouse
where the work was in progress.

The Gutta-percha as the reboilers receive it comes in large crumbly
cakes. These cakes are put in a tank and boiled in hot water, after

NEW MOHAMMEDAN MOSQUE, JOHORE VIEW FROM SEASIDE.

which the mass is run through a large mangle turned by t\vo coolies
and fed by a third. It is next dumped into a tank of cold water, allowed
to cool, and then stacked up to dry out. After drying it is cut into
shreds by coolies who use great cleavers for the purpose, and it is
again boiled, and sheeted, and cooled as before. The same process is
gone through with a third time, but when the sheets come from the
mangle this time the gutta is folded into neat rectangular blocks and is
ready for market. The boiling, sheeting, and cooling, toughens the

76 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

gutta appreciably and also allows of certain admixtures that are sup-
posed to be suited to some grades. For example, in some of the lower
grades a modicum of Pontianak is often introduced. All the gutta that
I saw was said to have come from Borneo in small lots, though my
informants told me that they received shipments occasionally from the
Philippines.

I had heard so much of Johore and its young and athletic sultan
that I had a desire to see it at close range. I was, therefore, much grati-
fied by an invitation from the chief of the agricultural bureau there,
Mcr. F. H. M. Staples, to pay him a visit. I knew that I should miss
the sultan, as rumor had it that he had taken $200,000 in gold and
started for Europe for a vacation from the cares of state. A brief
rickshaw ride from the hotel took me to the Johore and Kranji railroad,
where in the "first class waiting shed," as the sign on the wall had it,
I waited for my train. When it appeared I got aboard and again waited.
After a time the dusky hued master came out and rang a big dinner
bell most energetically, which was the signal to start. Still we waited
and waited, but finally reluctantly pulled out. The ride across the
island is short and pleasant, and is through many plantations and some
jungle, and terminates at a ferry where a steamer transfers the passengers
to the domain of the sultan. Mr. Staples was awaiting me and was
good enough to put me up at the Johore Club, and I had tiffin with
him at the sultan's hotel. In the afternoon we drove out to the rubber
plantation, which is about three miles from the town, and which now
consists of some fifty acres of Ficns elastica quincunxed with Para.
As all the manure from the dairy farm is to be used on this plantation,
the rubber should come on very rapidly. In addition to what is already
planted, large clearings are being made, corn being first planted with
the rubber for shade. On my return I had a look at the native village,
went again over to the hotel and club, where I met the postmaster gen-
eral, the chief electrician, and the Datto Abul Rahmin, admired some
fine pictures of the sultan, and returned to Singapore.

Before I knew it I was facing the new year, and as New Year's
day came on Friday, the rest of the week was taken by all as a period
of rest. This suited me physically, for I was exceedingly languorous,
but not mentally, as I longed to be up and doing. I gave up to the
climate, however, and idled. Indeed, the wish to remain quiet grew on
me to such an extent that had there been then more days of it I think
I should have stayed in Singapore. My bedroom boy, Poo Kee, a short,
chunky, good humored Chinaman, made everything as easy as possible

AND THE MALAY STATES

for me. When I ordered a bottle of Apollinaris he brought ink, and
I never could get him out of the habit of starting the water running
in the bathroom and leaving me to turn it off.

During my enforced idleness I did go down to the billiard room
and play a few games, but more to hear the markers chant the score
in Malay than for the fun of the game. To be sure I roused up one
evening and went out to see some fifty rickshaw men try to thrash two
Russian sailors who would not pay for their rides, but it was more like
a game of tag than a fight.

Or|: New Year's morning there were sampan races in the harbor,
where the native boatmen displayed surprising skill, and the spectators

ISTANA OF THE SULT.AN OF SELANGOR.

grew wildly enthusiastic in spite of the fact that it was exceedingly hot
and the glare of the sun on the water was almost unbearable. The
heavy rain that came up early in the afternoon, but lasted only an hour,
did not discourage the merrymakers, and as great crowds were going out
to the racetrack to see the natives compete with one another in a variety
of sports, I went too. The turf around the track was sodden with water
and the track heavy, but in spite of it all there were obstacles races, treacle
dipping for silver coins, rickshaw, pony, and hurdle races that were
both ludicrous and interesting. As on the evening before there had
been a great dinner followed by a dance at the Raffles Hotel, and at
midnight "Auld Lang Syne" and "God Save the King" had ushered
in the New Year, I could but feel that it had been heartilv welcomed.

7 8

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

In the meantime several warm invitations had come to me from
planters up in the "States'' to visit them and have a look at their rubber.
I therefore decided to go up to Selangor, where as far as I could judge,
I was likely to see rubber that would typify what that part of the world
could produce. Not that the oldest Hevea was there, indeed some one
told me, I do not remember whom, that the largest and oldest Hevca
trees in the Federated Malay States were destroyed by mistake some
years before. It seems that a former official ordered some Dyak ser-

VIEW ON THE PLANTATION OF THE SELANGOR RUBBER CO., FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

["Hevea and "Ficus" interplanted.]

vants to tap the trees and they, supposing that the flow of latc.v would
be immediate and abundant, as it is with the Ficus, and finding the case
the reverse, reported that the trees were barren. They were, therefore,
cut down, much to the subsequent regret of all.

The boat that was to take me to Selangor is known as the Sappho,
and in order to get aboard of her you order a gharri to be at the hotel
at three o'clock in the afternoon and the man will come at one 'and try
to charge you for the two hours' wait. He doesn't really expect to get
the extra pay, however, and will respect you more if you don't give

AND THE MALAY STATES 79

it to him. He leaves you at Johnson's pier at about 3.15, where the
coolie who takes your luggage in charge informs you that the launch
to the Sappho, advertised to leave at 3.30, has gone. It is, therefore,
your duty to engage a sampan, and get its owner to put you aboard.
This is really more fun than it is to go in the launch, provided it is not
raining. All this I did. Once aboard, I found that the Sappho was a
steamer of three hundred and twenty-nine net tons, and, according to
the written statement of some dock official, had sufficient rice, fuel, and
water for the voyage. I was, therefore, content. I had a very comfort-
able stateroom and soon made the acquaintance of two young English
mining engineers who had come down to Singapore for the holidays,
were going to get off at Malacca and then ride fifty miles on bicycles,
mostly up-hill, to their station.

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

SIXTH LETTER CONCLUSION.

RUBBER PLANTATIONS AT KLANG, IN SELANGOR MR. BAILEY AND His WORK
DISTANCE OF PLANTING AGE AT WHICH HEVEA TREES YIELD THE LABOR QUES-
TION MR. CAREY'S PLANTING THE CHINESE AS RUBBER PLANTERS THE SELAN-
GOR RUBBER Co. RETURN TO SINGAPORE AND DEPARTURE FOR HONG KONG.

DURING the night spent on the Sappho, on the trip from Singapore
to Selangor, we passed through a succession of heavy showers,
but the sea was smooth and it was cool enough to be fairly
comfortable. The meals aboard the boat were also good, and the native
servants as intelligent as it paid them to be. At eight the next morning

FOUR YEAR OLD HEVEA/ KLANANG ESTATE.

we stopped at Port Dickson, where there is a good harbor, with an iron
pier and a few bungalows and native houses set down in the jungle.
After discharging freight we left, following the coast about three miles
out. The land was low, wooded down to the water's edge with an occa-
sional break where a river discharged its muddy flood into the clear
water of the Straits.

In due time I reached Port Swettenham, where a short railroad
journey took me to Klang. The station master then told me that I could

AND THE MALAY STATES

safely trust the rickshaw man to take me to Mr. W. W. Bailey's bun-
galow, where I had been invited to make my headquarters. He evidently
knew the name, for he grinned, said "Bailee," and started off. Far out
into the country he took me, perspiring profusely, but keeping steadily
at it. On the way we passed considerable plantations of Hei'ea, which
I examined with interest. Finally he stopped at a gateway and pointed
out a hillside bungalow and again said "Bailee" and intimated that
he was ready to be paid. I did not quite share his confidence, however,
and insisted that he accompany me up to the house, which with some
reluctance he did. And it was lucky that I did so, for it soon developed
that this was the bungalow of the plantation superintendent, who was
absent, the house being in charge of the native servants. Not speaking

A RIVER VIEW FROM KLANG.

much Malay and they knowing no English, it was a bit difficult for
me to make them understand what I wanted, but finally one of them
mounted a bicycle and, inviting us to follow, led us back to Klang, and
tip to the real Bailey bungalow. The house was most beautifully situ-
ated on a slight eminence with beautiful palms, foliage plants, and flowers
in its gardens, and a view in the distance of the lofty istana of Selangors
sultan.

I was at once cordially welcomed by Mr. Bailey and his beautiful
wife, and entertained most delightfully. The next morning we drove
over the road that I had traveled twice the day before, and went thor-
oughly over both Lowlands and Highlands estates. After stopping at
the bungalow of the superintendent, frcm which we had a fine view of

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

acres of Hcrea, we drove by the coffee mill, and the coolie lines to the
extreme end of Lowlands, where the very last planting had been done.
This was in alluvial soil divided up into parallelograms by drains that
were four to five feet wide and from three to six feet deep. The soil
was wonderfully rich and was not planted with Hcrea seeds but three
foot stumps, as the seeds and the tender shoots have so many animal
and insect enemies that stumping is far more successful. These stumps
are nursery plants cut back into the brown, set out carefully and never
shaded. Not only is the top cut back, but the tap root is shortened a
bit to prevent doubling, and the laterals are also trimmed a little.

This planting is done in any month of the year when the rains are
on. In preparing, the ground holes are dug fifteen to eighteen inches

MR. BAILEY'S BUNGALOW, KLANG.

in diameter and about the same number of inches deep, the hole being
left open for two weeks, after which a little of the surface soil is scraped
in. Then the plant is set and carefully covered in. The trees that are
ready for tapping are selected, not by their age but from their size.
For a general rule any Hevea that is thirty inches in circumference, three
feet from the ground, is large enough to produce rubber. In a planta-
tion in a good location in this part of the world, the trees mature about as
follows : At the " end of the fifth year about 25 per cent, will
be large enough to tap; at the sixth year there will be 50 per cent.,
and at the seventh all of them should be big enough.

AND THE MALAY STATES 83

Speaking again of the drainage system at Lowlands, it was marvel-
ously complete, all of the channels leading into the great agricultural
drain that ran through the middle of the plantation, and which, I believe,
was a government enterprise.

In examining the plantation we walked over good paths by the side
of the drains, crossing them on tree trunk bridges, and ended by driving
over two very good roads that led to the heart of the planting. The
oldest rubber on Lowlands was some five hundred acres of five-vear

FOUR YEAR OLD PLANTED "FICUS."

[On the Lowlands and Highlands estate. Showing the Aerial
Roots as thrown down at this age. Hevea trees in the
background.]

old trees, numbering 52,000. These had been later interplanted with
another 52,000 of varying ages. There were also one hundred and twenty
acres of two-year old trees, 18,000 in number. The largest five-year olds
that I saw were twenty-seven inches in circumference, three feet from
the ground, and were in a lot that was planted 20X20 feet. Speaking of
distances observed in planting, Mir. Bailey had tried many experiments.
He had plots 14X14, 14X28, 14X42, 14X20, and 24X24 feet. The
latter plantings were almost all interplanted later with Ficus elastica.
There was also considerable coffee in with the rubber, and as it happened
to be of an especially fine quality, at that time it was paying all of the
expenses of the planting and care of the rubber.

8 4

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

The laborers were a mixed lot, being Tamil, Chinese, and Javanese
coolies. The Tamils are rather hard to get but are fairly good laborers ;
the Chinese coolies are good rough laborers but are not the equal of
the Javanese. As there is a glut of labor in Java there is a likelihood
that the planters in the Malay states will be able to get many of them,
and as they all speak Malay and are content with thirty-five to forty
cents, Mexican, a day, and find themselves, they are much sought after.
Besides thev would far rather work for an Englishman than a Dutchman.

RUBBER PLANTATION VIEW IN SELANGOR, FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

[Four year old "Ficus" Selangor Rubber Co.]

After visiting Highlands estate and looking over the coffee mill,
Mr. Bailey took me for a drive out in the outskirts of Klang, that I
might see the small plantings of the Chinese. These were of no especial
moment, being chiefly coffee gardens grown up with grass, with a few
Ficus elastic a or Hcvea trees put in at haphazard. One Chinaman, Cong
Lamb, however, had about twenty acres of coffee and Hcvca planted
15X15 feet, the trees looking about five years old and quite well grown.

But the plantations owned by Chinamen and run by Europeans are
another matter; for example, the Kong Yaik estate, which is managed

AND THE MALAY STATES 85

by Mr. E. V. Carey. Here are three hundred acres containing some
60,000 trees that average three years of age. Most of this rubber is
planted 20X10 feet, although there is some 10X10 and 15X15. One
advantage of the 10X10 planting was that almost no weeding was
necessary, the ground being absolutely free from all vegetation. While
going over this plantation Mr. Carey and I experimented with a two-
handled tapping knife, an invention of his, which certainly did very
effective work.

RUBBER PLANTATION VIEW IN SELANGOR, FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

[Five year old "Hevea" Pataling Estate.]

Next to the estate of which Mr. Carey has charge is the Batu Unjor
plantation owned by a wealthy Chinaman, Loke Yew, on which there
are some 17,000 four and one-half year Heveas which looked first rate.

The land in Selangor belongs to the state and is acquired by the
payment of two dollars, Mexican, an acre cash, and one dollar an acre
annual rental in perpetuity; twenty-five per cent, of the land must be
under cultivation within five years, or it reverts to the government. At
the same time the powers that be are very lenient and disposed to help all
honest effort by granting time extensions. There is also a two and one-

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

half per cent, ad valorem export duty on such products as rubber that
is a part of the land grant.

That evening many friends of Air. Bailey's dropped in and dined
and later visited the Klang Club, where I met a score or more of young
Englishmen who were connected either with the government or with
the plantations in the neighborhood.

The next morning my host took me by rail to Batu Tiga, where is
another big rubber plantation in which he is interested the Selangor
Rubber Co., or, in the native, Sungei Rengam. We put in three hours

RUBBER PLANTATION VIEW IN SELANGOR,, FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

[Panoramic view of the Highlands and Lowlands Estate.]

But

of hard tramping over this estate, and got very hot and damp,
it was well worth while.

The plantation is seven miles from Klang, on the railroad that joins
Klang with Kula Lumpur. There is also a fine government road soon
to go through this estate. It consists of 5,150 acres, of whicli 1,150 are
already opened- and in rubber. To this will be added three hundred
acres this year, the trees being planted about two hundred to the acre.
The soil is a rich alluvial, slightly rolling, and is cut by huge drains that

AND THE MALAY STATES 87

lead into the Klang and the Damansara River. The oldest planting was
made in May, 1898, and was 24X36 feet, this planting being quincunxed
in the latter part of the same year and in October, 1900, was still further
interplanted. The last planting, however, is so thoroughly shaded by the
earlier that it is doubtful if it amounts to anything. The trees in the

HEVEA ON THE V ALL AM BROS. A ESTATE, KLANG.

first planting average 28^ inches in circumference, three feet from the
ground, the largest being forty-seven and 52^ inches in circumference.
Of the plantings already mentioned, there were ninety acres 24X36
feet, and forty-five acres 14X14. These latter showed an average of
inches circumference at the base, and nineteen inches five feet from

RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

the ground. In 1899 there were thirty acres planted 12X12 and ninety
acres 14X14. The former measured when I was there, on an average,
twenty-six inches at the base and sixteen inches five feet from the
ground. In 1900 there were two hundred and eighty-five acres put
into Para and forty-seven acres in "rambong" or Ficus elastica. There
are also various other plantings of Para and Ficus, alternating, of Para and

CUTTING A ROAD THROUGH JUNGLE.

coffee, and of Ficus alone. The Ficus, when alternated with Para, seems
to do wonderfully well, as does also the Para.

The greatest care is taken of this plantation, the whole area being
weeded by hand until the shade becomes so dense that no weeds grow,
all of the aerial roots of the Ficus being cut away except those that

AND THE MALAY STATES 89

will develop into good straight trunks, and the keenest sort of watch
being kept for white ants, which are always to be found in the new
land. As tapping will begin the next year, a rubber curing house 20X60
feet has been built, and all preparations are being made for turning
out the best quality of rubber. All of the trees seem to produce late A
abundantly, although there was a wide difference in the appearance
of the bark, some being quite white, while others showed a distinct shade
of red. There were a variety of theories as to the cause of this, but
the real reason was not apparent.

After the examination of the Selangor estate, and a very pleasant
visit with the manager, at his bachelor bungalow, where, by the way,
he presented me with a cane made of polished sections of a great variety
of hard woods indigenous to that country, we again took train and
started for the Pataling estate. The road ran for some miles through
the densest sort of jungle, the land on one side for some six miles being
owned by the Selangor company. When we reached Pataling we found
that the superintendent, Mr. Rendle, was away, as was also his wife.
His assistant, Mr. Smith, was there, however, and he urged us to come
up to the bungalow, which was prettily located on an eminence over-
looking the plantation, and ordered the Malay servant to prepare for
us "mukan," in other words, food. While we ate, it rained very heavily,
but soon after cleared up and we w.ere so sure that the storm was over
for the day that we allowed a black boy to take our mackintoshes down
to the station while we examined the rubber. The soil here seemed
a trifle hard and was more hilly than that which I had before examined,
but the rubber looked well. After examining that on the hillsides we
went down to a lower level and were just beginning to take measurements
when the rain came down in torrents. We each selected a big tree,
under which we stood for a while, but ere long even that was no pro-
tection, so we started for the railway station. We were now drenched
to the skin and the walking was very bad. We, however, caught our
train, and in due time arrived in Klang, where, after a change of cloth-
ing and a substantial dinner, we felt as well as ever.

I had hoped to have time to run down to Port Dickson. and visit
Mr. V. R. Wickwar, who has a fine plantation of Hevea, but I found
my time would not admit of it. Nor did I visit the Pears plantation
in Muar, as the owner, to whom I had letters, was absent in England.

Speaking of close planting and hand weeding, I could not but be
struck with the fear that the planters have of fire. Mr. Bailey, who
at one time had charge of a large plantation in Johore, told me that

90 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

the fire once got into some thousands of acres of his sago, and although
he had five hundred men of his own and nine hundred lent him by the
sultan, they were weeks in getting it under. He had, by the way, some
hundreds of acres of Ceara rubber which were also destroyed.

There is little Castilloa planted in Selangor. I saw a little on Low-
lands, which bled freely, but the planters do not care for it, as they
believe that either the Hevea or the Ficus is superior. The latter tree
is or course a native of this land, and grows to great size. There are

VIEW ON THE PLANTATION OF THE SELANGOR RUBBER CO., FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

["Hevea" planted April, IQCO.]

reports of as much as one hundred pounds being taken from a single
tree. Ten-year-old trees are said to produce from twelve to fifteen
pounds.

The time came all too soon for me to say goodbye to the Baileys,
whose generous hospitality I shall always remember, and the following
forenoon saw me- in a sampan headed for the Sappho, which lay far out
in the river. I got aboard finally, and was greeted by Captain Foster
like a long lost friend. The voyage back to Singapore was uneventful,
the sea being perfectly smooth, and the temperature bearable.

AND THE MALAY STATES

9 1

Towards evening we came in sight of Malacca, but, much to my
regret, did not get a chance to go ashore. In fact, our captain being in
a hurry, we did not even anchor, but hove to in the open roadstead and
there received the agent, the health officers, port warden, and a few
passengers. Here at Malacca is quite a large plantation of Hevea owned
by a Chinaman, who speaks good English and who is the proud possessor
of some 300,000 rubber trees. I wanted mightily to have a look at it,
but time did not permit.

YOUNG HEVEA SEEDLINGS IN BEDS, IN MANURE TEST.

[No. 2.] Poudrette. [No. 3.] Mixed Lime and Soil. [No. 4.] Burnt Earth and Leaves.
[No. 5.] Cow Dung. [No. 6.] Burnt Earth.

Again in Singapore I called upon Mr. Mlurray, a partner of Mr.
Bailey's, who had in the beginning smoothed my way appreciably, had
tiffin with him, at the Singapore Club, and then hurried to get my pas-
sage arranged for on the Malta to Hong Kong. By the way. I took
from Mr. Murray two bottles of oil made from the nuts of the Hez f ea,
which were packed as carefully as possible and which were all right
until the strenuous baggage smashers of the United States got hold of
my luggage and then the bottles broke.

92 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON

I was also fortunate enough to have the time for another rickstiaw
ride over Orchard Road to the Botanic Gardens. Here I found that
Director Ridley's right hand man, Mr. De Alweis, had made a set of
photographs for me that embraced the whole of their varied growths of
India-rubber and Gutta-percha trees. One of the most striking of these
was the photograph of the Hevea seed beds, in which the effect of various
manures was shown. The experiments covered the use of poudrette,
mixed lime and soil, burnt earth and leaves, cow dung, and burnt earth.
As may be seen in the illustration on this page, the rubber trees planted
with cow dung far surpassed all the others in height and sturdy growth.

The next day I said farewell to Singapore and was well on my way
to China, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, San Francisco, and home ; that
in brief is the finish of my visit to the rubber plantations in the Far East.

On my way home I met those who were deeply interested in rubber
culture, as a future development of the rich lands in French Indo China,
British North Borneo, and Sumatra in fact, wherever there is the con-
junction of proper soil, climate, and cheap labor. Even the Japanese are
preparing to plant rubber in Formosa. In the Philippines there is little
present interest, as the shutting out of Chinese and Javanese labor makes
the installation and care of a plantation far too costly to be remunerative.

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE
ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

FIRST LETTER.

FOREWORD FROM NEW YORK TO THE BORDER OVER THE ALKALI PLAINS
NATIVE FOOD MEXICAN OPALS THE NOCHISTONGO CANAL ARRIVAL AT MEXICO
CITY JOURNEY SOUTH OF THE CAPITAL ADVENTURES AT ACHOTAL ON HORSE-
BACK OVER FOREST TRAILS THE DEMAREST AND NEWMARK ESTATES ARRIVAL AT
"LA BUENA VENTURA."

MY journey to the Tierra Caliente, or "hot country," in Mexico,
was taken with the sole object of seeing for myself cultivated
rubber planted by both individuals and stock companies. I
selected typical plantations as far as I could, most of them in the state
of Vera Cruz, on the Isthmus of Tehuarrtepec. The states of Tabasco
and much of Oaxaca and Chiapas I was forced to leave out of my

NATIVE HUT IN THE STATE OF VERA CRUZ.

itinerary, although they too have large and successful plantings, which I
hope to visit later. I left New York quietly and alone, paid all my own
expenses for the whole trip, and carefully avoided exploiting either
myself or those who had shares or land to market. This statement seems
necessary, because, since my return, I have been asked in all seriousness
whether this or that company had me "under its wing," to use later for
advertising purposes. I wish also to add a word of thanks for the
courtesy, the generous hospitality, and the frank, helpful cordiality
extended to me by the planters whom it was my good fortune to visit.
May I add that, of the conclusions drawn from my visit while they

9 6

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

prove to me that certain procedure in clearing, planting, care, etc., is
vital in the localities under consideration it does not follow that, given
a different locality, soil, and climatic conditions, other methods might
not prove necessary.

In spite of an innate belief in my own preparedness for the Mexican
pilgrimage, when ready to start I lost no time in consulting persons who
had gone before as to material equipment for the journey. The advice
received solved itself into the purchase of a broad-brimmed soft hat,

CANE FIBER RAINCOAT.

neglige shirts, light flannel underwear, a "navy bag" (a dress suit case
on horseback, being a source of worry and a constant temptation to land-
ing on one's head), and a pair of long-legged moosehide "snake boots."
To this was added later a Colt's revolver and holster, to be worn in the
unsettled country south of the City of Mexico ; a rubber poncho coat that
looked like a long, tan colored nightshirt, a linen suit, and for medicines,
a box of cascarets, a bottle of chloranodyne, and a pint of two grain

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

quinine pills. Had I appreciated the pertinacity of the Mexican flea,
I should have added a blower and a pound or two of Dalmatian powder.
It was snowing when our train left Jersey City, starting for the
southland. Nor did winter really forsake us until we were well into
the Indian Territory. As a matter of fact, I do not think I fully realized
that I was on my way to the land of the Castilloa, until I awoke one morn-
ing and saw the dwarf cactus that grew by the side of the track, and
further on, at San Antonio, Texas, began to note the picturesque Mexican

COCOA FIBER RAINCOAT.

costumes and the subtle influence in architecture, climate, and soil, that
proclaimed our nearness to a land of strange peoples, customs, and
language. Finally we crossed the Rio Grande, drew up on Mexican
soil, had our baggage examined by dark complexioned officials who were
polite beyond belief, changed our money, getting two dollars and fifty-
eight cents for each dollar of Uncle Sam's currency, and were at length
in the land of the Aztecs.

9 8

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

Porfirio Diaz

Sabiuas:

I Moiu

O \

^Monterey

<f) W

'Saltill

i Freshillo

impico

^Galveston

MEXICO.

Itinerary of a Visit to the
Rubber Plantations.

GULF

O F

MEXICO

G O :

Hinguindir

i ) /' , j^'TSorelia ^
; Lruapan /Q

lCmz GULF OF CAMP EC HE

'GULF

TEHUAXTEPEC

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

The border town where we made our entry is known as Cuidad
Porfirio Diaz the first word meaning "city."' Here all was Spanish, or
rather Mexican, the adobe houses, the half clad Indian children who
begged softly, ";/// centavo Scnor," and the placid, care-free appearance
of the railroad men, who had the air of having but little on their minds,
and no cause for hurry or worry, were all in marked contrast to the
hustling, bustling atmosphere that is so much in evidence on this side of
the border. After pulling out of Diaz, we retired, slept soundly, and
waked to breakfast in Torreon, three thousand seven hundred feet above
the level of the sea. It was a real Mexican breakfast, although cooked
and served by Chinese, and eaten in a leisurely way that did not at all
suggest a waiting train.

PRIMITIVE MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION

To digress a moment: When I say we, I refer to myself and
whatever chance acquaintance I might be thrown in with at the moment.
As far as Torreon I had had three such a sugar planter who left at
St. Louis ; an army officer, home from the Philippines, who got off at
San Antonio, and a young English mining engineer, who was to estab-
lish himself permanently at Zacatecas. The last named was a nice fellow,
but very serious withal, and responded with extreme reluctance to any
attempted humor. For example, he had noted, as I said, the influx of
Americans to the country, and said :

"By the way, those planters now, what do they raise?"
I replied, "The older ones, who are settled down, raise pineapples,
cacao, and rubber ; most of the younger ones raise Cain."

100

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

"But don't any of the older ones go into the sugar business, too?"
he inquired.

The whole of the first day's ride on Mexican soil was through a
lofty plateau, very bare and dry, the chief vegetation being the giant
cactus. In spite of the closing of the car windows, the fine alkali dust
sifted in, coating everything, and making it quite difficult to breathe.
Towards evening we reached the mining city of Zacatecas, which is more
than eight thousand feet above the sea level, where we were told that
we should have difficulty in breathing, because of the rarefied atmos-
phere. As a matter of fact, none of us suffered the slightest incon-
venience. We did suffer a disappointment in not being able to see the
city, which lies hundreds of feet below the railway, but night had fallen,

MAQUEY PLANTATION NEAR MEXICO CITY.

and we could only guess its location from the twinkling lights far below
us. The next morning we passed through Queretara, where Maximilian
was executed, and breakfasted at Tula, a station some miles further on.
Here we were introduced afresh to the staple articles of Mexican food,
the tortilla and the frijole. The former is a flat cake of unleavened bread
made of corn flour, that tears like blotting paper and is about as palatable.
It is made by the native women, who treat the corn first with a solution
of lye to destroy the outer skin, and then they crush it on a little three-
legged stone table, called a matate, by means cf a stcne niano or rolling
pin. This, mixed with water, is baked, and is apparently much prized
by the natives. The frijoles or Mexican beans are of two kinds, negros
and blanca that is, black and white. To my palate the black ones are

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

101

altogether the best, although I enjoyed both. The Mexicans are also
very fond of meats which are cooked almost as soon as killed, and there-
fore, apt to be tough. In their cooking they use a great deal of lard
and make a greasy compound that a gringo stomach finds hard to digest.
I think it was at Tula that we got a first sight of Mexican opals.
It is well known that almost every visitor to the land of the Aztecs has
a vision of the purchase of opals at an exceedingly low price, and the
best of stones at that. It was here that we all had our chance. Several
dark hued vendors showed packages of stones that were beauties. The
asking price was high, however, and was lowered only when the train
began to move. We all knew what this meant. A hurried assent, the
transfer of the coin and the package of opals, and the subsequent dis-

SNOW CAPPED ORIZABA

covery that another package of less valuable stones had been deftly sub-
stituted. So we all refused to purchase. Did I say all? One shrewd
Yankee watched his chance, made his purchase, and came back chuckling.

"I fixed that moxo" he said; "I gave him four big Mexican cents
instead of as many quarters." When he opened his packet, however,
his face fell, for it contained only common pebbles.

A few miles south of this we had a fine view of the great Nochis-
tongo Canal, which in some parts is six hundred feet wide and two hun-
dred feet deep. It was begun back in 1608, as a drainage canal for the
valley of Mexico. The railroad runs for miles by the side of it, and
when one appreciates the fact that every bit of the earth was taken out in

102 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

baskets on the backs of peons, the magnitude of the work is appalling.
The canal was never completed, as there was an error in the levels,
amounting to about forty feet, over which the water refused to run.

Soon after this the eternal snows of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl
sprang into sight, and although few of the passengers pronounced either
of the words correctly, all seemed to be sufficiently impressed. We
learned here that the former of the two mountains had been purchased
by the Standard Oil Co., who are to work the vast sulphur deposits in
the crater above the snows. The second volcano was exploited to us by
a polite Mexican who said that the Aztec name meant "the lady of the
snows," and he pointed out that the irregular peaks of this mountain,
with their snowy mantle, took on the figure of a woman lying on her
back with her arms folded. All the rest of the party said that the like-
ness was perfect, and to save trouble I agreed with them, but it really
looked more like a couple of huge circus tents fresh from the laundry.

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING ENGINE

Shortly after this, we reached the City of Mexico, took a carriage,
drove to a hotel built in a hollow square, with tiled floors, stuccoed walls,
and rooms without baths. Here we unpacked our traps, sent out and
bought soap, and spent two hours in making alkaline solution from the
various strata of dust that had settled upon our editorial person.

It was midday, and hot uncomfortably so in the sun ; and just
here I want to speak of the climate of the city, and then dismiss the
matter forever. It may be all that is claimed for it by guidebooks and
railway folders, at certain seasons, but it struck me as far from perfect.
At night it was so cool that a heavy suit and a light overcoat were neces-
sary, while in the mkldle of the day one yearned for pajamas and sandals.
When one gets really chilly, there seem to be but two places to get warm ;
one is the United States and the other the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 103

There doesn't exist a fireplace, a stove, or any sort of heating apparatus,
in hotel or private house. Indeed, the inhabitants of the city claim that
such are unhealthy, and the result is that every stranger courts pneu-
monia, unless exceedingly careful. The city itself is beautiful, and has a
chocolate-colored policeman at every corner ; a polite little chap who
appreciates a tip or a good cigar, and who will do anything in reason for
the well behaved.

I spent two days in the capital, and was very much impressed with
its beauties. For a description of the buildings, customs, and places of
interest, one need only turn to the many excellent guidebooks on sale
everywhere. There are two points, however, which these publications do
not touch upon. One is the very sincere and deserved admiration which

LOOKING DOWN UPON MALTRATA FROM THE TRAIN

visitors of every nation openly express for President Diaz, and another
is the fact that American moneymakers, in a great variety of lines, are
getting a very strong foothold in the city, to its marked benefit and to
theirs.

Like any other tenderfoot, I had brought with me a lot of luggage,
which a closer view of conditions in the Terra Caliente showed to be
unnecessary. Most of this I left in the City of Mexico, and started forth
early one morning, clad in a summer suit, flannel shirt, and broad-brimmed
hat, with a Colt thirty-eight strapped to my waist, and bearing for lug-
gage, a small bag and a Mexican blanket. I found the conditions on
trains south of Mexico City radically different from those to the north.

104

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

There were, for example, first, second, and third class cars, with no Pull-
mans. The first class car might have been a baggage car for all the
luggage that the passengers had, and it might have been a smoking car
for the way in which both sexes smoked cigarettes ; indeed, it might
have been a barroom for the way that the train boy served native cognac
and beer. My seatmate, a powerful Swede, appreciated some of these
Providences more than I did. As he was interested in rubber planting,
and particularly as he understood Spanish, we became quite friendly, and
before I knew it he was taking my trip right out of my hands. He ver-
bally hustled me through Mexico, and by this time would have had me
in Patagonia, had I not put on the brakes.

The first part of my journey from the city, the road ran through
enormous maguey plantations, from which Mexico's national drink, the

STREET SCENE IN CORDOBA

pulque, is drawn. Then, after miles of dusty plain, the road (near Esper-
anza) runs close to the mountain side, disclosing, some four thousand
feet below, the little native village of Maltrata. Zigzagging round the
mountain, tunneling through projecting rocks, clinging to the edge of
awful precipices, the train curves and slides, until it finally gets down to
the plain, and the powerful double-headed locomotive which held it back
stops with a veritable sigh of relief.

Leaving Maltrata, the course still contiues down hill, following the
windings of a mountain stream some hundreds of feet below, until we
finally sight Orizaba/ clothed in eternal snow, lifting its head high above
all surrounding peaks, and to my mind far more beautiful and impressive
than Popocatepetl or its sister summit, over which tourists rave. After

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 105

a brief stop at the mountain hedged city of Orizaba, we left the train
at Cordoba, where the Spanish of my traveling companion was most help-
ful in securing accommodations at a little Mexican hotel, where we had a
really good dinner and comfortable beds.

In the morning we took an early train over the Vera Cruz and Pacific
road for Achotal, its terminus. Although the run is not a long one,
it takes from six o'clock in the morning till one the following morning
to make it.

( FICUS BENJAMINA.

That we were getting into an unsettled country was much more
apparent than ever before, the cars being guarded by rurales (the native
military police), and the passengers, both Americans and Mexicans, having
the free and easy demeanor which characterized the early days of the Far
West. The conductors and train hands were Americans, as were many
of the passengers, all of whom were going south and most of them
interested in rubber planting projects. As was natural, the Americans

io6

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

and English gravitated together, and I heard many interesting facts
concerning the country and much concerning rubber planting.
The verdict of those who were not directly interested in the
business seemed to be that there was nothing in it, and
that rubber trees could never be grown. Indeed, one passenger said
flatly that he had been in the country a number of years, but he had
never seen a rubber tree, and- didn't believe they could be grown anyhow.
This did not seem to disturb the serenity of the planters who didn't
argue the matter at all, but let the others talk. We passed a rather

LA JUNTA CORNER OF RUBBER FIELD ONE YEAR OLD.

wearisome day on the train, stopping occasionally for meals and getting
them served more and more in pioneer fashion. I had intended to stop
off at Tierra Blanca, in the vicinity of which are large plantations,
but learning that the men whom I most wished to see were absent, I left
that for a later visit. Finally, at one o'clock in the morning, we reached
Achotal, the train returning at once and leaving us standing on the plat-
form of the only frame building in the place, the depot, which was
promptly locked.

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

107

I am moved to tell of my experience at Achotal, not to deter the
timid or comfort loving from venturing into this part of the country,
but as a bit of history, for within a very few months it will cease to be
a pioneer railroad terminal, with its tramps, its native workmen, and its
flourishing cantina, and it will settle down as a safe, prosaic, Mexican
way station. In fact, this change was almost due when I was there, for
track had been hastily laid and construction trains run down to Santa
Lucretia, where it is to join with the National Tehuantepec Railway.
This construction train, by the way, we were to take some time about six
o'clock in the morning, and after riding about fifteen kilometers, I planned
to stop at Santa Rosa, and thus reach a large private rubber plantation
operated by an oldtime friend of mine.

LA FLORENCIA. PLANTATION HOUSE.

To be left in a town like Achotal at one o'clock in the morning, with
the knowledge that it would be hard work to get a bed, is not a partic-
ularly cheerful prospect. One of my planter friends, Mr. W. L. Adams
of Ixtal, however, whom I shall always remember gratefully, piloted
me across the muddy track, walked me over a narrow, springy plank
which rested against a. steep bank, and I saw fronting me the few palm
thatched native huts which make up the town. Entering one of these,
we found that there was no room at all, every available space being taken
by canvas cots and conscientious snorers. Leading me further up the
hill, however, he forced his way into another hut, roused the owner, and
finally secured for me a cot. This I took possession of, and prepared to

io8

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

make myself comfortable, as had a half dozen Mexicans, each of whom
had a similar resting place.

All were not asleep, however; in fact, my nearest neighbor, a mus-
cular young mozo, was just disrobing. While he undressed, his hat,
which lay on the cot, showed that it was preempted. Everything was
peaceful; the snores of the sleepers, the stamping of the horses outside,
the grunting of the pigs that had come in the open doorway and were
seeking what they could devour, and the scratching of the flea tormented

LA FLORENCIA. TAPPING LARGE WILD RUBBER TREE.

dogs, being the only sounds of life. Breaking in upon all this peace
came the big Swede, with a very substantial "jag," and took possession
of the nwzo's cot, throwing his hat upon the floor, whereupon the native
drew his knife, preparatory to a pointed argument. Not that I cared
particularly for the niozo, or for the Swede, but in the interests of fair
play I interfered, felling the latter that if he insisted upon taking the
cot, the niozo should have mine, whereupon he went out with some
grumbling, and wrapping myself in my blanket I went to sleep, feeling

no RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

that I had done a good turn for a dark-skinned, downtrodden brother.
I was not to rest long, however, for I \vas awakened by the reentrance
of the Swede, who came to inquire politely if the strangeness of my
surroundings kept me from sleeping. I assured him they did not, and
he departed satisfied, and I dropped off to sleep again". Suddenly, how-
ever, I was awakened by the feeling that some one was looking me in
the face, and opening my eyes I saw the mozo with his face about three
inches from mine and his hand outstretched toward my breast pocket.
1 have forgotten just what I said to him, but it was most emphatic, and
he went back and lay down, while I, wrapping my blanket tightly about
me, dropped into another doze, but not for long. Back came the Swede,
with more of a "jag" than ever, and sat on the side of my cot, and wished
aloud that he had a place to lie down, so I got up, and gave him my cot,
and went and sat in the doorway, and smoked and thought.

At five o'clock I succeeded in getting some coffee, which greatly
refreshed me, and at nine o'clock I boarded the construction train, which
was made up of a wood burning engine, a boxcar for passengers, and
two flat cars loaded with railroad ties, mosos, and negroes. We crept
along at a snail's pace over the temporary track which was not ballasted
and which had sunk almost out of sight, sometimes, in the clayey mud,
and sometimes it slid a foot or two to right or left, threatening to over-
turn the car. That this latter was no idle dream was indicated by several
boxcars which we saw that had been tipped off into ditches along the
side. We finally reached Santa Rosa and disembarked that is, I did,
and my cheerful planter friend, Adams, while all the rest went on. Santa
Rosa station is not a large one, the only building there being a ruined hut
of native build that had been in use when the pioneer railway camp
was there.

On the opposite side of the track, however, the land had been
cleared and planted to Castilloa, a part of the Demarest estate, my first
sight of the cultivated trees. They were growing on a well drained
hillside, in a rich, loamy soil, with a substratum of clay, and although
shedding their leaves, as they always do at the beginning of the dry
season, they looked thrifty and healthy. My companion sent one of his
men off through the forest to secure horses, and while he did that I
drank in the beauties of that tropical scene. It was a glorious morning,
and everything possessed the charm of novelty. The huge forest trees,
studded with orchids and epiphytes, the marvelously dense growth where
no clearing had been made a growth of trees, vines, and climbers so
thick that it would have been impossible to go ten feet through it with-

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

out cutting one's way ; the parrots chattering in the trees, the brilliant
macaws flying to and fro, and the wealth of flowers, big and little, held
me spellbound. I was awakened from my revery by Mr. Adams, who
led me up over the hill where lived the owner of the rubber trees, who
welcomed us warmly, and prepared an abundant meal, chatting most
entertainingly about the country and its prospects.

After a siesta, the horses having come, we mounted and trotted

INTERIOR CAMP NO. 4, ON PLANTATION KUEIO.

gaily away; that is, Mr. Adams did, but as I had not been on horseback
since I was ten years old, I felt anything but frivolous. A Mexican
saddle, however, kept me within bounds, and very soon the trail entered
the virgin forest and got so rough and muddy that the trot calmed down
to a walk, much to my satisfaction.

I don't think I shall ever forget one particular place in that road,

112

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

where we had to cross a muddy ravine with steep, clayey banks on either
side, or how I sat back as far as possible while the horse slid down to
the bottom, and then suddenly reversed my position and got "one hand
tight in his mane while he scrambled up the other; nor will I forget
how he tried to get out of the mud in the middle of the trail by walking
close to the trees, and of my frantic efforts to keep him away from the
spiney palms and numerous other bristling projections of the forest.
We finally emerged into the open, however, and as we came out my com-
panion asked me how I liked it. I had by that time gotten into the spirit
of the thing, and was thoroughly enjoying it, so that I could conscien-
tiously say, "First rate."

"Well, that's the worst trail around here," he replied ; "I thought
you might as well have that at the beginning/'

WATER FRONT AT MANITITLAN.

[Copyrighted Photo by C. B. Waite, Mexico.]

The rest of the ride was through a magnificent stand of cultivated
Castilloa trees, planted on rolling ground, about nine feet apart, showing
every evidence of intelligent care. Half an hour later, we drew up at
Newmark's plantation, which is known as El Ritero, and is a private
venture, embracing some four hundred acres of land, on which are about
fifty thousand rubber trees, planted four or five feet apart in the rows.
They looked finely, and indeed the whole place, with its coffee, bananas,
etc., appeared to be most flourishing. Here I was treated to a small red
banana about the size of one's thumb, that was the most delicious bit of
fruit one can imagine. I now parted from Mr. Adams, and being taken

ii4 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

in charge by Mr. Newmark, soon reached La Buena Ventura, and
entered the house that was to be my headquarters during my stay in the
Trinidad River district.

I had not seen my friend Harvey, the founder of this tropical
enterprise, since we dined together at the Lotos Club in New York
four years before. He was then yearning to shake the snows of the
north from his feet and hasten back to the land where winter was
unknown. I doubt if he believed that I would ever redeem my promise
given then to visit him, and it was not for some time that I learned
the cause for this skepticism. It seems that many northerners come to
the City of .Mexico some venture to Orizaba and points easy of access
further south, but few get as far as Achotal. Only a short time pre-
viously a well known New York lawyer arrived there at one in the
morning, saw what he was "up against/' boarded the train, and started
back, though within ten miles of his destination. And that was why
my host exclaimed, "By Jove, you are really here!"

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 115

SECOND LETTER.

A PROSPEROUS PRIVATE PLANTATION HUNTING FOR BARREN RUBBER TREES
PLANTING IN FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE LOCATIONS CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL
PLANTING THE DRY AND RAINY SEASONS VISITS TO NEIGHBORING PLANTATIONS
IXTAL SNAKES LA JUNTA THE AGRICULTURAL Mozo NEGRO LABORERS A
MIDNIGHT RIDE FREEDOM FROM PLANT PESTS.

THE site of the plantation, La Bueria Ventura, five years ago
was virgin forest. At that time Mr. James C. Harvey and his
son, Clarence, purchased for themselves and their associates, (a
private corporation), one thousand acres of land and prepared to develop
it along the most practical lines. When the senior Mr. Harvey
came to Mexico, it was with the idea of planting coffee, but after months
of study and a personal inspection of most of the Isthmus country, he
decided that India-rubber offered the best opportunity for profit, and
therefore he has turned the larger part of his land into a plantation of
Castilloa elastica. I am enlarging upon this trifle because, to my cer-
tain knowledge, the gentleman under consideration is not only an expert
horticulturist and botanist, but has studied tropical agriculture in Cen-
tral and South America, and in the East Indies and West Indies, and
beyond this he and his associates offered no stock for sale, but went into
the business to make money out of their own investment of capital,
energy, and knowledge. Such a plantation must, without fail, give the
visitor the best possible view of the practical end of the business. . There
are, of course, many such private estates in the tropics, but it happened
that this was the one that I knew most of, and to visit which I had a most
cordial invitation.

Here I was, therefore, installed in the palm thatched house, with
its earthern floor and bamboo walls, that for five years had been the
home of these hardy pioneers. The domicile was situated at one end
of a long ridge, on each side of which, with a rare eye to effect, were
planted gorgeous flowering and foliage plants, and trees valuable for
fruit and for ornament. Very modestly the presiding genius showed
me sixty-five different species of palms, probably the largest collection
in the Americas. Not only were there palms native to the tropical parts
of America, but there were specimens from Java, Ceylon, New Guinea,
Queensland, the Fiji Islands, New South Wales, and a score of other
remote places. These were gathered, not as part of the planting proposi-

n6 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

tion, but from a plant lover's interest alone, which they seemed to
appreciate by growing luxuriantly.

Then, too, I must not forget the collection of orchids that hung
from the bamboo lattice outside of the house, and clung to the trees
on all sides; nor the orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, banana, and plan-
tain trees, a notable part of the garden equipment. I looked with
interest also on the vanilla vines, the cacao plantation, and the twenty-
five varieties of pineapples, but my chief thought was rubber, and so
I soon found, was his. I do not wish to make my planter friend blush,
but when I found the work he was doing, how widely he was consulted
by planters both in Mexico and in distant tropical lands, I was more
than ever impressed with my wonderful luck in thus "striking oil" when
first I began to bore. So I asked questions, and questions, and questions,
and took notes most copiously all the time.

One of the first points that I wanted settled was, whether here or
elsewhere, there were Castilloa trees, either wild or cultivated, that did
not yield latex. So we both started out to find one such tree, by cutting
the outer bark indeed, during all of the trip, I cut trees by the hundred
just to prove this point but found none except in one instance. I was
much interested also to note the differences in the latex as it issued forth.
In some instances the tree would send out a perfect shower of milk-
white drops, which coagulated rather slowly, while another near by
would exude a thicker fluid that began to coagulate almost immediately.
The natives claim that this latter tree is simply so rich in rubber that
it retards the flow, and that after a little tapping, it corrects itself and
the latex becomes more fluid.

The younger trees gave out abundant latex, but those that were
less than four years old gave a milk that seemed immature ; that is, it
did not coagulate into dry, hard rubber but remained quite sticky. I
noted also a curious thing in connection with this, which was that in
the younger trees the latex began to mature first near the base of the
tree, while up towards the branches it still remained of the sticky sort.
But we found no trees in this district that did not yield latex abundantly.

At La Buena Ventura I was able to institute some exceedingly
interesting comparisons between the growth of the rubber tree under
favorable and unfavorable conditions. In both cases the trees were
Castilloas, planted- from selected seed. In the first instance they were
planted in the open, about nine feet apart, on rolling land which had
good drainage. Measuring the circumference of the trunks a foot above
the ground, I got a fair average of 23.3 inches, and an estimated average

n8 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

height of twenty-two feet. The banner Castilloa was a seedling planted
in the open, that measured thirty-two inches in circumference
and twenty-five feet high. All of these trees had every
appearance of health and vigor, and gave forth milk abundantly. From
the records shown me, they were a trifle over four years old. In
the second instance, grown in partial shade, such as produced fine
cacao, with the land more level and not well drained, the trees being
planted at exactly the same time, and from the same lot of seed, I got
an average of 4.6 inches for circumference a foot above the ground, and
an average height of six feet. Anyone would not seem to need a more
graphic illustration than this of the necessity for observing proper con-
ditions in planting, and further, as a warning against planting in badly
drained land or in the shade.

It is well to note that where these failures appeared there were
several wild rubber trees that we estimated to be twenty-five or thirty
years old. They seemed to be perfectly healthy and bled freely. The
only reasonable explanation of this is that they were seedlings that grew
up slowly in the densest sort of forest when the tremendous surface
growth was so luxuriant as to be able to partially drain the ground
through its great leaf areas, and also lift and make it porous by the
leverage of myriads of thrusting roots. The partial clearing of the land
later stopped most of this aerial drainage, and the subsequent rotting of
the roots allowed the ground to sink into a solid, water-sodden mass.

The land at La Buena Ventura seemed to be first leaf mold, then
a rich, yellow loam, three or more feet deep, and under that a blue,
clayey ooze, as if from the bottom of a tropical ocean bed. It was rolling
land, as a rule, very well drained, and capable of growing almost
any tropical product. The Castilloa orchard, through which I tramped
many times, had in it about two hundred and forty thousand trees,
from one to four years of age. All of them were planted from the
seed, except a small percentage taken- frcm nursery stcck to make up
for the occasional failure of a seedling.

One result of my early observation, and one that grew with each
day's experience, was the conviction that a knowledge of climate, rain-
falls, soils, drainage, etc., is an absolute necessity from the beginning,
in the selection of suitable sites for rubber plantations. In other words,
the expert tropical agriculturist, well equipped with common sense, is
most likely to be the one who starts right. For example, one plans to
plant the Castilloa. It is a soft, wood tree, a tree that from its physical
formation is not built to stand high winds, that with its long taproot

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 119

must have a deep, rich soil, and well drained withal. It is a deciduous
tree, which means that at a certain time each year it encourages the
presence of the sun's rays on its trunk and limbs. The prospective
planter should, therefore, pick out land that is covered with a growth
of soft, rather than hard wood trees, as the latter points to a gravelly
soil instead of clayey loam. It should be rolling land, or at least land
that is naturally well drained. It should be soil that will give the tree
plenty of moisture during the dry season and yet that will not be soggy
during the wet season. For a running rule, there should be at least
four feet of drainage soil. In the clearing of the land, if there are not
natural windbreaks, a certain amount of forest should be left standing
to act as such. Referring again to the long taproot of the Castilloa,

HOTEL PALOMARES, MAN1TITLAN.

[Copyrighted Photo by C. B. Waite, Mexico.]

it is said that as the tree grows older it often disappears, its place being
taken by large laterals.

I struck the Tier r a Calient e just at the beginning of the dry season,
and therefore was curious to know exactly what constitutes the rainy
and dry seasons in the tropics. Of course, no general answer could
be given, as in different tropical regions these seasons have their own
idiosyncrasies. I believe I had but little idea of what the weather was
in the rainy season, whether it rained all the time, or was partly rainy
and partly clear, and this is what I learned : In the state of Vera Cruz,
the dry season runs roughly from February to June. During the latter
part of May there are about three weeks of genuine hot, dry weather.

120 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

Prior to this, what is really the dry season is often broken by rainfall;
in fact, it rains a little about half the time. Beginning with the first
of June, however, and lasting until the first of September, come the
torrential rains, except that there is, in August, a week or ten days
of dry weather. Nine days out of ten during the torrential rains, the
morning breaks bright, clear and sunshiny. Then in the early afternoon
heavy thunder is heard, followed by the roar of the rain through the
forest, the water falling in sheets from one-half to one and one-half
hours. It also rains regularly during the night.

When night fell at La Buena Ventura, we all went indoors, for
beautiful though the tropical moonlight is, fevers are most easily caught
after sundown, and particularly if one sleeps out in the open. In fact,
native or planter will do almost anything rather than thus expose him-
self. We did sit in the doorway, for awhile, and drink in the glorious
view of tropical luxuriance, made almost as light as day by the full
moon, yet softened to a weird, rich beauty that the northern climes
cannot equal.

For the first time in my life I slept under a gracefully draped series
of muslin curtains. As there were no mosquitoes, I thought it rather
unnecessary until my host said that although the country was a para-
dise, centipedes, small snakes, and tarantulas sometimes dropped from
the inside of the thatched roof, and while they were not as poisonous
as many thought, I might not care to share my couch with them. I slept
under a blanket, it was so cool, and awoke to find awaiting me, at the end
of a palm thatched corridor, a fine shower bath. Few planters have
them, but Mr. Harvey's English blood, so it is said, impelled him to
build this before he had a roof on his house. It was certainly a great
luxury, and one to which my thought often turned when later I awoke
from a night's alleged sleep in a passenger coach or native hut.

The day was Sunday, and we had coffee and rolls soon after rising,
and breakfast about twelve, as is the custom of the country. In the
afternoon many neighboring planters rode over on horses or mules, dis-
cussed crops, and asked the news from the outer world. They were
most cordial in their invitations to me to visit their places, and it was
with the greatest regret that I was able to avail myself of only a few
of these privileges.

It was during this social Sabbath that I renewed a pleasant acquaint-
ance with the tw r o 'Fish brothers, Wisconsin Yankees, who were looking
at land in that region, and who, I believe, finally purchased La
Florencia estate, said to have the oldest cultivated rubber in that

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 121

district. They were hustling about, seeing things in a jolly, breezy
fashion that made them most welcome, and they helped me exceed-
ingly by giving me excellent photographs of nearby estates that I did
not have an opportunity to visit.

When first I struck La Buena Ventura I must confess that the
languor of the climate, or else my own innate laziness, led me to take
things very easy. The hammock in the family room was most inviting,
and in spite of the fact that "Loro," the green parrot, watched until I
napped, and then climbed down from the rafters and gave me a friendly
bite, I luxuriated but only for a couple of days, and they were far
from wasted, as I drank in lots of information from my host.

RUBIO. INTERIOR OF TEMPORARY OFFICE.

The second day we started out to visit the neighbors. I wanted
to walk but that was out of the question, so I had my second experience
as a horseman. I was devoutly thankful that my little mare was lazy
nor did I mind it that she always managed to step on my toes just as I
prepared to mount. But she did take advantage of me when she chose
to stop on a log bridge not more than two feet wide and standing on three
legs tried to bite a fly that she pretended was on the fourth. I did
not fall off, but had I started her with voice or whip I think I should
have. She had a habit, too, of imagining she saw a snake ahead in

122 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

the trail, and suddenly leaping to one side. I stayed with her every
time, and am still just as much surprised at it as she -was.

Our first visit was to Ixtal, where I again had a chance to thank
M,r. Adams for his earlier helpfulness, and also to meet his right hand
man, Mr. Stewart. It was to my mind the hottest day we had experi-
enced, when we finally reached the ridge upon which the plantation
buildings were located. By that time I was getting to be somewhat
of a connoisseur in rubber trees, and so, after the noon breakfast, was
glad to accompany Mr. Adams on a tour of inspection. Here were
some two hundred and fifty acres planted to rubber, the oldest trees
being four years, and the total number about one hundred and fifty
thousand.

The land was very similar to that at La Buena Ventura, and the
growth about the same, although in a part of the plantation the trees
seemed to be a little taller. Latex flowed from them all abundantly, and
my guide said that he had never found one that did not show plenty of
milk. In discussing this question, Mr. Adams told of an Australian
scientist who had been in that region, and who claimed that there were
three native Castilloa species, only one of which was a rubber producer.
They all looked alike, so he said, and the difference in them could only be
detected by a careful examination of the cellular structure of the leaf.
He said further that he uprooted eighty per cent, of his own first year's
planting, because he did not know this. When he finally did get the
right tree big enough to tap, it bled so freely that he was obliged to
stop the cuts with clay, else it would have bled to death. We were able
to assure Mr. Adams that this was not credible, to which he agreed.

One of the officials of Ixtal, Dr. Butcher, has a very pretty home
not far from the plantation headquarters, at which we called on our
way back. The Doctor and his wife received us hospitably, and while
the others chatted on neighborhood topics, the head of the house took
me out and showed me the skin of a big snake that he had just killed.
Now one of the common dreads that the tenderfoot carries with him
in the tropics is that of snakes. It would be folly to believe that
there is no danger from them, when one considers the impenetrable
jungles and the conditions that nature has prepared for an ideal reptilean
existence. As a matter of fact, however, during the whole of my trip
I did not see a single live snake, big or little. I did see the skins of
some very sizeable ones nailed to walls of the planters' houses, such as
that which Dr. Butcher showed me, but even those are rare. The
planters say that this is due to the fact that the woods are full of wild

124 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

hogs that consider any kind of snake, poisonous or otherwise, a great
delicacy, and that those that escape the hogs are very likely to he caught
by the hawks, which are very abundant and always on the watch. There
are only two really poisonous snakes there, as far as known ; one is the
rabade heuso, which is small, quick, and very deadly, and seems to have
a special antipathy to mules ; the second is called by the natives the
"sorda," and is something like the diamond rattlesnake, but has no
rattles. It has poison fangs an inch and a half long, is very slow to
move, and quite poisonous. There are also small pythons and some
big black racers, both harmless, however.

We returned to La Buena Ventura late in the afternoon, and
after a good night's sleep, were fully prepared for further visiting. Our
next journey was to La Junta, the largest plantation in that district.
Like all the others, the approach was through the forest, by the usual
trail that meant considerable rough riding, the fording of streams, plod-
ding through mud, and climbing over fallen tree trunks. By this time
I was fairly used to it, however, and was enjoying it as I never would
have believed possible. It was early in the afternoon when we emerged
from the forest and struck the broad, fine road that runs through the
plantation. We were now on a ridge that gave a fine view, not only
of the rolling land covered with young rubber trees, but some two miles
of? we also saw the administration building and workmen's homes that
mark the certer of the planting operations. The estate contains some
five thousand acres, of which about one-half is already cleared, most
of it planted to rubber. The trees are from seven to nine feet apart,
and looked as if they were in prime condition. The orchard numbers
about seven hundred and fifty thousand rubber trees. The oldest were
two years and average 23.5 inches in diameter, a foot from the ground,
and about seven feet in height. For help, there are from two
hundred to four hundred men, one-half of whom are natives. Perhaps
here more than anywhere else has been tried the experiment of importing
labor, and not depending entirely upon the native, who is not at all
times entirely reliable.

The average mozo, or agricultural laborer, is, however, a most
interesting study. If treated well, he is a good workman, ?nd that, too,
without any particular reason why he should be. In the community in
which he lives, he has allotted to him a certain amount of land, which
if tilled three months in the year very moderately, will produce enough
to keep its owner in what is to him comfort, the year round. As a rule,
the \nozo is of medium height, strong and skilled within certain narrow

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

12$

limits, but ignorant, superstitious, and childlike. For instance, he can
carry on his back almost as much as an able bodied burro, but if he were
to reach with both hands up the branch of a tree over his head, he would
find it impossible to pull his chin up even with it. On the other hand,
he can use his machete, his constant companion, in the most skillful
manner, and tirelessly. For example, he knows so thoroughly the text-
ure and density of all tropical vegetation, that he can cut his way
through the forest with scarcely a sound, grading each blow so as to
exactly sever vine, stalk/ or limb, without waste of strength; or, if

RUBIO. YOUNG PLANTED RUBBER.

given a stint of w r ork in clearing weeds or undergrowth with the
machete, can do more in half a day than any other laborer can t in a
day. The axe men among them are not as common as the machete men,
but they, too, are exceedingly skillful, wielding the straight handled,
broad bladed axe with marvelous ease, and felling a tree, no matter how
large it is, exactly where they wish.

As a rule, the natives are not well nourished, and seem to have
more sickness than do the foreign residents. Indeed, the stories of
yellow fever that come to us relate more to the native workman than to

126 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

any other people. Strange as it may seem also, the workmen from the
hill country, when they get down in the hot countries, are very apt to
die of pneumonia. The nwzo withal is an impractical sort of a chap, and
while he knows it, he doesn't seem to care to change. I heard a planter
point out to one of them that if he stayed on his own allotment, and
worked, he would in three months raise fifteen dollars worth of corn ;
on the other hand, if he worked three months for the planter, he would
get sixty dollars and all the corn he wanted. The native acknowledged
the force of the argument, but didn't see his way clear to change his
habits. They are a very serious people, as a rule, except when full of
aguardiente-, then they become rather boastful, and are sometimes quar-
relsome.

A pretty custom of the country is the greeting that they always
give the traveler, and usually each other when they meet. In the morn-
ing, it is "buenas dias" ] in the afternoon, "buenos tarde" ; and in the
evening, "buenos noches."

The mozo is essentially a religious being, and his impulses find ample
scope in the thirty-five fiestas, or feast days, that have been provided for
him. He usually patronizes at least two of these, and oftentimes many
more, and spends every cent he has on aguardiente and mescal. The
result is that he gets conspicuously drunk and stays so as long as he
can. Such a thing as a mozo having money ahead is unknown. On the
contrary, he is usually in debt. The planters, therefore, when they hire
them, purchase this debt, which sometimes runs as high as two hundred
dollars, and also promise the man a certain advance to be spent at the
next fiesta. The average wage is from sixty-two and one-half cents
a day up to about seventy-five cents a day, and found. This, as a rule,
includes three drinks of aguardiente a day. Some of the planters have
secured negroes direct from the United States, and from Jamaica.
These gel about seventy-five cents a day, and found, except when rail-
road contractors tempt them off by offering them from two dollars
to five dollars a day. But to return to La junta.

We rode for a long distance through the rubber, and finally, ascend-
ing a steep hill, found ourselves in the main street of the plantation
village. Here was concentrated the life of the place, and the scene
certainly was a busy one. Of the thirty or more native houses of
bamboo and palm. thatched, several were rapidly being turned into frame
dwellings with tiled roofs, and built to stay. Beyond these was the
long, one story house of the general manager and his baker's dozen of
active young American assistants. Then came the store, stocked with as

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

127

large a variety of goods as any village emporium could boast, and then
a two-story building, the lower part of which was the general dining
hall, and the upper, the office of general manager and field superinten-
dent. On the opposite side of the street was the carpenter's and black-
smith's shop, the stables, etc.

The active head of affairs, Mr. George Mann, caught sight of us
almost as soon as we arrived, and not only bade us to supper, but insisted
that we stay over night. This we decided to do, rather than to ride the
trail after nightfall. He then introduced us to his staff, or such of
them as were not absent, and Messrs. Kramer, Hill, Zimmerman, Shu-
feldt, Sleister, and Dr. Erwin, all young, active, and friendly, together
with their capable chief, will long linger in my memory as types of

RUBIO. BRICK AND TILE FACTORY.

Americans that are so effectually conquering the tropical wilderness.
Dr. Erwin by the way, is physician and surgeon for the plantation, and
Mr. Shufeldt is the son of Commodore Shufeldt of the United States
Navy, who surveyed the route for the Tehuantepec ship canal for the
United States government, some years ago. Mr. Sleister I had already
met, as he was on the train that bore me to Achotal. I did not see
much of him, however, as he had a carload of Tennessee negroes in
charge to deliver to La Junta ; and as one or two of them were "bad
coons," and as liquor was abundant at every stopping place, his hands
were full most of the time. By the exercise of much patience and tact,
and by wearing a huge Mauser revolver while in their company, he
finally got them all safely there.

128 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

There was still enough of daylight to have a look around, so we
visited the various shops, the sawmill, brickyard and waterworks ;
inspected the native quarters, and got back just as supper was
announced. We spent the evening in the assembly room of the
officers, smoking big, black Mexican cigars that have no harmful
effect in that climate, but would be deadly in the north, and listening
to home music from a well equipped phonograph.

We retired about eleven, and had hardly gotten a good grip on our
beauty sleep when a stir outside showed that something was doing.
Not to miss anything, I went out upon the broad verandah, and found
the young men saddling their horses, and equipping themselves for
a moonlight ride. Seeing me expectant, they informed me that nine
of the Tennessee negroes had skipped, doubtless to join some railroad
gang, and for a short time get higher wages. As the company had
paid their fare from the States to the plantation, and as the moral
effect on the others would be bad if they were not brought back, it
behooved those in charge to stop the runaways before they reached
the railroad. And they certainly went about the matter as if they
meant business. It was a thrilling sight to see them assembling, and
I forgot that I was pajama clad and barefooted, and stood in the
moonlight watching until they finally cantered off down through the
valley and over the hills, and were lost to sight in the black wall of
forest, into which the road ran. To finish this incident, I may add
that they overtook all of the runaways, and brought them back, and
they went to work again just as if nothing had happened.

The next morning after inspecting the rubber, and getting samples
of earth for analysis, we took the road home, where we arrived safe,
sound, and happy except for the rodadors and pinoleos.

Plant life in Mexico seems to be exceptionally free from pests of
all sorts. I did, in the course of my trip, see three caterpillar nests, but
not in the Tierra Calient e. I looked and inquired particularly for any
enemy of the Castilloa, but found trace of none, and heard only of an
ant that attacks the tree where it has been wounded at times, but that
only rarely. Of the few trees thus attacked, nearly all had thrown out
woody excrescence.s that were not only protecting the inner tissues,
but seemed actually to be crowding the devourers out. So rare is it
that a tree is thus attacked that the planters take no precaution against
it.

Speaking of ants, these busy workers are in evidence nearly every-
where, and when the "marching ants" come in force, everything that

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 129

can gets out of the way. The householders welcome these visits, as
the ant army goes through every crack and cranny in the house, killing
mice, spiders, and insects of all sorts ; in fact, making a clean sweep.
When they call in the middle of the night, and announce their
arrival by mounting one's bed, and by the most vicious of bites, it is a bit
sudden, but all one has to do is to get out of the way until their work is
done, when they depart with the curious rustling noise with which they
came. Some of these armies march great distances, and have huge nests,
as much as fifty feet in diameter.

The rubber tree is not singular in being free from pests nearly
all others seem to be equally so. It was a rare thing to see a leaf or
a petal that had been blighted or eaten by any sort of insect. The reasons
for this remarkable immunity from the usual pests are not far to seek.
They will, I think be found in the great ^abundance of birds, and no doubt
in the wonderful equilibrium that nature has there established between
the insects that are destructive to plant life, and the other insects that
prey upon them. It is to be hoped that this balance may long be pre-
served. As a matter of caution, it might be well to state that the hunter
who slaughters birds for their plumage will not find a cordial welcome
among the Mexican planters.

In the dry season, which of course was when my visit was made,
there are but few butterflies and moths but in the rainy season they are
most abundant. Of these my host* had a collection which gave me a won-
derful insight into the winged beauties in that section.

130 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

THIRD LETTER.

CLEARING AND BURNING BY CONTRACT DANGER FROM FIRES GATHERING CAS-
TILLOA SEED TESTING SEED COSTLY SEED FAILURES TRACK WALKING UNDER
DIFFICULTIES THE BOSTON RUBBER TREE MORNING GLORY VINES ARRIVAL AT
SANTA LUCRETIA A CONDENSED MILK LESSON COATZACOALCOS SLEEPING IN THE
"BiRD CAGE" UP THE USAPANAPA AND CHICHIGAPA RIVERS PLANTATION
RUBIO A FINZ ''BODEGA" ON HORSEBACK THROUGH MILES OF RUBBER THE
TAPPING PROBLEM.

THE planters in the Trinidad River district were so well informed,
and so ready to impart their knowledge to one interested, that
I felt as we journeyed back to La Buena Ventura that I was
getting a pretty good grasp on the rubber planting situation. I
had learned, too, specifically, what clearing, burning, planting, lining,
staking, and cleaning involved. Indeed, as luck would have it, I ran
across some of the men who take the contracts for cleaning, at various
times during my journey. In certain cases the planters clear their own
land. They prefer, however, to let it out by contract, as it does not cost
so much, and is one less burden for them to bear. In Vera Cruz, clear-
ing is usually done between the middle of February and the last of
April. The contractor brings a large force of men who fell everything,
the axemen handling the big trees, and the many machete men lopping
branches, cutting vines, and arranging all for a good burn. If the work
is well done, and at the right time, the mass of fallen litter gets at least
a month of hot, dry weather, which dries out the fallen timber almost
beyond belief, and gives weeds and climbers no chance to spring up.
This part of the work is very important, because if a poor burn takes
place, it involves the cutting and piling up of half burned tree trunks,
and a second burning, which is costly. It is figured that in this work
twenty-five men will clear about half an acre a day.

During the burning the planters are always on the watch to keep
the fire from spreading, not only into the virgin forest, but into adjacent
planting's. The danger from fires carried by subterranean roots which
may smoulder for days, and then burst into flame, is no slight one.
Indeed, several cases have occurred where the fire has spread into cleared
land, and destroyed many hundreds of valuable rubber trees. To cite
one case in point, it might be well to recall the loss of the Varney Rubber
Co., who had a plantation on the Tehuantepec Railway, and who lost

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC jii,

two hundred and fifty acres of two-year-old trees .by. fire in the dry
season, said to have been started by sparks from a locomotive.

After the burn is finished, the ground is open and spongy, and in j^s.t
the right condition for the reception of seed. If this seed, is. r put, ifl-Spj
as to catch the early rain, it gets a good start before the torrential rains
come, when the soil is pounded down hard. This is the reason that seecj
planting the second year is not apt. to prosper, and, why it ; is.,., better then
to transplant from a well equipped nursery. The earliest bloom of .the^
Castillo a appears about the first of .March, : :the seed. ..ripening within
sixty days, and it is usually all gone thirty, fe^Atyer.;., -jThe^ seeds are

7 v/orfg QJ bsfrgiesb &&~/r rbirlv/ ..Jnarniisq:-:

7/blJ;fj;j >rv/ bf",

gathered, as^. a general thing, ., as soon;, &$ -r.ipe^ /and" it is ,-often a -race
between the planters and parrots to see which- will get the ^mos-t, as the
latter are very fond of them-. The -seed is. secured by, /knocking the cones
off the branches of the trees with, long poles.. , T.hese cones, are put in
water, and allowexi to stand over night, when the gluten-surrounding the
seed sjightly ferments. -The mass -is then placed in a sieve, and the pulp
is easily washed? away. - After a final washing; the floaters or unvitalized
seeds, are ski-mmed off, and the residue are dried on -mats in the
As the vitality of the Castillo^ seed- is very sligjit-, it is necessary v t;Q' :

1 32 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

within a week or two at the longest. It might be well to note here that
Mr. Harvey kept some seeds alive by packing in charcoal, and that they
germinated when planted several months later, but no one but a trained
horticulturist would be likely to be successful with such an experiment.
With regard to the planting of the seed, it should be remembered that
the first rains are oftentimes followed by a week or two of dry weather.
It is therefore best to wait until at least four inches of rain have fallen,
that is, when planting in heavy soil, and to have a reserve of seed saved
for failures, either from drought, washouts, or lack of germination.

On one of the plantations I was shown the result of a very interest-
ing experiment, which was designed to show why, of two seeds, planted
near each other in apparently equally favorable positions, one produced
a vigorous tree, while the other produced a weakling. To determine
this, the planter selected three sizes of seeds and planted them under
equal conditions, supposing naturally that the largest seed would produce
the most vigorous plant. He learned, however, that size had nothing to
do with it, as in some cases the smallest seeds produced gave the best
result. The real difference seems to be, therefore, in the inherent vitality
of the seed itself. There are a great many ideas regarding the best way
of planting the Castilloa, and there is no doubt but that different methods
are adapted for difference of situations. I am firmly convinced, however,
that, in the region I visited, by far the best method of planting is at the
stake, backed up by a small nursery, in order that the failures may be
made good. Any one who has seen two-year-old seedlings as against
two-year-old nursery plants will, I think, agree with me.

Again and again was it impressed upon me how alert and careful
the planter must be in preparing his ground, and especially in getting
his seed at the right time, and getting it into the ground so that it shall
have the proper start. And their knowledge has come through acknowl-
edged failures. One good friend of mine bought a ton of seed at one
dollar a pound, and was unlucky enough to have it all spoil. Another
cleared hundreds of acres for which he failed to get any seed, the clear-
ing having to lie over until the year following. And these are but two
of many instances which would discourage any but the most determined
men. But such happenings do not reach the same man twice.

On our arrival at La Buena Ventura, mine host found a letter
'from a large planter down near Coatzacoalcos, inviting him to visit his
place, and as that was just the direction in which I had planned to go,
I resolved to embrace the chance to go with the best of guides. It
therefore happened that early morning found us in the saddle, bound

134 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

for Santa Rosa, but not over the trail by which I had come in. This
time it was over a clear path, through the planted rubber trees, dipping
down into the forest, and over a road with a soft carpet of matted leaves
two or three feet deep, and as springy as if made of rubber a new trail,
and all on La Buena Ventura land. On reaching the railroad, we sent
the horses back, and after waiting awhile, hoping for a train which
might or might not run that day, we started to walk towards Santa
Lucretia, where the new road joins the National Tehuantepec Rail-
road. Walking a railroad track under any circumstances is hard work,
but that track was certainly not made for tramps or actors. It had been
hastily laid in the rainy season so as to make connection at Santa
Lucretia, and infrequent and slow though the trains were, it was already
a godsend to the planters and travelers. We knew, also, that as soon as
the dry season carn it would be straightened, ballasted, and put in
shape. But its prospective virtues did not make the walking any easier.
It was not altogether because the sleepers were laid at uneven distances,
and often not spiked to the rails, or that the grass had grown up and
covered both with a slippery tangle, nor was it the clayey mud that
often rose flush with the rail tops, but it was the combination of all
these that tired us out ere we had gone very far. Still, we had no
thought of backing out, and so plodded steadily on, our packs on our
shoulders, our feet clogged with mud, and wondering if luck would
send the construction train to our assistance. But the trip was not
without its compensations. The day was gorgeous, and my companion,
botanist and enthusiast as he is, talked of the trees and plants in a way
that would make one forget any sort of hardship.

Speaking of the forest, one of the most conspicuous trees is a sort
of a banyan, which has all the idiosyncrasies of that tree of many
trunks, and grows to a great size. It is a species of Ficns which has
not as yet been identified, but is probably the Ficns Benjamina. On
tapping it gives a certain amount of latex, but of a very sticky nature,
and probably of no value. There are also a great many mahogany
trees, but in the former lumbering operations the larger of them have
been cut out, and while there are many of them that would square per-
haps twelve or fourteen inches, there are not so many which would go
up to eighteen inches, the old time test. However, mahogany is so plen-
tiful that many of the bridges across the streams on the forest trails
are made of squared mahogany logs, one or two of them laid side by
side, and mahogany furniture is very common in the planters' home
furnishings. There is considerable lignum vitcc, and on the track we

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 135

were then walking it was often used for ties. Spanish cedar is
also quite abundant, and is one of the valuable woods.

In regard to trees the old resident, and sometimes the semi-old
one, is very apt to point out the rubber tree in its natural state as you
ride with him through the forest, and if he knows anything about
rubber, he never makes any mistake. If he doesn't, he is very apt to
point out a tree which the planters call the "Boston rubber tree/' and
which the natives call the "chankarro." It really looks like the Castilloa,
but is apt to prove a surprise to those who try to tap it. The trunk is
only a hollow shell, and the interior is invariably filled with what are
known as the fire ants, of whose presence the tapper is instantly apprised
when his machete cuts through the thin film of bark.

PIECE OF ROAD ON PLANTATION RUEIO.

There are, also, many beautiful trees, such as the "royal" and other
palms, and an infinite variety of vines and climbers. Perhaps the most
abundant vine down in that part of the country is the morning glory,
which is not an annual as it is with us, but it is a perennial, and swarms
up over the tree trunks, covering acres of forest with its dense foliage,
and its beautiful bloom. To those who insist that the trunk of a rubber
tree should not be exposed to the sun, I would suggest that they allow
the morning glory vines to cover it, as they will shade it perfectly, and
do the tree no harm. At the same time, I am personally convinced that
the tree needs no such shading.

I must not forget one vine that we noted on our journey, as it

136 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

had a blossom that for size put in the shade anything that I had ever
seen. I do not recall the botanical name, but it is of the family that
produces what is known as the "Dutchman's pipe." We saw several
of them, and finally secured a blossom. In size it was as large as an
old fashioned Shaker bonnet, and must have weighed a pound and a
half. It was not pretty, except in a bizarre tropical sense, but was
simply a type of what the richest of soil, plenty of moisture, and con-
stant warmth can produce.

There seem to be few poisonous plants ; the most common is a lux-
uriant shrub with a crown of handsome white flowers, which acts like a
gigantic nettle, instantly paralyzing the hand that grasps it. This is
very plentiful, and its Spanish name means "the evil woman plant."

None of the forest through which we passed would be called prime-
val as there were no trees that were over one hundred and fifty years
old. Just why this is so, none can tell, but that the land was once
densely inhabited is proved by bits of pottery, arrow heads, etc., that are
to be found on every plantation, and in the railroad cuttings in great
abundance. And that reminds me that at La Junta Mr. Shufeldt gave
me a hideously interesting little clay idol which he found in a vegetable
garden there. I unwittingly left it on the table in my room at La
Buena Ventura, and I wish to warn the genial householder that I am
coming down soon purposely to recover it.

Meanwhile, hot, perspiring but cheerful, we were plodding on
towards the Tehuantepec Railway that was miles and miles in the dis-
tance. Finally, however, we reached Sanborn, soon to be a metropolis ; but
when we arrived it was simply a camp where men were grading, felling
the forest, and getting ready to put up a modern railway station, which
is to have a telegraph and telephone office, and all sorts of modern
conveniences. This place, by the way, is about eight miles from La
Junta, and will be its railway station. It is named after one of the
prominent officials, who, besides his interest in rubber planting, has
purchased a big block of land, and is going into lumbering, brick making,
and a variety of industries that will be of marked benefit to that section.
At Sanborn we struck good luck, for we had not been there five minutes
when a locomotive whistled, and soon the construction train crawled
into sight. We boarded the flat car in front to keep from being set
afire by sparks from. the wood burning engine, and we continued our
journey.

Arriving at Santa Lucretia in due time, we disembarked and
wended our way to the town proper which consists of a hotel on stilts,

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

137

a railway station, and a few native huts as a background. With a rail-
way camp close by, and with the many Americans constantly going and
coming, the town really presented a busy scene. The hotel is run by
Major Elliott, a powerful man with a military bearing, very friendly to
those who behave, but a trifle stern with the semi-worthless natives that
are ever to be found at a railroad end. We had an excellent dinner,

WILD RUBBER TREE ON COATZACOALCOS RIVER.

partly of native food, and partly canned goods from the States. Speak-
ing of the latter, American manufacturers do not seem to realize that
one of the best supply markets in the world is to be found among the
planters and small hotel men in the tropics. Some do, of course, and
some of the great merchants and mail order houses are cultivating the

138 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

field most industriously and profitably, but most do not. A case in
point, of this lack of appreciation came to my attention during this
journey. A planter who is so thoroughly American that he would far
rather buy of his own countrymen than of any other, used a great deal
of condensed milk. That which he bought of English or Swiss make
was white and sweet, while the American brand that he wanted to buy
soon became in that hot, moist climate, of a chocolate brown color, and
quite offensive. In the goodness of his heart he wrote the manufac-
turers, telling them the whole story, and instead of being thanked,
received a most insulting letter from an officer of the company. He
wrote again, not in his former vein, but stating a few salient facts, and
ended by remarking that as the English had for one hundred and fifty
years been successfully supplying tropical markets, they would probably
keep on until Americans had the sense to study their methods.

Just before the train arrived, our party was reinforced by the
arrival of Mr. R. O. Price, the general manager of Solo Suchil, who
had been apprised to be on the lookout for us, and who told us that
a steam launch would be waiting for us at the end of the railway
journey, to take us up the Coatzacoalos River to Minatitlan, and later to
the plantations on that and tributary streams. At length our train came,
and we were on our way. The much vaunted National Tehauntepec
road is no doubt an engineering triumph, but what with earthquakes,
morasses, and streams that are one day rivulets and the next raging
torrents, it is not yet equal in equipment or service to a one horse road
in the Far West. The trains run every other day, and get in on time
very rarely.

We finally arrived at Coatzacoalcos, the Atlantic terminus, two
hours late, and there were welcomed by Mr. A. B. Luther, the gerante
general of Plantacion Rubio. Here two more Americans joined the
party, and boarding the steam launch, we steamed up to Minatitlan, a
quaint old Mexican town where we were to spend the night. Beds had
been bespoken in the little hotel familiarly known as the ''bird cage,"
and we were soon sleeping the sleep of the just.

With the first break of day we were up, had our coffee, and started
out to see the place. As a matter of fact, there was not much to interest
one at that early hour. Most of the inhabitants were still wrapped in
the warm arms of the sleep god, whatever his Aztec name may be, and
the chief signs of life were the dogs, chickens, and turkey buzzards, the
latter the most independent and loathsome of all the feathered tribe.
There is a fine of fifty dollars for killing one, and the creature knowing

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

139

this pursues its scavenging operations with a ruffianly impudence that
is disgusting. It is said that every community in those parts has one
buzzard for every inhabitant. According to that, Minatitlan has lots
of folks that do not appear in public, for seated on fences, on roofs,
swooping down to rob the dogs, fighting, flapping, and squawking, the
buzzards were legion.

A little later we all assembled at the boat landing, climbed over a
lot of Indian dugouts, and were prepared for the trip up river. Our
journey that day was to be up the Coatzacoalcos, the Usapanapa, and
Chichigapa Rivers, some twenty miles, to visit plantation Rubio. We

THATCHED VILLAGE ON THE UBERO PLANTATION.

had elected to talk a lot about rubber planting, but the strange sights,
the wonderful scenery, and the glory of the day drove all thought of
"shop" out of our minds. By tangled forests, great, grassy plains,
Indian villages, and bamboo thickets, we went, disturbing sullen alli-
gators, and great milk white cranes, and being hailed in unknown tongues
by the naked children on the river banks.

When the novelty of the scene had in a measure worn off, I availed
myself of my privilege of asking questions, selecting the general man-
ager of the Solo Suchil as my first victim. He responded most cor-

140 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

dially, and I soon learned that his plantation was an amalgamation of
three estates ; that it was named after the river on which it was situ-
ated, and grew both coffee and rubber, the latter being used for shade.
He had planted both from seed and from nursery stock but favored
the former when practicable. His trees were from one to five years old,
and there were about four hundred thousand of them. He, like all
others, was of the opinion that it was fatal to allow the grass to get
a foothold among the rubber trees. For this reason, when the rubber
was planted alone, it was put in from seven to nine feet apart, and as
a further precaution he was planting betweeen the rows a kind of sweet
potato known as the "camate," which covered the ground with a dense
mat of vines among which the grass would not grow. This brought
out the store of practical botanical knowledge of my friend, Harvey, who
recommended the cow pea and the velvet bean for just this purpose, an
opinion that I found shared by the others, notably Dr. W. S. Cockrell,
another pioneer planter.

After a two hours 7 ride we turned into Chichigapa Creek, a deep,
silent waterway about two hundred feet wide, and ere long we were
tied up at the wharf that is part of the Rubio estate. As the banks
are low, a substantial platform some six hundred feet long leads back
to the bodega, or storehouse. This is a two-story building of brick with
tiled roof on one side and glass roof on the other, and is something
that every planter should have. It is, in fact, a dry house for corn and
beans, and is fitted with air tight bins for the storage of these cereals,
an effective protection against the omnipresent weevil and equally
troublesome mold.

The building that challenged our admiration for its beauty, how-
ever, and later for its manifest utility, was the two-story dormitory that
situated on an eminence further back, looked like a planter's mansion.
On close inspection it was found to contain a dining room and kitchen,
and sixteen sleeping rooms, all of which opened out on to a broad
verandah, which was wholly enclosed in wire netting. The partitions
between the rooms were made of burlap, painted over to give it a .finish,
a very practical and economical plan in a country where matched boards
bring a high premium.

To view the plantation proper, it was necessary to have recourse
to the horse, and after lunch quite a party of us started through the
typical forest trail- towards the cleared and planted land at the further
side of the estate. At length we emerged into the open and found our-
selves on a ridge from which we had a view of hundreds of acres of

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

141

rich, rolling land, all covered with Castillo a trees about a year old. We
rode over this whole planting, visited the four camps where the native
workmen live in palm thatched houses, and examined the rubber trees on
the hilltops, on side hills, and in the valleys, and when we were told
that the stand of rubber embraced fifteen hundred acres, all cleared,
burned, and planted in one short season, and that there were fully two
million healthy trees, we fell to congratulating Manager Luther on the
accomplishment of so marvelous a task. It took so long to do the whole
of the sightseeing that it was dark when we entered the forest again for
our two or three-mile return ride. Our horses knew the way, however,
and brought us safely through, and an hour later we were on the launch,
steaming back to Minatitlan. The voyage was without special incident,
unless one were to cite the clouds of white moths that filled the air until

STEAMER "DOS RIOS" ON THE COATZACOALCOS.

it looked as if it were snowing, and which finally drove us to cover in
the cabin.

The next day we took in a plantation far up the Coachapa River,
owned by a wealthy native, Senor Sanchez. His interests were chiefly
in cattle, although he had a little grove of wild seedling Castilloas about
ten years old, which were from sixteen to eighteen inches in diameter, and
perhaps thirty feet high. These we tapped in all sorts of ways, got an
abundance of milk, and incidentally proved that neither native nor white
man can tap a tree successfully without much practice and skill.

Indeed, the next great problem that is to confront the rubber
planters is that of tapping and preparing for market. One has only
to look at the wild trees in the forest and see how they have been hacked

142

RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

and scarred by the natives, to appreciate the fact that the planters will
need better work and greater care of their trees. If all of the natives
were expert machete men, and good climbers, the problem would be easily
solved, but the real good men in this line are scarce. It is a most inter-
esting sight to see a skillful tapper, armed only with a rope and
machete, cut the channels so that the sap runs from one to another with
scarcely a drop spilled, every stroke of the machete being just right. It
is also equally disgusting to see a native who claims he knows how to
tap mangle the bark, and able to climb only a foot or two without slipping
down. The practical solution is going to involve two things : one is,
the invention of a simple tool that is foolproof, and that cannot in any
way injure the tree, and the second is a light, safe ladder that will allow

THE TEHUANTEPEC MARKET.

the mozo to reach the upper part of the trunk. Most of the planters plan
to bleed the trees twice a year, in May and October. Some, however,
hold that they can stand tapping much oftener, and most interesting
experiments are being inaugurated in the exploitation of this theory.

The latex flows apparently as freely at one time of the year as it
does another, but the dry season is undoubtedly the best for tapping, as
there is no rain to wash away the milk, and the tree is resting then. If
the cutting is done well, the scars soon fill in with new, smooth bark,
which in no way interferes with later working. The natural way,
however, will be to drain one side of the tree at one time, and another
at a subsequent tapping. The planters are ailready planning as to the

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 143

arrangements of gangs of men, and the pay for tapping and coagulating.
The favorite method undoubtedly will be to give each native a certain
stint, measured by the amount of latex that he brings in. I got a number
of estimates as to the cost of tapping and coagulating, based on actual
work, and in no case was it more than ten cents a pound, Mexican.

Another thing that the planters plan to do is to produce clean, dry
rubber, and there is no reason why they should not accomplish it. Of
the various means of coagulating that are devised by experts, the one that
seems to appeal the most strongly to the practical planter on the Isthmus,
is the use of the juice of the "amole" vine, the Ipoinoea Bona no.v, which
is most abundant everywhere, and which apparently adds nothing to the
rubber, and effects a quick and clean coagulation.

After coffee at the Sanchez abode, we returned to Minatitlan, retired
early and at three o'clock the next morning were awakened by Mr.
Luther, escorted to the launch, bidden a hearty good-bye and were on
our way to Coatzacoalcos, to take the morning train for Tehuantepec.
We had planned to take a river steamer, the Dos Rios, and visit the
plantations far up the river, of which there are a lot, but a snag having
punched a hole in the boat's bottom, it was forced to tie up for repairs,
thus disarranging our plans. We therefore decided to go at once to the
Pacific side, and "dry out" and rest, and so it happened that at nine
in the morning we were again on the train, this time bound west.

144 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

FOURTH LETTER.

ACROSS THE ISTHMUS PLANTATION "SAN FRANCISCO" VIEW OF THE "UBERO"
AND "LA CROSSE" PLANTATIONS THE GREAT TEHUANTEPEC PLAIN AT THE EL
GLOBO ATTACKED BY A VAMPIRE THE Z.APOTACO WOMEN DOGS AND FLEAS
SALINA CRUZ BACK TO SANTA LUCRETIA MEXICAN JUSTICE SLEEPING UNDER
DIFFICULTIES A NIGHT AT A RAILROAD CAMP A TAPIR HUNT THE PERSISTENT

"PlNOLEO" ACHOTAL AGAIN JOURNEYING NORTH CATTLE RANCHING TAXES

CORDOBA AND ORIZABA MEXICO CITY A LOOK BACKWARD THE Cow PEA AND
VELVET BEAN.

THE last letter of this series left us just boarding the train at Coat-
zacoalos for the journey across the Isthmus to the City of Tehuan-
tepec. The journey did not take the whole of the month that
has intervened, but it took long enough in all conscience, yet it was not
without interest. Almost at once I struck up an acquaintance with a
German, named De Verts, who, I soon learned, owned the plantation
San Francisco up in the Dos Rios region. His plantings were of
coffee and Castilloa, and of the latter he had some sixty thousand trees
two and one-half years old. These were planted seven and one-half
feet apart one way, and fifteen feet apart the other, with coffee between.
His trees averaged about eight inches in diameter. From his descrip-
tion the stand appeared to be an excellent one.

After his departure a friend promised to point out to me a man,
who more than any other down that way, was making "easy money "-
none other than a traveling dentist who finds his patients only among
the natives. He goes from village to village doing a rushing business
at great profit. It is said that many who have no trouble at all with
their teeth have them filled in order to show the gold, and that they
never weary of grinning, with that end in view. I did not see the
dentist, for at this juncture we stopped at a station, where on a siding
was a private car, on the platform of which stood Sir S. Weetman Pear-
son, the famous English constructor of tropical railroads. We all wanted
a sight of him, and were rewarded by a brief view of a thick set, deter-
mined looking Britisher, who had an air of meaning business all the
time. He was said to be discharging men right and left, and generally
upsetting the policy of procrastination and inefficiency that had been
more or less characteristic of the management in the past.

The National Tehuantepec Railroad is without doubt of great

146 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

present and prospective value, both to the planters and to the owners.
Its trains, which run every other day, are always well patronized, and
it is wonderful how those children of nature, the Indians, enjoy crowd-
ing into the third class cars, and riding even a few miles. Many of the
poorer ones save money for months, ride fifty or a hundred miles, and
contentedly walk back. To them the trains are ''flyers," and the cars
palatial, but to the white man the many delays, particularly at stations,
are very irritating. A resident of the country accounted for the long
waits by stating that an engineer is paid two dollars an hour, and there-
fore the longer the run, the more he gets. He further intimated that
if the train got on too fast, steam was allowed to get low, or some of
the machinery suddenly needed repairs, for which a stop was necessary
but the narrator may have been yarning.

Shortly after noon we passed the handsome plantation house of
the Boston Ubero Company, and had a good view of the many acres
of pineapples that they have under cultivation. We also had a good
view of the land of the Isthmus Rubber Co., a little later, and still
further on was the La Crosse Plantation Company, which showed many
acres planted to sugar cane, and considerable rubber.

Early in the afternoon we passed over the low mountainous ridge
that separates the Atlantic side from the Pacific, and left behind the
hot, moist atmosphere that had become somewhat trying, and were in
a climate bone dry, and seemingly much cooler. We then had a fine
view of Rincon Antonio, the new railroad town that is rapidly assuming
shape, and that will give to the workers* in the shops a fine, healthy
climate instead of a fever ridden one.

Continuing our journey, we next came to the valley of the San
Geronimo, healthy, cool, free from epidemics, and a little later to the
vast Tehauntepec plain. Here are more than a million acres of rich
land as level as a billiard table, covered with a sparse growth of chap-
parel, and awaiting only irrigation to turn it into a paradise. Nor is
the water far off, for the mountains, which are in plain sight from the
train, furnish abundant supply, and every opportunity for huge reser-
voirs.

After a stop of twenty minutes at a small station to watch a man
who was chopping wood at least that was the only apparent reason
we reached our journey's end, arriving at the city of Tehauntepec two
hours late. We had" elected to stop at the El Globo Hotel while in the city,
and in that made no mistake, for it is the best there. From the pro-
prietor's own advertisement I have it that there are "Rooms facington

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 147

two different street. Comodios and well ventiloted." Moreover, with the
true, up-to-date hotel spirit, he has the following card in each room:

"The proprietors of this hotel are only responsable of lost of valu-
able objects or money when delivered to themselves by passengers."

He handled the English language well, and knew it, and had a pro-
found pity for a physician nearby who put out the sign "Englische
Espoken." This hotel man was well worth the journey to Mexico to
meet. He is bv birth a Frenchman, who came over with Maximilian,

DEL CORTE. LABORERS CAMP AND CLEARING.

and after that unfortunate ruler lost his head, elected never to return.
He is very short, alert, and the picture of vigorous old age. Occasionally
he gets a bit overstimulated, and then puts on an immense pair of
cavalry boots, and strides about the place, giving orders in a thunderous
voice, and entertaining his guests with reminiscences of European wars,
that are full of thrill, dash, imagination, and doubtless some facts.

The hotel was a large, rambling, one-story affair, with tiled floors and
small, cell like rooms opening out on an inner court that contained both
dining room and kitchen. The bed rooms contained two folding canvas
cots, each of which had one sheet, one red blanket, and one little striped
pillow that was as hard as if stuffed with shot. There were also two
chairs, a table, and a wash bowl and pitcher of agate ware. The one

148 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

window opened to the floor, and to keep thieves out and guests in,
was latticed with half-inch iron bars. It was luxury, however, when
compared with the native huts, and we rested well, and had no advent-
ures. To be sure, I did have a queer experience the first night when
I lay down for awhile with one hand hanging down by the side of
the bed, and on drawing it up something dropped off with a soft thud
that had me wide awake in an instant. A light and a search revealed
nothing, and I came to the conclusion that it was one of the small vam-
pire bats that are common in Mexico, and that alight so gently on man
or animal that even if wide awake they do not know it. So common
are they, and so troublesome, that horses and mules are invariably kept
under cover after dark, as these little blood-seekers rarely venture into
houses.

The next morning it was quite cool, as a norther was blowing,
and the thermometer registered only ninety-five. On arising, we took
our clothes in our arms, and clad only in pajamas, walked down the
sandy street two blocks to the baths, where we luxuriated for an hour
or more. After coffee, we visited the market, and saw the far famed
Tehuantepec women in their very striking headdress, of which so much
is said ; but aside from its becoming effect, no one seems to know much
about it. I personally was interested to see how it was made, and so
walked behind some of the dusky beauties as they marched off, and took
a good, long look. The headdress is simply a white dress with a wide
flounce around the bottom. This flounce is starched stiff and put upon
the head so that it stands up like a huge ruffle. The rest of the gar-
ment, sleeves and all, hang down the back. I almost wish, however,
that I did not know this, as the effect is not half as artistic since my
eyes were opened.

There was really little of sightseeing in Tehuantepec; the market,
the pueblo across the river, the ruins left by the earthquake four years
before, were about all. Perhaps it was the climate, but it was more
fun to sit on the brick sidewalk in front of the hotel and watch passers-
by, dog fights, and predatory pigs than to chase around after information.
Anyhow, there was no rubber grown there, and rubber was my errand to
the Isthmus. Speaking of dogs, every Mexican and Indian in the hot
country is a dog owner on a generous scale. Nor does he care what
the breed, or the size, so long as the dog has four legs and a bark.
They are, as a rule-, a mangy lot, exceedingly lean, and many of them
are really half coyote. All are plentifully supplied with fleas, which
they generously divide with all with whom they come in contact.

150 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

We left Tehuantepec on the morning when the first case of smallpox
was reported, not for that reason, but because our visit was ended. It
is a curious coincidence, but our departure from Coatzacoalcos was
marked by the reporting of their first fatal case of yellow fever.

In spite of the fact that the clock at the El Globo had stopped, that
the town clock in the plaza was slow, and that ho one knew within half
an hour just what time the morning train left, w succeeded in catching
it, and arrived in Santa Lucretia in time for the midday meal. Major
Elliott, whom we met on the way down, gave us a hearty greeting, but
could give no information regarding the construction train to take us
back to Santa Rosa. There were, he said, rumors of an accident, and no
train had been through for two days. Some %aid it would be a week
before they would be running again. As it tiad set in to rain hard, we
possessed our souls in patience, and prepared to spend the rest of the
day and the night with the Major. He readily made room for us,
although the house was full, and then proceeded to give us an idea of
Mexican justice. It seems that an Italian workman, on a prolonged
drunk, had for some days been terrorizing Santa Lucretia. After he
had chased natives to his heart's content, he fell into the habit of bom-
barding the Major's hotel with stones, and casting lurid reflections
upon the character of all its inmates, from the proprietor down. These
attacks were passed over with silent contempt, until one of the stones
hit the Major's son, who lost his patience, and with promptness and
despatch thrashed the aggressor. Unfortunately in the doing of this
he made the man's nose bleed, whereupon he was promptly hustled off
to jail in a neighboring town, and it was only after three days of diplo-
matic and financial effort that he was released. The Italian was not
arrested.

The Mexican laws, as will be seen from the foregoing, are radically
different from those that are so often broken in "The land of the free
and the home of the brave," but they are well fitted to the natives of
that country, and act as a restraint to visitors, particularly those who
feel superior to the dark skinned owners of the country. For example,
if a foreigner gets in trouble with a native, even if the latter attack
him first, he is apt to be treated very much as if he were the aggressor.
I know of one case, and heard of several others, where Americans were
attacked by drunken or angry mozos armed with machetes, and who to
save their lives, shot their assailants and were quickly arrested, and in
spite of the fact that they proved that they acted only in self defense,
remained in durance from six months to a year there before being

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 151

released. This, of course, is not right, and yet, for the vigorous many
times lawless irresponsibles that crowd into a country that is just
awakening, as Mexico is, some such law is an absolute necessity, or the
anemic population would be crowded to the wall, or wiped out. There
are many provoking things about the Mexican laws ; for example, if a
lumber team should run over and kill a native, the authorities in their
anxiety for witnesses, and to place the responsibility, are apt to arrest
not only the drivers of the team, but all the rest of the gang, and for a
time look with suspicion on everybody connected with the lumber busi-
ness.

The afternoon wore slowly away, and it rained harder every minute.
At last came supper and then bed. Here, as elsewhere, folding canvas

DEL CORTE. ROAD THROUGH RUBBER.

cots were the only beds used, and while they are superior to an earthern
floor, they do give one a crick in the back. Still we were thankful for
our many mercies, and settled down to sleep. One by one the dim oil
lamps were extinguished, and all was quiet except the monologue indulged
in by one guest who was somewhat inebriated. The Major reasoned
with him, begging him to go to sleep, which at last he did ; but the
relief was only temporary, as he soon began again, talking in his sleep.
Just as, used to this, we were dozing, a sudden crash shook the house
a guest had fallen out of bed. The Major told him what he thought of
such carelessness, and what he would do if it happened again, and once
more quiet reigned. For a short time only, all was still, and then

152 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

clump, clump, clump, along the passage between the cots came a heavy
tread. Peeping out from between the mosquito bars, I saw a man clad
only in heavy boots, tramping up and down the room. The Major
discovered him at the same time, and wrathfully inquired what he was
about. "Just taking exercise,'' was the reply. Then really the Major
let himself out. It was truly a rhetorical masterpiece that he delivered
himself of, and the offender at last reluctantly agreed to put off his
constitutional until the morrow, and went back to bed.

It was still raining when we awoke, and we sat around all the
forenoon waiting for the train, or for better weather. It was then that,
looking at the passing mozos, I had a chance to see the native raincoats
of cane and cocoa fiber that are the only mackintoshes the Indians use.
They look far better and cleaner in a photograph than otherwise, and
rubber manufacturers in the States need not fear that rubber markets
will ever seriously seek them.

At two o'clock that afternoon, as it was raining only a little, we
loaded our belongings on a inozo, and started to walk the track to the
railroad camp, twelve kilometers away. We got there finally, boots covered
with mud, damp, perspiring, and weary, and were welcomed to the
engineer's quarters that consisted of five box cars fitted up as dwellings,
full of material comforts, and inhabited by several young and friendly
Americans.

The head of this engineering household was Mr. F. M. Ames,
chief engineer of the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railway, who has for
seventeen years been at work railroad building, all the time in the
tropics. Indeed, he headed the corps that surveyed the National Tehuan-
tepec road, cutting his way through the densest sort of jungle, and
establishing camps where now are thriving settlements. Mr. Ames
knew the country, the people, and the animals, and we were soon
launched into talk about the wild dwellers of the forest. Of the cat
tribe, there are quite a number of large and active specimens. The
leader of all these is the ounce, or as the natives call it, the tigrc, and
next to him come a great variety of spotted cats, diminutive specimens
of the jaguar tribe. They never attack man, and when hunted invariably
take to a tree, although before doing so they often stop and finish a
dog or two, which they are fully capable of doing. They are more or
less of a nuisance about plantations as they have a great fondness for
turkeys and chickens.

Many of the smaller mammals of the temperate zone are also very
common, such as foxes, rabbits, skunks, squirrels, black and brown, and

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 153

monkeys. This latter animal, I regret to say, was conspicuously missing
at the time of my visit, the story being that a year or two before
they had taken yellow fever, and nearly all of them died.

It was during this most interesting chat that supper was announced,
and we were soon luxuriating on ham and eggs, hot biscuits, and fine
coffee that the Chinese cook knew how to prepare to perfection. I could
not help remarking that the Chinaman was already considerably in evi-
dence as a cook in the cities, at railway camps, and on plantations.
Indeed, there are many who believe that the labor problem for the planter
will be solved by the importation of a sufficient number of them. It is
the general judgment, however, that while they may be taught to clean
the rubber from weeds and vines, and to do a certain amount of culti-

TREES ON FILISOLA.

[Photo Copyright by C. B. Waite.]

vating, that they will not be of much use either in forest clearing, or in
tapping. In addition to this, the prices that the Chinese companies want
for securing coolies is at the present time much too high to allow of their
profitable use.

Mr. Ames, his two assistants, Messrs. Jones and Hawkins, my com-
panion and I spent a very pleasant evening in what perhaps might be
called the parlor car, and later adjourning to the sleeping car, forgot
everything earthly until awakened in the early morning by the shrill whist-
ling of a locomotive. This was the signal for breakfast and an early start.
In due time we boarded a flat car in front of the engine, and were off for
Santa Rosa. We sat in a row on the extreme front of the car, ready to
jump if it left the track. Along the route the worthy chief showed us

154 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

where such slight mishaps had occurred, explaining that, until the
coming of the dry season, and it was possible to put in ballast, such a
condition of affairs had no remedy.

We reached Santa' Rosa in due time, and as a souvenir of my visit,
Mr. Ames gave me a cedrilla nut, a native remedy for all kinds of snake
bites, as well as for coast fevers. I have since learned that the mahogany
cutters, and other foresters of the tropics, put great faith in it, and
rarely venture into the forest without it.

Leaving the railroad we struck into the new trail already men-
tioned, hid our luggage until a mozo could be sent for it, and started
to walk to La Buena Ventura. The rain had ceased, the sun was
shining brightly, and every bird in the forest was singing a song of
rejoicing. Not always in tune, however, for the genuine feathered
warbler of the hot country is not at all musical. The chachilatta thinks
it sings, but as a matter of fact it simply "chachilatters," and that word
just describes the sound. A sort of wild hen is this bird, and one that
is in constant hysterics.

After a walk of about fifteen minutes, we emerged from the forest
and ascended to the higher ground where grows the rubber. To our
regret we arrived too late to join in a tapir hunt that took place in that
very orchard. The tapir is the largest wild animal in the Isthmus, and
although quite plentiful, is so shy that it is rarely seen. It is perfectly
harmless, and its flesh is esteemed a delicacy by the natives. One of
them by some chance wandered into the rubber, and the son of my host
fired a charge of shot, knocking him over. He recovered in an instant,
and rushed away, taking another charge with him.

We did not tarry to talk tapir, however, but hastened on, both of us
anxious to get our mail. As I had received no letters since leaving the
City of Mexico, that longing had a reasonable basis, but when I appreci-
ated the difficulty in getting letters through, I did not wonder at the
delay, but marvelled that any mail at all reached me. So we hastened
on over the rubber covered hills and finally reached the ridge on which
stands the house, and on which, too, is grouped the marvellous collection
of tropical plants and trees referred to in a previous letter. Many of
these, by the way, were obtained through the courtesy of the officials in
far distant British botanical stations, notably, Calcutta, Singapore, and
stations on the west coast of Africa. Indeed, Mexico owes to these
officials and to Mr. .Harvey's enterprise the introduction of the Kickxia
Africanus and the Hevea Brasiliensis.

We reached the plantation house at last, and everyone welcomed

156 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

us warmly. The tame macaw, the little green parroquette, Lora the
parrot, and even Bola, the big yellow tomcat, vied with the dogs in an
enthusiastic ovation. Things seemed to be about as we had left them,
and except for the fact that my black shoes had gathered a fur of green
mold, and one of them was occupied by an enormous spider, I was
perfectly content. Speaking of spiders, there are many of them, but
they are the least of the insect troubles. If left alone, they are harmless
and not much in evidence, but the rodador, the pinolco, the chaqnista!
they are looking for trouble. The rodador is like the black fly of the North
American woods. It is in some places most abundant, and its bite raises
an itching lump that lasts several days. After a little, however, one
becomes inoculated with rodador virus, and the only result is a small
black spot that scales off without any itching or burning. They trouble
some newcomers exceedingly, but I found them only a slight discomfort,
not important enough to take any special precaution to mitigate.

Among the insects that are most easily domesticated, and that
attach themselves with instant affection to the passing traveler, I should
name the pinoleo, the conchudo, and the garrapata. They are all related,
and are of the tick family. The pinole o has a habit of associating with
himself several millions of others, each one the size of a pin point, and
hanging on a leaf or twig over a trail where animals or men are accus-
tomed to pass. When the branch is touched, they instantly catch on to
whatever touches it, and proceed to distribute themselves over the body
and seek for tender spots w r hereupon to feast. I had a most abundant
and energetic collection of pinoleos on several occasions, but got rid
of them without much trouble.

The conchudo is simply a pinole o that has not been blotted out early
in life, and who grows into a fairly sizeable tick. He does not burrow
into the flesh, but simply hangs on, and grows fat off the animal of his
adoption. The garrapata is the pinoleo grown to maturity, and is a good
large ablebodied tick that fastens himself upon his victim, and is very
reluctant to let go. Another little pest that troubles some people is the
chaquiste, a fly so minute that one can hardly see him, and that hides
itself in the hair of the head, its bite being like the sting of an electric
needle.

There are, of course, mosquitoes, although personally I was troubled
very little by them during the whole of my trip, and ordinary fleas are to
be found in the towns and cities from one end of the country to the other.
The insect that I most dreaded, however, and which was described to
me by many of the old time residents, was the moyaquil. This is a grub

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

157

which burrows in the flesh, and which when approaching maturity is
about an inch long. It is supposed to be hatched from the egg of a fly,
some say a butterfly, and is very easily disposed of if one knows what
it is. When once imbedded in the flesh, it has the appearance of a blind
boil, but under a magnifying glass, the head of the creature can be seen
just above the skin, and a little sticky substance, such as rubber sap,
suffocates it, and it is easily extracted.

The next two days were set apart for more plantation visiting, but
my good luck, as far as weather was concerned, suddenly fled. It rained
so hard that traveling would have been torture, and visiting folly, so on
the third day I turned my face towards the City of Mexico a far cry,
however, for first must come a long afternoon's tramp along the railroad
track to Achotal. We did it, reaching the town at dusk. Then followed

FILISOLA IN ITS PALMY DAYS.

[Photo Copyright by C. B. Waite.]

the wait until one in the morning, when the train arrived. We waited
on cots in Antonio's palatial shed, which we shared with mozos, dogs, pigs,
mules, horses, and the "murderer." The last named was the only really
interesting bit of scenery there. He appeared soon after the rest were
asleep, and crouched by the side of the door of the next hut, his sullen
face filled with hate, his hand toying with the hilt of a wicked looking
knife. He wasn't after us, so we let him alone. At 12.30 we got up,
took our traps, stumbled over a family of sleeping porkers that were
lying in the passage between the huts, sidled down a narrow plank. to
the railroad track, squeezed in between a lot of mozos who, wrapped
in blankets, covered the depot platform, and awaited the coming of the

158 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

train. While we sat there, one of the mozos roused up, and began to
talk to my companion. After a time, Mr. Harvey turned to me and
said:

"Here is a most remarkable thing; this man was on his way to my
plantation to get work, when some of the railroad men told him that I
drove my laborers out in the field early in the morning, hitting them with
the flat of the machete, that I fed them very poorly, and made them
sleep in a fenced enclosure that had no roof over it, so he didn't dare
come. That is the way they try to get our help for themselves."

At length, after what seemed an interminable wait, the train arrived,
and we got aboard. The train boy had some canned beans and crackers
from which we made a hearty meal, and then, stretching out on the seats,
we slept as best we could until we reached the breakfast station at Perez.
The breakfast was fair, but the fruit we bought later was really what
made life worth living. At every railway station, women and children
gathered under the car windows with fruits, flowers, native made candies,
and the great variety of sweet cakes of which both Mexicans and Indians
are very fond. I got a dozen oranges for ten cents, and they were
simply delicious. A fruit that I had been very anxious to taste was the
sapadillo, produced by the tree from which the chicle comes, and, finding
them on sale at last, I immediately invested. It is about the size of an
apple, with a skin like the potato, the pulp tasting like gelatine filled
with brown sugar. I also sampled many other fruits. Of them all, as
might be expected, the banana is the most common, and I observed several
varieties that are never seen in the States. Some tiny yellow ones, a
little larger than one's thumb, have an extremely delicate flavor, and are
delicious. Of this family is a large plantain which is either fried or
broiled, never being eaten raw, and which is extremely palatable. There
are a great variety of other fruits which appear at certain seasons, such,
for example, as the sour sop, a sort of pear with a prickly alligator skin
hide, and which tastes like sour snow mixed with cotton batting.

During the forenoon we rode through a country largely given up to
cattle ranches. Of domestic animals in Mexico, the cattle are perhaps
the most valuable, and even with the poor strain of stock that is bred,
many large fortunes come to the owners of the ranches. Besides this,
those who go into the cattle business have no trouble at all in getting
help, as the native Mexican is a natural cowboy, and if he has but a pony
and a big set of Spurs, he is willing to work as he is at no other calling.
Some of the more progressive ranchers are crossing their cattle with
imported stock, and getting fine results. Most of the rubber planters

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

159

keep a certain number of cattle for their own immediate wants, and
for feeding the help, and occasionally they are able to get a little fresh
milk; but few of the cows are good milkers, and for native use, goat's
milk is very extensively used.

One thing that I had a chance to do on this forenoon's journey
was to look over the notes that I had taken relative to the manner in
which real estate, and particularly plantations, are taxed. This is not
an interesting subject to the casual reader, so if he will kindly skip a
few paragraphs, and allow others the privilege of reading, it will be
esteemed a favor. It seems that there is an actual tax for the transfer
of property, which is called traslacion de domino, assessed in the follow-
ing manner : Two per cent, is charged on the value stipulated in the deed.

FILISOLA WATER FRONT AT PRESENT.

[Photo Copyrighted by C. B. Waite.]

provided that value is equal to or more than the official value, the latter
being the value on record established at the last sale of the property, or
if there has not been a recent sale, established by the valuation com-
mittee, called the junta calificadora. This two per cent, is the state tax,
and on this two per cent, is charged thirty per cent, federal tax. If
this transfer tax is not paid immediately after the execution of a title,
a fine of twenty-four per cent, per annum on the amount of sale, or the
official value if the property is charged. Government registration of a
title is not allowed unless this transfer tax has been paid.' This transfer
tax applies only on real estate, and is charged only when property
changes hands.

Country real estate (finca rustica) is calculated as follows: Six per

160 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

cent, of the value is figured ; upon this amount five per cent, is charged
as a state tax for the year, and upon this same amount thirty per cent,
is charged as a federal tax. These taxes are payable the first of each
quarter or yearly in advance. Failure to pay during the first month
of each quarter subjects one to a fine of six and one-quarter per cent,
for the first month, twelve and one-half per cent, for the second month,
and for the third month, or thereafterwards, twenty-five per cent. The
only products in the locality that I visited where taxes are charged are
coffee, sugar, and tobacco, and upon these four cents per are is levied.
This are is one-hundredth part of a hectare, and a hectare is 2.471 acres.
On this four per cent., thirty per cent, is charged as a federal tax.
These taxes may also be paid quarterly or yearly, and if not paid during
the first fifteen days of each month, a fine of six per cent, is charged and
if not paid during the first two months of each quarter or later, twent}-
five per cent, is charged. It will be seen that these taxes are very light,
and the government gives the planters the privilege of making their own
manifests as to the area of the land under cultivation, and invariably
accepts these in good faith.

That night we spent in Cordoba, and the next morning went early
to Orizaba to recuperate. We both were in need of rest, and felt the
effect of that fine dry climate almost at once. Orizaba, be it said, is i
most civilized city, quite a resort for health seekers, and its guardians
look with great disfavor upon the free and easy inhabitants of the coun-
try south. I was somewhat indignant at the looks cast upon me by the
policeman, until I learned that it was against the law to wear a revolver,
so I gladly unshipped mine, and stowed it away in my bag. Not that
the city is really prudish. It runs a big public gambling house, which
every dweller patronizes, and the profits from which go for municipal
improvements.

I met many Americans there, among them Maxwell Riddle, who
was shivering with calentura, and was hastening back to Tierra Blanca
to sweat it out; John W. Byam, on his way to the San Marcos planta-
tion, accompanied by Mr. Wood, his manager, who was just back from
the Congo Free State ; Mr. Cavanaugh of Perez, and many others.

We luxuriated in Orizaba, attended the theatre, saw the poorest
centimatograph show on earth, learned from the natives that the Ameri-
can national hymn is "There's a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight/'
and thus improved both mind and body.

Finally I was rested, and M ! r. Harvey had secured a lot of rare
orchids from a learned old Mexican horticulturist there, and further

162 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

arranged for an exploring trip with him later, and the time had come to
part. I tried hard to get him to visit New York with me, but with the
true tropical dread of pneumonia and grippe, he sturdily refused. With
a simple handshake we parted, but I wish he could have looked into my
heart, and read there the gratitude that I felt, and how I appreciated the
hospitality and consideration that he had shown to the tenderfoot who
dropped in so suddenly upon him, rode his best horse, stole the affections
of his parrot, and wore a hole in his favorite canvas chair.

On my return to the City of Mexico almost the first people that I
met were Messrs. Warren and William Fish, Mjr. Charles E. Sieler, Mr.
S. D. Dorman, and Dr. W. S. Cockrell, all of whom have interests down
in the Trinidad River district. I had met these gentlemen before, with
the exception of the last named, and as he has been interested in rubber
cultivation for nine years, I was glad to get an expression of opinion
from him. He is a very earnest advocate of close planting. I believe
he laid it down as a rule that the distances between the trees should be
six feet and six inches. He has also gone into the subject of smothering
the grass by the use of the cow pea, and strongly recommends the whip-
poorwill variety. He said that his own observations proved that when
the Castilloa was planted in a soil that consisted of a thin layer of loam
over gravel, the trees did very well for three or four years, and after
that seemed not only to stop growing, but that they produced very little
latex.

His remarks remind me that in transferring my notes I left out my
visit to Filisola, a plantation that is not only an acknowledged failure,
but one that is practically abandoned. As the record of failure is often
of more value than is the story of any number of successes, I am going to
add it right here.

It was hot awfully hot as we climbed up the hillside to the
rubber trees. On the way we walked in single file, constantly thrashing
our leggings with switches to dislodge the clinging pinoleos. On the
rolling ground above the landing, we found a stand of trees, said to be
seven thousand in number, planted about twelve feet apart. Most of
them were in the sun, but quite a lot were in among banana trees, and
had good shade. Those in the sun were knee deep in grass, which was
not of one year's growth, but showed a permanent sod. Those in the
shade were free from grass. All of the trees, however, looked aged, not
in size, but from the wrinkled condition of the bark, and the gray lichen
that covered it. Yet those trees were but seven years old. They yielded
some latex, but the most optimistic seller of rubber planting stock would

ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC

163

not dare predict that they would ever grow another foot. They looked
matured, finished, discouraged, and a physical examination of the soil
explained it. A thin leaf mold, then sandy clay with a trace of iron, then
clay, and the whole as dry as a smoked herring, was what it showed. A
variety of opinions were put forward as to the cause of the failure of
this venture mismanagement, poor soil, bad seed, grass, etc. but to
my mind the soil told the whole story.

I have had so many inquiries concerning the cow pea that I want
to add a word concerning it. The botanical name of the ordinary variety

RUBBER TREE 27 MONTHS OLD FROM SEED.

is the Vigna kantaing. It is one of the well known leguminous plants
of the southern states, grown partly for fodder and partly for hay. It
makes the land richer because it returns to it so much of the mineral
matter taken from the soil, and in addition much nitrogen from the air.
There are a number of varieties used through the southern states, such
as the "clay," the "unknown," and the "whippoorwill." The advantages
of the cow pea are. it is a nitrogen gatherer ; it shades the soil in summer,
leaving it friable and loose ; it has a large root development ; is adapted
to almost anv sort of soil ; stands heat and sunshine well ; and if sown

1 64 RUBBER PLANTING ON THE

thickly, will, by its rapid growth and shade, effectually smother all
weeds, thus serving as a cleansing crop.

There is another plant which rubber planters might well look into,
and that is the velvet bean the Mucuna pruzriens (var. utilis). This plant
comes originally, I think, from Tampa, Florida, and no doubt the Florida
experiment station could tell all about it. It is said to have even a
more luxurious growth than the cow pea, and produces a great amount
of vine, and a large yield of seeds. It covers the ground with so heavy
a vine that it is reported to have killed temporarily even the cocoa and
Johnson grasses.

When one is in a foreign country, and almost ready to start for
home, and a bit homesick at that, there comes a moment when all deter-
rents are brushed aside, and one bolts. I had planned several days
sightseeing, and a stop off on the way, but instead I bolted. I met all
sorts of nice chaps on the return journey, yet it was a long week that
elapsed ere I sighted the skyscrapers of New York. Now that I am here,
I wish somewhat that I had stayed a trifle longer, and I find myself
yearning again for the open air life, the strange experiences, and the
glimpses of nature luxuriant, triumphant.

Will this wishful attitude draw me back there soon I wonder !

A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTA-
TIONS IN NICARAGUA

A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS IN NICARAGUA.

ON BOARD THE SUNBEAM DECEMBER HEAT MEETING A WATER SPOUT
ARRIVAL AT BLUEFIELDS UP THE ESCONDIDO MORNING GLORY VINES AMONG THE
RUBBER TREES DEVASTATION OF CASTILLOA BY HEAVY RAINS INTERESTING
EXPERIMENTS IN TAPPING THE MANHATTAN PLANTATION VISITS TO OTHER
RUBBER GROWERS DISEASES OF THE CASTILLOA ON A FRUITER TO NEW ORLEANS.

WE three, the Importer, the Manufacturer, and the Editor, left
Port Lirnon, Costa Rica, at 1.30 in the afternoon on a hot,
tropical December day. The short voyage from Port Limon
to Bluefields, something like one hundred and fifty rniles, was to be
taken on a small, fifty-two-ton schooner owned by Belanger's, Incorpor-
ated, of Nicaragua, and used in trading up and down the coast. The

WHARF AT BFXANGER S.

schooner was equipped with a gasoline auxiliary which took up most of
the room aft, and made the rest of it so thick with gasoline fumes that
it was difficult to stay in the cabin ten minutes at a time, so we lived
on deck. The vessel was called the Sunbeam and was manned by a
mixed crew of negroes from the Fortune Islands, San Bias Indians,
and one Englishman, and was commanded by a Cayman Islander.

Starting out against a head wind, our gasoline "kicker" put us
along at the rate of about four miles an hour, and we sat scorching on
deck until finally the sun set and we turned in, still on deck, sleeping

167

i68

A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS

in our clothes, on a pile of old sails in the stern of the boat. The bed
was far from comfortable for one at all finical about the soft side of
a plank, and the Importer did not take to it a bit. He had chosen a
place next to the bulwarks, and had only one ring bolt in the small of
his back, while the Manufacturer was curled in the form of an S around
a huge cleat, and a part of the steering gear. However, morning came
at last, and the little boat kicked along through a blazing sun at first,
until it finally clouded up, and later, about three miles to the northeast,
a huge waterspout was sighted. We were all so dull and drowsy that
we didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when it drew nearer and
nearer, and the captain furled all sail and made everything fast, we

WATER FRONT AT BLUEFIELD S.

thought it might be possible that we were going to have some fun. It
was the first time I had ever seen anything but pictured waterspouts,
and I had always been a bit skeptical about them; but as it got within
a few hundred feet of us, I was a most thorough convert. It was really
a most remarkable sight. The sea was quite smooth, except where the
end of the great funnel touched the water, and there it was broken up
into curious little wavelets. The huge circular tube of vapor did not
go straight up, but slanted off into an especially black cloud and
appeared to be a mile and a half in length. When it was near enough,
the captain began shooting in its direction with an old-fashioned Colt's
revolver, and the Manufacturer, getting his gun, took a hand in the
same game. Whether the concussion did the work or not, I don't know,
but before it reached us it suddenly dissolved, and in a very few seconds
no trace of it was to. be seen.

IN NICARAGUA

169

After that we had no further excitement except the catching of a
big kingfish, which helped out our table immensely. That night we slept
again on deck, and went through several showers, sailing into Blue-
fields about nine the following morning, where the doctor passed us as
"healthy, but ugly." Then we went up against the custom house officials
at the bluff, who fingered our belongings for anything contraband,
seeming to take particular delight in running grimy fingers over our
toothbrushes, and to have a deep anxiety to unroll camera films, and so
on. We got rid of them at last, and boarding a flat-bottomed stern-
wheeler, were taken across the broad expanse of Bluefields Bay, and
landed at Belangers wharf, from which we went at once up to La Trop-

LA TROPICAL HOTEL, BLUEFIELDS.

ical Hotel for a bath and breakfast. There was but one bathroom, and
that was situated over the kitchen, which was proved by the sign on
the wall: ''Don't slop water on the floor; range just below. Gives food
a soapy flavor."

After breakfast we went out and looked over the little city of
frame houses, so radically different from most Central American towns,
both in its architecture and in the fact that it is built on a side hill where
there is a certain amount of drainage. We didn't tarry long in Blue-
fields, however, for our flat-bottomed boat, Nat, Jr., a sternwheel
freighter was waiting, and with our luggage aboard we soon started

A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS

up through the wonderful system of lagoons and waterways that were
to be our pathway to the rubber plantations.

These comprise the Bluefields River, the Escondido ("Hidden
Waters") River, and a great variety of deep lagoons and waterways, inter-
mingling in inextricable confusion, shut in by walls of tropical foliage
an expanse of natural passages so great that a navy might easily be hidden
there without the remotest chance of detection. Indeed, in the old days
of the buccaneers, these lagoons were favorite retreats, and if closely
pursued a vessel could slip into one of them, tie a few branches to her
topmasts, and defy discovery.

WALDRON S STORE CUKRA AND CANADA
PLANTATIONS.

The ride up through the Escondido was simply entrancing. There
was scarcely a ripple on the water ; the foliage of palms, palmettos, man-
groves, and wild bananas, interspersed with patches of pampas grass,
the stalks of which were twenty and thirty feet high, bound together
with vines and spangled with flowers ; the huge flocks of blue and white
cranes and the basking alligators all made a panorama so wild in its
tropical beauty that it added new fascinations every moment.

Finally, late in the afternoon, we turned into Sloophouse creek,
and a little later were moored at the pier belonging to the Cukra

IN NICARAGUA

171

plantation. Here we disembarked, and leaving our luggage to be
brought up later, followed a narrow-gauge banana railway up over a
little hill through a part of the fifteen-hundred-acre banana plantation
of the Cukra Company, and were soon at the house of Mr. Gordon Wal-
dron, one of the owners, where we had a bountiful supper and a most
interesting chat, chiefly on rubber. After supper, in the bright moon-
light, we boarded a flat car drawn by a diminutive engine and rode three
miles into the country to the road that led to the Manhattan planta-
tion. There saddle horses and a wagon were awaiting us, and as it had
suddenly clouded up and begun to rain, the Importer and I got ,on the
top of the baggage, preferring to trust ourselves to a wagon rather than
a horseback ride through the pitchy darkness. The road was far from
smooth, and we got ample exercise before reaching the plantation house.

WALDRON'S CANADA PLANTATION.

We did reach it finally, at 11.30, and turning in under mosquito nets,
slept like tops.

At daybreak the whole crowd roused out, and going to the door
we found that we were right in the middle of planted rubber. It was
on all sides of us, even in the yard. The average age of the trees was about
three years and they all looked stocky and thrifty. The soil seemed to be a
red, loamy clay, quite porous, with considerable volcanic rock through it,
and the country rolling rather than flat. The soil was excedingly deep,
as was attested by several wells that had been sunk, the deepest being
forty feet, which had not got through that formation.

That the trees bled very freely, I was able to prove before break-
fast, as I walked around and ran my knife into the spongy bark. A little

172

A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS

later, when we started out on our tour of inspection, the Importer, who
would not ride horseback, was fitted out with a sort of buckboard,
drawn by a mule and driven by a Southern darkey known as Jake.
The rest of us rode horses.

Almost the first thing that struck me about the planting problem
down there was the remarkable prevalence of the morning glory vine.
Just as soon as the land is cleared and planted it takes possession, and
if it were not cut down constantly around the young rubber trees, it
would most effectually smother them. When the trees get a good start,
the vine suddenly dies out and the grass comes in. My belief had always
been that for grass to get into rubber was fatal to the growth and pro-

RESIDENCE OF SIM IRON.

ductiveness of the tree. I saw acres down there, however, with the
grass growing among the three-year-old trees, and they were apparently
as healthy and thrifty as they could possibly be. A little later the shade
of the tree seems to discourage the growth of the grass, and in one
planting, where the trees were between four and five years old, the
grass had practically disappeared.

The refusal of the Castilloa to put up with too much water was
emphasized by the fact that a section of land, containing perhaps ten
acres, on the Manhattan plantation, where during the heavy rains the
water had not drained away quickly enough, most of the trees had died.

IN NICARAGUA

173

Speaking of the rain in this section, the local report is that there are
about two hundred and fifty inches a year. I don't know that that is the
result of actual measurement, but while we were there it certainly rained
about as easily as it does in any part of the world. During a forenoon's
ride we would often go through three or four showers, not heavy ones,
but the gentlest sort of refreshing spring rain. The elevation of the
bunch of plantations that we were visiting is about two hundred and

SIM IRON S RUBBER PLANTATION.

fifty feet above sea level, and as a rule, the soil was very rich and very
well drained.

One of the first plantations that we visited was owned by a genial
old gentleman from Virginia by the name of Sim Iron. He runs his
place himself and has about seventeen thousand trees between three and
four years old. His ranch houses were more picturesque than those of
the Manhattan, in that they were palm thatched and built largely in the
native fashion. During a part of the year the old gentleman has his wife

174 A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS

on the place with him, and they seem as happy and healthy as if they
were running a farm in a northern clime.

After looking over the Sim Iron plantation, we visited Daytonia,
now the Rubber Grove plantation, where there were some very good
trees, although it was explained that the man who started the planatation
sold something like two hundred thousand dollars of stock, and spent

IN THE SHADE OF A RUBBER TREE.

[Named from right to left : Sim Iron, S. W. Sinclair, J. A. Belanger,
Charles H. Arnold, Arthur F. Townsend, The Cook, Henry C. Pearson.]

only thirty thousand dollars in planting. He was later prosecuted for
fraud and was sent to jail in some one of the United States. The planta-
tion was then taken over by a local company, who are getting it into
good shape.

After leaving Daytonia, we visited some small private plantations.

IN NICARAGUA

175

all of Castilloa, which looked excellently. Then we returned to the
Manhattan House for noon breakfast, and in the afternoon walked
across lots to look at the rubber on the Cukra plantation. Just as we
got there our first real shower came down. That was not any spring
rain ; it was more like a cloudburst, and kept us penned in the house
for nearly an hour. It cleared off, however, as suddenly as it came on,
and then we began to examine the interesting experiments that were
being carried on by Mr. Waldron.

He had already begun tapping some of his six-year-old trees, and
close to the house where we had taken refuge from the shower was
his coagulating and drying house. In this house were galvanized iron

MANHATTAN PLANTATION. DWELLING HOUSE.

cans holding half a barrel, each filled with latex mixed with water and
formaldehyde, while from the ceiling hung long strips of rubber being
air dried. Mr. Waldron used the formaldehyde to keep the latex from
coagulating too soon, and he washed out the vegetable acids and the
albumen by diluting the latex and creaming it. He found some diffi-
culty in coagulating, and had, therefore, fitted up a couple of caldrons
close to the house, and was boiling the latex. The rubber appeared to
be very clean, but a little short. Indeed, Mr. Waldron acknowledged
that he thought it was coalesced instead of coagulated.

From the coagulating house we walked down through the rubber

176

A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS

IN NICARAGUA

1 77

orchard to the trees that were then being tapped. This work was done
very carefully and in the most cleanly way, the latex being caught in
tin cups of which there were three rows of four cups each, making
twelve cups to the tree. After the milk had stopped flowing and the cups
had been emptied, a native was sent around with a spoon to take off the
thick creamlike exudation that gathered in the cuts. As this was taken
off before coagulation, it went into solution with the rest of the latex
without any trouble. Mr. Waldron was getting three ounces of dry

MOSQUITO INDIANS.

rubber from each tree and was planning to tap them a number of times
during the year. He talked of tapping by team work through the whole
of the dry season, and during the wet season to skip only a couple of
weeks during the torrential rains.

We tried the Ceylon tool, but it didn't seem any better than the
ordinary knife for this work. The general manager of Cukra, although
very much of an iconoclast, and not in the habit of following other
people's lead, acknowledged that much of his tapping and coagulating

178 A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS

was only experimental, and that he expected before long to work down
to a simpler and more practical system. At the same time, he claimed,
that cumbersome as his present process was, it
proved most thoroughly the profitableness of
rubber planting.

During the rest of our stay on this group of
plantations, we made our headquarters at Man-
hattan, riding out in various directions and ex-
amining the rubber, and discussing it with vari-
ous planters, who were much interested in mak-
ing a success of it. There are in the vicinity, at a
conservative estimate, about four hundred thous-
and cultivated Castilloa trees, the largest single
plantation being the Canada plantation, of which
Mr. Waldron is manager and chief owner. This
plantation has about two hundred thousand trees ;
next to that comes the Manhattan, with about
one hundred and forty thousand. This group of
plantations lies in the form of an eclipse, about
five miles long and two miles broad.

After having visited the typical plantations,
collected samples, and secured all the infor-
mation possible, the whole crowd saw us down
to the Cukra pier, where we again embarked on
the Nat. Jr., and started down the river on our
way back to Bluefields.

We reached this Americanized city early in
the evening, and found that a fruiter was starting
for New Orleans the next morning, and that the
governor had promised to hold it for us, so that
we could not miss it. In the meantime, our
friends began to make it easy for us to leave the
country. One of the first things to be done in
leaving Nicaragua is to secure a passport, for
which one pays a dollar. Mine described me as

being- about thirty-five vears old and having red
"CASTILLOA' STEM J

ATTACKED BY SCALE '- na i r > but so l n g as it sufficed to let me out of the
country I didn't care, particularly as the descrip-
tion of the Importer and the Manufacturer were even less flattering.
I have already mentioned that the custom house at Bluefields is

IN NICARAGUA

179

situated at the bluff, some miles from the city itself, and it was while
going over to the fruiter that was to take us to New Orleans, that we
saw a very curious instance of the peculiar concessions that are held by
various companies. It seems that a steamer which was not one of the
elect had come down there for a load of bananas. In other words, it
didn't belong to the company having the navigation concessions. It
was, therefore, not allowed to go up into the rivers or lagoons but, not
to be beaten, the steamer's captain sent up to certain planters who
promptly despatched a huge scow load of bananas to the bluff where the
steamer lay. The government caused the scow to be laid alongside of
its wharf, and proceeded to discuss the unlawfulness of the proceedings.
While this discussion was going on, something like a hundred soldiers
marched onto the gunwale of the scow, which careened it just enough

LARVAE OF CASTILLOA BORER.

to cause the water to flow over the low bulwarks and sink the boat,
bananas and all.

I tried to get a photograph of the sinking scow, but was deterred
by a gentleman who said that I might get in trouble with the customs
officers, and get my stuff held up if I gave evidence of being too active
a partisan. This was no idle dream, for I had trouble enough with the
officials anyhow, although I was not taking anything out of the country
except what I had brought in, with the exception of a few samples of
rubber and some Castilloa twigs that I was taking home in order to
discover by what disease they were attacked.

Speaking of diseases of the Castilloa tree, I noticed in a yard sur-
rounding one of the plantation houses, that numbers of trees were

i8o A VISIT TO THE RUBBER PLANTATIONS

affected by scale, some of them quite badly, the insect appearing to have
practically destroyed the lactiferous tubes, so that the outer bark pre-
sented a curious shrunken appearance. This scale, as far as I was able
to observe, only appeared where neither undergrowth nor weeds were
in evidence round the foot of the tree. All of the trees thus affected were
uprooted and burned. I brought samples of the stems back to the
United States, however, and through the courtesy of the experts at the
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven, and the
Bureau of Entomology at Washington, I was able to identify the dis-
ease and also to discover simple remedies. The reports of the two ento-
mologists follow :

DEAR SIR : Your letter with specimens has been referred to me.
The tree seems to be attacked by two species of scale insects , the large
brown one is a Lecanium, and the small, glassy, greenish yellow one is
an Asterolecanium. We do not have the literature by which I can
determine them specifically. From a knowledge of simliar species
found in this part of the country, I should expect that a thorough spray-
ing with kerosene emulsion or whale oil soap would destroy them, though
of course experience is needed to know just how strong to make the
mixture. I should try some of these made in the proportion recom-
mended in published bulletins, and if it did not kill them. I should use
somewhat stronger mixtures.

Very truly yours,

W. L. BRITTON,

State Entomologist, The Connecticut Agricultural Ex-
perimental Station, New Haven, Connecticut.

DEAR SIR: The scale insects upon the twigs which you sent repre-
sent the akee fringed scale (Asterolecanium pustulans), and Lenaci-
odiaspis rugosus (?). This Asterolecanium is very common and very
injurious in the West Indies. It works principally upon akee,' oleander,
fig, and hibiscus. Mr. Maxwell-Lefroy, the government entomologist
to the West Indies, in pamphlet series No. 7 of the Imperial Department
of Agriculture for the West Indies, recommends kerosene emulsion for
the control of this insect. His formula and method of preparation is
as follows: " Kerosene emulsion: Dissolve one-half pound of hard soap
in one gallon of water ; add two gallons of kerosene to the hot liquid,
and immediately chtirn with a syringe or force pump until the mixture
becomes creamy. This is a stock solution. Make up to thirty-three
gallons. Use only rain or soft water. "

IN NICARAGUA

181

The kerosene emulsion preparation can also be applied for the
Lecaniodiaspis, of which only a few specimens were found on the twig
which you sent.

Yours truly,

F. H. CHITTENDEN.
Acting Chief, Bureau of Entomology,
Washington, D. C.

Another possible enemy to the Castilloa that the alert planters were
seeking information about, was a wood borer which attacked the tree
where the self-pruning branches broke off, and occasionally where the

STERN OF "NAT, JR."

bark was cut or wounded. The larva of the insect are large grubs, that
after penetrating the outer bark burrow upwards inside of the cambium,
and then straight through the wood, completely honeycombing it so
that the trees break short off when very little wind comes. This does
not always kill the tree, but it sets it back appreciably. These borers
appear to be most active during the months of June and July. The
planters, for a remedy, were using a mixture of tar, kerosene oil, black
oil and sulphur. This killed the grub if it touched it, but it was very
difficult to reach it because of the length of the burrow. A suggestion
for keeping the borers out was to have a gang of men constantly going

182 // VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS

over the trees and tarring all cuts and the sockets left by the dropping
off of the temporary branches. This, however, would be very expensive
and hardly practical. I was able to secure a number of specimens of
the larva, and the Bureau of Entomology at Washington decided that
they belonged to one of the large moths, family Cossidce. Their report
was that they knew little about the work of this moth, but that the best
way to kill the borer was to inject a few drops of carbon bisulphide into
the burrow with an oil can, closing the orifice with a little wax. The
fumes of the solvent would then penetrate the lower part of the burrow
and kill the grub. Professor John Barlow, of Kingston, Rhode Island,
however, reported that instead of a moth it was probably a beetle. He
suggested the same treatment for the destruction of the grub as the
Bureau of Entomology at Washington. In this connection, it may be
well to recall that sometime before this an anonymous writer reported
that a beetle, the Aconsymus longimanus, was troublesome in Nica-
ragua just in this way that is, laying eggs in wounds in bark of the
Castilloa, which developed into borers and greatly injured the trees.

The fruiter on which we finally embarked was a Norwegian of
about seven hundred tons, and carried ten thousand bunches of bananas.
As we were the only three passengers, we took possession of the bridge,
and also of the captain's quarters, and lived high in everything except
food. We went out in the face of a norther, and ran into one after another
during the whole passage. The boat had no refrigerating apparatus,
and to save the fruit both the fore and after hatches were kept wide
open, and it was a constant matter of wonderment to me that some of the
big green seas didn't topple over our bow and swamp us, but they
didn't, and we sailed on by Cape Gracias a Dios, through squall after
squall, the temperature all the time in the eighties, and finally, missing
the delta of the Mississippi by a wide margin, ran almost to Mobile
before we got our bearings. We finally got right, however, and went
up the Mississippi and landed in New Orleans just in time to enjoy
the fireworks with which they usher in Christmas Day.

A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER
PLANTING IN COSTA RICA

A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING IN COSTA RICA.

THE FIRST SIGHT OF COSTA RICA, THE BANANA REPUBLIC How THE FRUIT is
SHIPPED BY THE UNITED FRUIT COMPANY ENTERPRISE OF THE NATIVE COSTA
RICAN THE CITY OF SAN JOSE AND IT'S NATIONAL THEATRE A PLANTATION OF
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND CASTILLOAS OTHER PLANTATIONS OF LESSER SIZE
WATERY LATEX SOME OF THE CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO THE SUCCESS OF THE
CASTILLOA.

OUR first sight of Costa Rica came at five o'clock one morning,
when we sighted the low-lying city of Port Limon with its back-
ground of far away mountains. It was nearly eight o'clock
before we made fast to the pier, and even then it took us some time to
have our luggage weighed and the customs paid. The time came finally,

WHARF AT PORT LIMON, COSTA RICA.

however, when we were free to walk down the long pier, through the
gates, and explore the town.

Not only is Costa Rica justly called the Banana Republic, but Port
Limon is a banana town, and we fully appreciated it when we saw the
train loads of green fruit run out upon the piers, the huge bunches
dumped upon rubber conveying belts and carried smoothly into the holds
of the waiting steamships. The town, moreover, had an alert air about

185

i86

A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING

it that was in no way suggestive of typical Spanish America. It had
no very pretentious buildings, with the exception, perhaps, of the office
building of the United Fruit Co., but it boasted two hotels and the "Gem
Saloon/' where all the men congregated, and besides that, almost every-
body spoke English.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the thermometer stood at 90 F., the
air reeking with moisture, and the sky covered with evil looking clouds.
Nevertheless, the streets were thronged with a most vivacious mixture
of porters, fruit sellers, soldiers, Jamaica negroes, Chinese, and native
Costa Ricans. At 10.30 we boarded the train that was to take us to the
interior, and rode for twenty miles through a flat, sw r ampy country where

UNITED FRUIT CO. S COMMISSARY, PORT LIMON.

even the native Costa Rican cannot live, but where the Jamaica negro
flourishes and waxes fat. At intervals along the railway were little
huddles of huts built on stilts to keep them out of the black mud, roofed
with corrugated iron or palm leaves, and full to overflowing with the
ebony subjects of his Majesty King Edward VII.

The heads of the families that called these shanties, homes, were
very largely laborers on the banana plantations of the United Fruit Co.,
and when it is remembered that out of Port Limon come some seven
million bunches a* year, it is easy to appreciate how large a force of men
is needed to cultivate, cut, and ship this great crop. It is claimed that
there are eleven thousand Jamaica negroes on the plantations near Port

IN COSTA RICA

187

Limon. For them the United Fruit Co. provides hospitals, keeping out
two per cent, of their wages for medical attendance; and yet, in spite
of black fever, yellow fever, mosquitoes, and snakes, there is not a great
amount of sickness among these laborers. And if one can judge by the
appearance of the people, their home life in their little tin-roofed shacks,
crowded with pickaninnies, mangy dogs, monkeys, and parrots, shows
a greater measure of content than is to be found in the majority of settle-
ments more favorably located, and populated by those who have a
thousandfold more to make existence tolerable.

As the train emerged from the palmetto swamps, it ran through
some magnificent banana plantations, the trees growing rankly from rich

LOADING BANANAS ON A TRAIN.

alluvial soil and the bunches of fruit being often five or six feet long,
and weighing over one hundred pounds each. The railroad, by the way,
over which we were traveling, was built through the enterprise of that
well known American, Mr. Minor C. Keith, who was also the creator of
the great United Fruit Co.

After a time the road began to ascend and the scenery became more
and more beautiful. Nearly the whole of the distance up to the city of
San Jose, the way lay along the side of a range of mountains, and ran
parallel with a rapidly rushing river, whose white water could be seen
oftentimes for miles. As we got up into the higher country, the home
life of the Costa Rican began to be apparent.

188 A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING

Everywhere through the broad valleys and up the mountain sides
could be seen cleared farms, in many cases fine plantation houses and
great coffee estates. The native Costa Rican is perhaps one of the most
enterprising and independent of all the Latin Americans. Nearly every
man owns a patch of land and cultivates it. The better class speak
English and are very friendly to Americans, welcoming them to their
country with a manly, prideful air that is extremely taking.

In the meantime the Ferrocarril Costa Rica was slowly but surely
getting us up toward San Jose. The English locomotive was having a
tough time of it with the steep grades, and it seemed every now and then
as if the pull would be too much and that the heavy train would slip

TEN MILES OUT OF PORT LIMON.

back down into the valley. The slow progress, however, gave us every
opportunity to examine the track with its iron sleepers, to see where
various great landslides had time after time wiped out the railroad and
even dammed the swift flowing river; and to enjoy the wonderful semi-
tropical luxuriance of the giant trees festooned with vines and studded
with epiphytes; to look down into deep gorges, up the sides of steep
mountains, and across broad and fertile valleys, so photographed the
scenery in one's mind that the snail's pace of the train was not only
not objected to, but was most welcome. At intervals all the way up were
to be seen Castilloa trees, many of which had been tapped in the brutal
native fashion, which amounts almost to girdling. At about fifteen

IN COSTA RICA

CHIRR1PO, SHOWING MINOR C. KEITH S PLACE.

hundred feet altitude the rubber trees began to appear less frequently,
and when the aneroid read two thousand feet, they disappeared entirely.
After reaching an elevation of some five thousand feet, we descended
a thousand feet, and finally reached San Jose. The city is situated in
the midst of a broad and fertile valley, and is semi-tropical rather than
tropical, being surrounded by huge fields of sugar cane, corn, and grow-
ing most of the well known tropical fruits. San Jose itself is a surprise.

RIVER SCENE NEAR PORT LIMON.

190 A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING

With its well-kept streets, its trolley lines, electric lights, fine stores, and
alert looking inhabitants, it is more like a modern American city than any-
thing else. Although it contains but twenty-four thousand inhabitants,
it gives one the impression of a city of double that size ; partly, perhaps,
because the buildings are nearly all two stories only, as the frequent
earthquakes do not invite the erection of skyscrapers. The single unpleas-
ant feature is the open sewage, which is said to invite typhoid. Aside
from that, there is practically no disease, the climate being equable, and the
people, except on rare occasions when they take too much aguardiente,
give the military police little trouble.

MOUNTAIN ROAD NEAR SAN JOSE.

Almost from the first of our landing in this country we
heard of the magnificent National Theatre that San Jose pos-
sessed. The Latin American description of it made it more
elegant and on a larger scale than anything in New York
or .London. For this reason, the first view of it was a bit
of a disappointment. It certainly was beautiful architecturally, and its
decorations w r ere most elaborate, but it is a question if it would hold more
than a thousand with comfort. Most of the decorative work was done
by artists who were brought from Italy, and some six hundred thousand
dollars gold was "spent upon the building. In the foyer on the beautiful
inlaid floor were some of the most gorgeous rubber mats that I have ever
seen, in red, white, and blue, with green leaves, yellow trumpets, golden

IN COSTA RICA

191

TYPICAL COSTA RICAN LAND CLEARED FOR PASTURE, WITH
CASTILLOA LEFT STANDING (ON THE LEFT.)

harps, etc., and they bore the imprint of the well known firm of Pirelli
& Co., Milan, Italy".

The city has large wholesale houses, chiefly in the hands of the

SCENE IN STREET IN SAN JOSE.

192

A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING

Germans, and substantial banks, the country being on a gold basis, with
the colon as a unit of value, worth forty-six cents in American money.
The population of the country is three hundred and forty thousand,
none of whom are Indians. Spanish is the language in general use, but
almost everybody understands English, and it is a delight to mingle with
the people, for they have none of the sullen air so prevalent in certain
parts of Spanish America.

During our stay in the country, we put up at the Hotel Imperial,
where we had comfortable rooms and enjoyed an excellent table. As a
matter of course, we asked many questions about rubber culture, but
from the natives or the resident Americans we developed little informa-

CENTRAL PARK, SAN JOSE.

tion. One of the latter explained it by saying that in that country at
the present time bananas were the whole game, because they gave
quicker results and had behind them the support of the United Fruit
Co., who were perfectly willing that the planters should make a good
thing out of their fruit. One native explained the lack of intestest in
rubber planting by telling us solemnly that rubber seeds planted by man
would -not develop into productive trees. He said that nature's way of
distributing the.^seeds was for the birds to eat them in order to get the
sweet pulp with which they are surrounded, and mingled with their
droppings, the seed grew into a tree that was a rubber producer. If
it did not go through this preparatory process, it amounted to nothing.

IN COSTA RICA 193

Although we had not come to Costa Rica particularly to look up
rubber, there was one plantation that I was anxious to examine, which
was said 'to contain over one hundred thousand Castilloas, most of
which had been interplanted with bananas. These trees were three or
four years old, and planted by one who had had much experience in
tropical forestry throughout Central America. The Importer was so
pleased with the city of San Jose and so relieved to get out of the heat
of the lowlands that he decided to stay there, while the Manufacturer
and the writer took another plunge into the hot country. We, therefore,
left him for a further exploration of the city, and getting up at day-
break, boarded the train and retraced our steps, sliding slowly downward

RAILROAD ON THE WAY UP TO SAN JOSE.

for hours, until we reached the lower levels. The journey downward
was even slower than the climb, as the engineer must be on the lookout
constantly for falling rocks and for landslides, and I fancy he is also
particularly careful not to let the train get away from him, which, with
the number of cars and the heavy freight carried would seem to be
a not unlikely happening. We therefore enjoyed afresh the magnificent
scenery, and before we got down to the tropics, the lovely, springlike
weather.

Reaching the plantation, we were warmly welcomed by the planter
in charge, who got us horses and took us over the planting. It was the
dry season and there had been no rain at all for five days, but the ground

194

A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING

NATIVE RUBBER TEN YEARS OLD SURROUNDED BY PLANTED RUBBER AND
CHOCOLATE.

was exceedingly soggy and wet, and while the bananas were apparently
very thrifty, the rubber did not look as well as it should. The leaves, to
be sure, were shedding, which made the trees look their worst, but the
few trees that we tapped gave out an exceedingly thin milk, more like
skimmed milk than cream, containing, for a guess, not over twenty per
cent, of rubber. It is possible, of course, that at the end of the dry season
this might thicken up appreciably and be worth extracting, but unless
that happened, they would hardly pay to tap.

TYPICAL LOWLAND TOWN.

/A r COSTA RICA 195

In this connection, a chat that I had with Mr. John M. Keith, the
former planting expert of the United Fruit Co., is apropos. He said
frankly that in that part of Costa Rica he did not think there was much
land that was available for Castilloa growing; that it was too wet; and
that he had discovered that wild Castilloss that grew in wet places gave
so thin a latex that the rubber was not worth gathering. My friend,
the planter, had, while I was in New York, told me of another type
of planting that he had done, by clearing wide pathways through the
forest and planting Castillo as so thickly that they took entire possession
of the ground. With some little trouble we finally located two of these
plantings, and they settled in my mind forever the practicability of this

RUBBER AND BANANAS.

sort of cultivation. The Castilloas had grown like weeds, but they
looked more like fishpoles than rubber trees. By cutting out some of
them and giving the sun a chance, no doubt something could be done,
but unless some such measures were instituted, it would be years before
the tree trunks would have bark surface enough to do anything at* all.

That the trouble with the first planting was not due to the presence
of the bananas was proved by a look we had at a small plantation run
by a German, where the ground was much better drained, and where
the trees looked stocky and thrifty. We were also told that on the
Northern Railway on some of the uplands, the planters were putting

196 A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING

Castilloa in land that had formerly been used for bananas and were
getting excellent results.

All of this leads up to what I think I have before written, that a
deep, open soil, particularly one that cakes at the surface a little and in
which there is no chance for standing water, or nothing more than a
very brief inundation, is what the Castilloa calls for.

The interest in the planting of India-rubber in Costa Rica dates
back some twelve or fifteen years. As early as 1892 it was reported
that the wild trees near the cities and along the coast had been practically
exhausted, and that what rubber was gathered came from the more
remote valleys. In that year the amount of rubber that came out of the
country was a trifle over six thousand dollars worth, less than half the

RUBBER AND COCAO ALTERNATING., SHOWING METHOD OF CLEANING.

amount shipped the preceding year. It was about this time that the
government began to take an interest in the cultivation of rubber and
passed laws against tapping the wild trees, and also offered prizes one
for eight thousand dollars and another for five thousand ^dollars for
the best plantations of Castilloa rubber. Both of these prizes were taken
in 1894 by Minor C. Keith, who installed t\vo plantations near Port
Limon, the trees, some twenty-five thousand in number, being planted with
bananas and about one hundred and fifty rubber trees to the acre. At
the time the prizes* were awarded the trees were said to be eight or nine
years old. When the writer visited Costa Rica, no record of them
could be found, although they should have been somewhere about twenty
years old, and certainly big enough to tap. The gossips of the country

IN COSTA RICA 197

appear to believe that so much quicker profit came to the planter through
bananas that the rubber plantations were sacrificed to that industry.

From 1900 onward, quite a number of companies were incorporated
for the planting of Castilloa. A planter named Ed. Coles furnished in
1902 a list of eleven planters who had put in rubber, all the way from
ten to one hundred acres. Some of these plantations, if they had been
continued, would have trees that should be at the present time producers

COCAO PODS AND SCRAP RUBBER FROM WILD TREES.

of rubber. The questioning of either natives or foreigners on the ground
elicited very little information; about all they seemed to know or care
about was bananas. From an American planter, however, we learned
that Messrs. Hoffenstadt and Gillet, of Banco de la China, have a planta-
tion, where they lately tapped six hundred Castilloas which were six or
seven years old, getting a pound of rubber from each tree.

The correspondent also mentioned an American family named Hogan
who were planting rubber at the mouth of the Tres Amigos River, which
was the beginning of the Costa Rica Development Co., with headquarters
at Los Angeles, California. The officers of this company made arrange-
ments for us to visit their plantation, but that meant a call at Greytown,
Nicaragua, to reach the Tres Amigos River, but we found that to be
impossible. This company have twenty-five thousand trees, a little over
three years old, and about fifteen thousand two years old, which from
the photographs that we secured appear to be in a most excellent con-
dition.

In this connection it is interesting to note the activity of Mr. Th.
F. Koschnev, an old time settler on the San Carlos River, and OITC who

198 A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING

has studied the Castilloa carefully. While not a botanist in the strictest
sense of the term, his description of the varities of the Castilloa is of
distinct value. He divides the Castilloa of Costa Rica into four species,
the white, the black, the red, and the "tunu," the first three being all
varieties of the Castilloa elastica. Botanists so far have not followed his
discrimination carefully, and it is a question if rubber planters have made
any distinction, nor has it been proved necessary. Of course, it would
not pay planters to raise "tunu" gum instead of Panama rubber, but so
far as we know, no such planting has ever been done in Costa Rica, or,
indeed, anvwhere else.

EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA
RUBBER IN PANAMA

FIRST LETTER.

To PANAMA IN THE RAINY SEASON FORTUNE ISLAND COLON ALONG THE PAN-
AMA CANAL PANAMA CITY THE ALMIRANTE TOBOGA ISLAND QUEER FISH
SLEEPING IN THE RAIN THE QUEBRO OUTLAWS EL CAPITAN'S FEARS ALMOST
WRECKED IN THE LEE OF GUBERNADOR THE "PIONEER" COMES ABOARD ASHORE
AT LAST.

IT was decidedly against my better judgment that I found myself
en route for Central America in May, due to reach the infant
Republic of Panama during the rainy season, and when the
yellow fever might be too easy of acquisition. Nevertheless, there I
was, a passenger on the Allianca, with two fellow adventurers, while
a third was waiting our arrival in Panama City. The exploring party
consisted of four the "Prospector," a well known mining engineer; the
"Scout," then in Panama, getting together supplies, engaging guides,
and chartering a schooner ; the ''Commodore," and the writer. My
task was the examination of some eight hundred square miles of wild
lands, privately owned and long forgotten.

The voyage to Colon was uneventful, but enjoyable, although it
grew warmer each day, and side awnings and wind scoops told of
increasing nearness to the tropics. In due time Bird Island Rock was
sighted, where is a lighthouse, flagstaff, and thirteen cocoanut palms,
but no sign of life on the dazzling white beaches. Later came Fortune
Island, and stopping far off shore, the one white resident came to us in
a jolly boat rowed by a half dozen husky negroes, and got his mail.
Although the sea was as smooth as glass, of a wonderful, indescribable
blue, and the little cluster of houses in the distance, in a setting of
graceful palms with foreground of snowwhite beaches, was -most
beautiful, the heat was killing, and we were glad when the steamer left
it all behind. Later the light on Cape Maisi, Cuba, was raised, and
then came the boisterous and lonely Caribbean Sea. Heavy thunder
storms were soon frequent, and the heat during the day was intense,
but the nights, as the moon was full, were glorious. Finally, on the
last day of May, at eleven in the morning, we sighted the rugged coast
of Colombia, shadowed by masses of deep cloud, and not long after we
were in Colon.

Although soon transferred to the train that crosses the Isthmus, we
had a chance to see the building where twenty-four United States

201

202 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

marines stood off four hundred Colombian regulars ; to take in the
negro huts that cluster about the town in every swampy spot; and to
size up the small, scraggy horses, the parrots, monkeys, and a good per-
centage of Colon's two thousand inhabitants.

The afternoon train scheduled to leave at 2.45 gets away promptly
at 3.30. Almost at once the journey is made interesting by the relics
of the French canal diggers, and such relics! Trains of abandoned
cars, overgrown with vines, trees, and lusty weeds ; mountains of cor-
roding iron pipe, hundreds of tons of rusty rails, donkey engines, loco-
motives, dredges all crumbling, rotting, sinking out of sight in the

IN THE CANAL ZONE RIVER VIEW.

slime, or covered by the rank swamp growths. Further on were huge
warehouses, said to be full of expensive machinery, and then the
chateaus of the French engineers, once trig and neat, now tawdry, deso-
late, deserted. We saw the Chagres River, and very harmless and
muddy it looked; observed Monkey Hill Cemetery, and wondered why
the French engineers elected to live in a swamp and be buried on a hill ;
admired the fine work done in excavating the Culebra cut ; took note of
the types of jungle" growth, and at six in the evening arrived at the
citv of Panama. We were met by the Scout, and at once taken to the
Hotel Grand Central.

IN PANAMA 203

Here was a deadly, sticky, oppressive heat, with not a breath of
air stirring. The bare bedrooms were like ovens, and even the cone
of mosquito netting that hung over the bed was to the imaginaton as
stifling as a blanket. It was too hot to think of sleep, so we wandered
about the city, interested, amused, and disgusted interested by the
quaint and ancient architecture, amused by the police custom of blowing
whistles in concert when the clocks struck the hour, and disgusted by
the smells that many side streets developed.

The next morning after coffee we went down to the water front,
where, lying high and dry on the beach, as the tide was out, was the
Almirante, the sixty-ton schooner that was to take us to our destina-
tion. The crew of five negroes, headed by the mate, was slowly getting
our outfit aboard, and at the same time chaffing the crews of nearby
hog schooners that were unloading by pushing their squealing freight
into the water to swim ashore as best Tt could.

From here we went to Don Pablo's offices to discuss food, medi-
cines, hammocks, ammunition, clothing, etc., until it was time for noon
breakfast and the regulation siesta. Just a word about Don Pablo.
One of the wealthy and progressive merchants of the new republic, he
not only treated us with every consideration, and purchased most of
our supplies, but it was due to his alert helpfulness that we were not
tied up in that torrid city for a week or more, instead of getting away
in three days. But to return to our story. The breakfast was not a
success from an epicurean standpoint, nor was the siesta, for it was
too hot to sleep. So, assembling in the foyer, we watched the drowsy
darkeys on the curbs opposite, and waited for the midday heat to pass.
After a time I was courageous enough to look at the thermometer and
it registered ninety-seven degrees Fahrenheit, the air fairly reeking with
humidity. Along in the afternoon I wrote some letters, but could get
no stamps, as the government had interdicted their sale at hotels,
because the tourists had been in the habit of buying them for curios,
instead of attaching them to letters as they should ; at least that is what
the clerk said.

Finally, on the afternoon of the third day in Panama, all was ready.
The Almirante lay about a mile from shore. There is a twenty-foot
tide, so it is said, and the row to the schooner gave us a view of many
cattle and hog boats, and a good idea of the water front of the quaint
city that stands at the Pacific entrance of the canal. I have said that
the crew consisted of five, but neglected to mention the crew's cook,
Jungo, and also our own, Raphael. I had also forgotten the dozen live

204

EXPLORING FOR CASTILLO A RUBBER

hens that were tied two and two, and wandered over the deck at will,
as well as Domingo, the leanest, dirtiest, tiniest tramp kitten that any
country ever saw.

Don Pablo and Don Ramon, another friend, came out and saw us
off, and by seven o'clock we were sailing out of the harbor, headed for
Toboga Island, for ballast and fresh water. All trace of the deadly
heat ashore was gone, and the effects, a slight fever that all experienced,
quickly disappeared. When darkness came, we slept on deck under the
stars, wrapped in blankets, and awoke in the morning to find the boat
at anchor just off the little town of Toboga. It was raining gently, but

CATHEDRAL SQUARE AND HOTEL GRAND CENTRAL, PANAMA CITY.

no one cared, and after coffee we went ashore to buy eggs, pineapples,
and bananas, and incidentally to get a shore breakfast. This was served
in a neat room by pretty Indian girls, and was the best meal we had
eaten for a week.

The town has about one hundred dwellings of bamboo, plastered
with cow dung, and a small church. It is nestled at the foot of a high
ridge, cultivated almost to the top, while about the houses cluster cocoa-
nut palms, pawpaw, and chicle trees. It is a very healthy place, as the
water is good and there are no mosquitoes. Late in the afternoon we
got away, but as the wind was light, we did little but drift. Then it

IN PANAMA

205

was that we began to speculate upon the number of days it would take
to reach our destination, and to recall the fact that in these same waters
Cortez once lay becalmed for seventy clays, and at this season of the
year, too.

The next morning we were still in sight of Toboga, and spent much
of the day in rifle and revolver practice, the gulls on bits of driftwood
making excellent targets. There was also the chance to size up El
Capitan, a nervous, wiry, native Panamanian, and to discover the very
primitive ideas of cleanliness that our cook was possessed of. For
example, his plan for cleansing the tin coffee cups was to pour one

PART OF THE PANAMANIAN ARMY.

half full of water, rinse it around, pour the same water into another,
and so on until all were thus washed. He also had a barrel of "biltong' 7
or pickled beef for the crew, that was washed each day and hung on a
line to dry. It certainly was strong meat, and the smell of it aft came
near making us all vegetarians. Slowly the boat drew on, the passengers
killing time as best they could, till finally Punta Malo came in sight. It
was at this time that our first use for the medicine chest occurred. The
Commodore rolled his sleeves high to the tropical sun, and in a few
hours had a pair of the reddest, sorest arms that were ever seen. They

206 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

gave out heat like base burners, and ached if one pointed at them, so
they were anointed with cooling salves, hung in slings, and nearly
cured by the time he got ashore.

Thus we sailed and drifted, chiefly the latter, sleeping on deck
until driven into the little cabin by an unusually heavy shower, usually
to be driven out again by the heat, the bilge smell, and the ants, of
which latter we had our own private colony. After a time, we left
Panama Bay and felt the long swell of the Pacific. Then was sighted
Punta Moro Puercos (Cape The-Death-of-the-Pig), and after that came
a coast rugged, mountainous, with no harbors, and the mountains
shadowed by dense clouds, with all the evidences of continuous and heavy
tropical rainstorms.

After more drifting came Punta Mariato, which we rounded, and
turning due north, made for the Gulf of Monti jo, where the schooner
was to lie while the exploring party was ashore. Even after rounding
the cape, the wind still continued light, and progress came chiefly from
the impulse of the Pacific -swell. ,

In these waters were many sharks, two of which carry a half dozen
bullets apiece that I pumped into them from a Remington repeater,
early one morning. Then, too, there was a water snake, Cnlebra marina,
about three feet long, that was often in evidence, sometimes as many
as thirty being seen in a day. We fished constantly, getting no bites,
but the crew were more fortunate and speared some fish of a kind new
to me. One, long and slim, resembling a mackerel, was of a beautiful
bronze tint, with a spike on its nose, and a back fin running from the
gills to the tail. Another was short, chunky, of a dingy blue color
spotted with white polka dots. The natives called the former the
"durado," but had no name for the latter.

Our drifting by the point did not last long, as the weather suddenly
changed and the wind became so squally that the captain put out to sea
lest he pile his vessel upon the inhospitable shore. That night I tried to
sleep in the cabin but it was too disagreeable, so I put on a light rubber
coat and rubber boots and slept soundly on deck with the rain beating
in my face. It was so scorching hot in the daytime, that, when drifting,
a tarpaulin was rigged as a shield under which were swung the ham-
mocks, making quarters that were fairly comfortable. Some one called
it the "Touraine,"" because when it was half done it began to rain.

Soon the schooner was off the O'uebro, a part of the territory said
to contain a large settlement of outlaws. These fugitives from justice
had heard of the approach of the Americanos and were rumored to be

IN PANAMA

207

prepared to resist any examination of that part of the land. If they
believed the stories told them by the Indians, that they were to be
enslaved and have numbers branded upon their foreheads, one can
scarcely blame them.

The objective point, however, was farther down the coast, so we
only saw the mouth of the Quebro River, with frowning mountains for
a background/ Very glad we were that the Quebro was not then in our
itinerary, for that part of the country was black with thunder clouds, and
drenched with showers that bore a close resemblence to cloudbursts.

THE SCHOONER ALMIRANTE.

Coasting along still further, we descried the mouth of the Mariato
River, where the first landing was to be made. Here a fresh difficulty
arose. El Capitan feared the shore and would not go nearer than five
miles without a pilot. After a lurid conference, in Spanish, Portuguese,
and English, it was suggested that he circle the nearby island of Cebaco,
stop at Gubernador Island and borrow a pilot. And so it was decided,
and the start made just as night fell.

That night the air was heavy with moisture and had in it all of the
makings of an electrical storm of great violence, but aside from the

208 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLO A RUBBER

St. Elmo's fire that appeared at the masthead, nothing happened. The
crew was much exercised about these strange balls of light it was
Malo with a capital M to all of them. No such superstition affected
our party, however, and when the morning came we laughed away their
fears, and as the day advanced they grew ashamed of the terrors of the
night. By noon the schooner was off Cebaco, which ends in a jagged
reef where rough water is to be found. As the wind was light and the
current strong, the Almirante was carried quite close to this danger
point, although both jibs and the fore and mainsail were drawing full,
the latter two being wing and wing. Just as we passed the reef, with no
warning at all, came a squall that was as near as possible to ending the
cruise in disaster. The Almirante heeled over until her rail was under,
and plunged forward like a race horse. El Capitan, at the tiller ropes,
screeched shrill orders, and the crew worked like demons to get the
flying jib and the foresail down. In the face of that wind it was no mean
job, as the sail was as rigid as iron, and it was not until a sailor climbed
the mast and pulled the hoops down, a few inches at a time, that it was
lowered. Even then it could not be tied up, but bellied far out into the
water. The same difficulty was experienced in reefing the mainsail. But
finally, after much labor, the schooner was in hand and driving out to
sea under jib and reefed mainsail. As the squall had now turned into
a hurricane that drove the warm spray from the wave tops into one's
face like hail, it looked as if we were likely to be driven far out of our
course. El Capitan therefore decided to try to come about and run
between Cebaco and Gubernador for shelter. Three times he tried and
each time missed. Then he prepared to jibe. The Americanos, however,
would not have it, urging that either the rigging would part or the masts
be carried away by such a measure, and he finally gave it up. Then he
tried to come about again, and by lowering the jib for a moment, and
raising it again, was successful ; the old tub came about and headed for
the haven. Then followed three hours of as rough sailing as I ever
expect to see. There was no particular danger, if everything held, but
the seas that pounded the side and often came aboard were big and
angry, and the wind fairly shrieked. Nothing happened except the part-
ing of a stay, and the partial collapse of the cook's galley, and by night-
fall anchor was dropped close under the shelter of Gubernador, in still
water, and the weary voyagers went to sleep to the roaring of the breakers
on the other side of the island.

Going ashore in the morning, we found that the island was owned
by our friend, Don Pablo, and it was here that his pearl fishing schooners

IN PANAMA

209

refitted. The few inhabitants were Indian, and in looks, habits, and
manner of living, just what one finds from Mexico all the way down to
the Amazon. They were friendly and brought us pineapples that were
most delicious, and after much palaver, we secured a pilot. It was while
walking along the shore from one little settlement to another that the
Scout, with whom I was, had an unpleasant experience. We were
under a tree that looked for all the world in bark and leaf like a pear
tree, with a fruit that had the appearance of a small apple. We each
picked half a dozen and the Scout bit into one, remarking that it tasted

ON THE BEACH, GUBERNADOR ISLAND.

like a sweet apple. I used mine, however, to pelt the native
dogs that were following, and then both forgot the episode.
After the return to the schooner, however, while getting under
way, the Scout was taken suddenly ill, vomiting, retching,
and complaining that he felt as if he were on fire inside. We gave him
such simple remedies as were obtainable, but it was hours before the
attack passed off. The natives said later that both tree and fruit, known
as the bitter uiansana, or arsenic apple, are intensely poisonous. A horse

210

EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

tied under the tree for a few hours becomes very ill and loses his hair,
while it is sure death for a man to eat one of the apples.

With the pilot aboard, we soon gained the gulf again, and ere
long were off the Palo Seco (the withered tree), where, if luck favored,
guides and mules were awaiting us. This time our captain ventured
within three miles of the shore and sure enough saw two men. A boat
was sent, and in course of time, night having fallen, a light appeared
dancing over the waves, and soon there stepped aboard the Pioneer, who

JUNGO, COOK ON THE "ALMIRANTE/'

was to furnish guides and transports. He had been waiting nearly a
week, and would have left the next day, believing that we had turned
back or been wrecked by one of the Pacific hurricanes.

The Pioneer had been in that country for many years and his
stories of rubber gathering up in the Cauca, and adventures in the Darien
with the fierce -San Bias Indians, were most interesting. As is well
known, these savages do not allow trespassers upon their lands, although
they do not molest those who gather rubber in the wilds adjacent to

IN PANAMA

211

their domain. The Pioneer acknowledged that once he broke an agree-
ment with a chief, stole across the river that marked his boundary, and
began work on the rich forbidden forest. As a result, his men were
shot down, one by one, until only he and one negro escaped.

Another time he was caught far up a river, by the dry season, and
had to wait for the rains. When they finally came and he got his rubber
afloat, they had for provision only rice and bananas. Floating down the
river one evening in the bright moonlight, they came to a fine stretch

THE TOURAINE CANVAS SHELTER ON THE ALMIRANTE.

of beach, and he at once ordered the canoe men to make camp there.
They refused with every evidence of extreme terror, as they said the
place was haunted. The Pioneer, tired and hungry, forced them to do
as he ordered, by threatening them with his revolver. He soon had
supper and was quickly sound asleep under his mosquito netting. About
midnight, just as the moon was setting, he was awakened by a strange
and dreadful cry. Sitting up to call the crew, they suddenly threw
themselves upon him, held him down, and practically gagging him kept

212 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLO A RUBBER

him quiet until the screams ceased. Then they whispered that it was
death to speak aloud and returned to their sleeping places. The next
morning they explained that the screams came from the spirit of a
man who was murdered and buried with money on him, and if any
one had spoken the spirit would have at once attacked and killed the
speaker. No whit impressed, the Pioneer searched the river bank, and
finally found a huge and ancient sloth, which he promptly killed. And
thus was the uneasy spirit laid, for the cries ceased from that time.

The rubber trees up there, so he said, were from two to three feet
in diameter, and most abundant bleeders. They always cut them down
to secure the rubber, as they get more that way and know that if they
spared them the next crew of gatherers would destroy them. He said
that on the land we had come to examine, the rubber gatherers had
been in the habit of cutting the trees down, but that two years before
the practice had been stopped, and a premium of twenty-five dollars
paid to any one who informed of such destruction. As the whole tract,
some five hundred thousand acres, was private property, and wild, and
as most of the Indians lived on the other side of the mountains, the
rubber was quite plentiful, and with a very little system, the crop could
be greatly augmented.

The next day was undertaken in good earnest the work of getting
our stores and ourselves safely ashore. And no light task we found
it. The surf was tremendous and it was impossible, even with the skill-
ful management, to get to land without being drenched, the men being
landed in the ship's boat, the stores coming ashore in a dugout.

While the goods were being landed, the Scout and the Prospector
stripped and took a bath. Later they shuddered when they remembered
it, for the sharks that haunt that shore, coming far into the shallow
water, are big and voracious. In the meantime I was looking at the
forest. Much to my delight I found Castilloa trees growing within one
hundred feet of the shore. Small ones to be sure, but thrifty. One,
about three inches in diameter, had been tapped, and from the cuts I
stripped some good strong rubber.

IN PANAMA 21$

SECOND LETTER.

CAMP Rio NEGRO ROUGHING IT STORY OF A BRIDGE CASTILLOA GROVES
BIRDS, ANIMALS AND REPTILES CRUZ, THE HUNTER TRIPS OF EXPLORATION CHI-
QUITA, THE COMMODORE, AND MULA GRANDE COAGULATING RUBBER WITH AMOLE
JUICE NATIVE RUBBER MANUFACTURE LLANOS DON RAMON AND DONNA MARIA
A TREASURE HUNT.

OUR plan at first, on coming ashore on the Azuero Peninsula, had
been to camp right where we landed, but the "heng-hengs"
(rodadors) were so troublesome that another spot had been
chosen, some eight miles inland, and having turned our belongings
over to the mozos, we started on the trail for camp Rio Negro. The
Commodore led, because he had brought his shotgun and planned to
shoot something for supper. He made a gallant figure, striding along
the trail in rubber soled shoes, and had deer or turkey appeared, they
certainly would have dropped. But the game was wary, and the only
creature that dropped was the hunter himself, when he inadvertently
trod on a slimy log and sat down in a pool of water.

The trip took about three hours and led slightly uphill all of -the
way. The trail was fair, and ran through a sort of open forest, where
there were many huge trees, but not much of the dense jungle that is
so often to be found in the tropics. The soil was a gravelly loam,
with a clay underlay, and seemed to be rich, while the beds of the
brooks and creeks were of hard gravel and boulders. All along the
trail were Castilloas, sometimes singly, and often in clumps. None of
them were over twelve inches in diameter, and most of them had been
tapped. Now and then was one that had been felled a year or two
before, and frequently we saw stumps of what must once have been
fine, large rubber trees.

Eight miles is a long distance in the tropics, and though lightly
clad and walking slowly, we were soon very warm, and wet through
with perspiration. The Pioneer ventured the prediction that this was
the last long tramp upon which the Commodore would carry an eight-
pound gun, and his prophecy came true. Even long journeys end r
however, and after fording the Palo Seco, and a little later, the Negro
River, we emerged into a fine grove of Castilloas, and fronting it, a palm
thatched house that was to be our base of operations for many days.
An hour later the mules arrived with the navy bags, and within fifteen

214

EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

minutes we were in dry clothing, had hammocks slung, and were
ravenously watching the cook prepare supper of jerked venison, bacon,
dago bread, and coffee. Later he made delicious chocolate, using con-
densed milk, and serving it in calabashes. Just here the supper and its
preparation suggests it let me say that the little camping stove was
all right, but three stones between which the fire was built were just
as good, while a candle box made a fine molding board. So, too, with
the hip boots of rubber they kept us dry a couple of times in fording
creeks, but it was so much easier to slop right through and dry out on

PANAMANIANS.

the march that we didn't bother with them after the first day or two.
It was lucky, however, that there were ample stores of rice and salt,
for the natives had neglected to clear and plant during the dry season
just preceding our visit, and the whole countryside was on the verge
of starvation. Not that they worried about it particularly ; they simply
ate what they could get, and contentedly waited for the next dry season
to come around.

Our first night in camp part of us slept in hammocks and part on

IN PANAMA 21 5

a platform of poles, under which the mosos crept when the evening rain
came on. The Pioneer kept a lantern burning, as he said it scared away
the vampire bats. It did not frighten the insects, however, for the morn-
ing light showed four white men well speckled with red spots. Just
what the insect was could not be discovered, but it was most industrious.
I counted fifty-seven well defined bites between knee and ankle, and
there were others. I also discovered how to scratch these bites and
suffer no ill effects, and Oh! the joy of such scratching! The remedy
was a five per cent, solution of formine applied to the surface after an
orgy of scratching. In two hours after the application, all the poison
either from bite or finger nails wholly disappeared. It being Sunday, our

CAMP RIO NEGRO.

mozos piously refrained from work, but in spite of their scruples, they
were induced to build a shelter for themselves, which they finally did,
getting the roof on just before the afternoon downpour of rain.

In speaking of the lack of enterprise that the natives show, it must
not for a moment be imagined that they are behind the times in every-
thing. In the utilization of public money, for example, they could give
Tammany Hall points of value. To cite an instance: The home gov-
ernment at Panama City appropriated three thousand dollars for the
building of a bridge over a river that flowed near a certain town.
Shortly after that one of the holders of the fund approached the Pioneer
and asked for an estimate as to the cost of putting up the bridge, remark-

216 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

ing that he had two thousand dollars for it. The Pioneer offered to
do it for that sum, but the next morning, when the papers were to he
drawn, there remained only fifteen hundred dollars. Then the trustee
proposed that a seven hundred and fifty dollar bridge be built, and
that he and the Pioneer divide seven hundred and fifty dollars. It took
some trading to arrange that, and before it was finished there was left
but six hundred dollars. Then apparently all of the officials got a slice,
for two days later there was but ten dollars left. Nor has the bridge
ever been built, but there is still an excellent ford, which appears to
suit the people just as well. Thus it \vill be seen that they equal us in
the distribution of government appropriations, and outclass us in some
forms of piety. One of our rubber cutters, for example, bore the name
of Jesus Maria Dios but he did not look the part.

During the forenoon I looked over the grove of Castilloas that
fronted the house, and found that most of them had been tapped that
season. Indeed, one of our mozos said that they had been tapped twice.
The process of tapping here is quite different from that pictured by
most who tell of the gathering of Panama rubber. They usually describe
a series of zigzag cuts, running one into another from the base of the tree
far up the trunk. Here each cut was individual, and made with two
strokes, one horizontal, and the other slightly downward and joining
the first so that a small slice of bark was taken out. In the lower part
of the cut the thick latex gathers and is scraped into a calabash with the
fingers. The trees, as a rule, were tapped as high as the native could
reach, and frequently a rustic ladder or a rough staging enabled the
gatherers to get higher up on the tree.

It seems that the plot of trees at Rio Negro were not self sown,
but were planted by the Indian in his rice field after the crop was gath-
ered. There were one hundred and five trees on about an eighth of an
acre of land, said to be four years old. The rest of the clearing had
grown up to jungle, but where the rubber trees were it was quite clear
and the trees big and lusty. Their condition made me wonder if the
cleaning that is carried on by up-to-date planters is after all so much of
a necessity as they believe.

Although it was Sunday, all went in swimming in the swift Rio
Negro, and all also went fishing (with a stick of dynamite) but only
got one. The swimming was not prolonged, however, because of the
rodadors, that were- quite troublesome. While in the water a band of
brown faced monkeys expressed their disapproval of our Sabbath break-
ing by throwing sticks and branches at us from the tops of the lofty

IN PANAMA

217

2i8 EXPLORING FOR CAST1LLOA RUBBER

trees that hung far over the water. Speaking of the animals, there
were deer, wild pigs, tapir, tiger cats, and jaguars, but they were rarely
seen. Evidences of them were plenty, however. Once when we visited
the llanos (grass plains), we saw where a jaguar had killed a two-year-
old colt. For birds, there were innumerable humming birds, a great
variety of song birds, hawks, parrots, buzzards, cranes, grouse, doves,
two kinds of wild turkeys, and the justly named "fire cracker bird." We
saw no snakes, but iguanas and lizards were common.

The Indians think every kind of snake, and even lizards and tree
frogs, poisonous. They have, however, what they assert is a sure cure
for the bites of poisonous reptiles. After being bitten, if the sufferer
will shut his eyes, reach behind, and select three leaves (any kind will
do), quickly rub them together, and apply to the bitten part, a cure
always results.

Our helpers were in part Indians, descendants of the Aztecs, and
in part negroes from the Cauca. Of the former was Indolencia, whose
strange, complaining "monkey call" could be heard for miles. He
always kept it up when alone in the woods, even if only a few hundred
yards from camp. Of the latter was Cruz, a tall, loose jointed darkey,
freshly pitted by smallpox. He was the hunter, and was equipped with
a muzzle loading "gaspipe" gun with a percussion lock. It was worth
going miles to see him flush a turkey, locate the tree in which it alighted,
steal within range, and then snap cap after cap, until finally the gun
went off and the turkey dropped, oftentimes getting away even then.

As it would be impossible to examine carefully the whole of the
eight hundred square miles in the month allotted to it, we first got the
general lay of the land, then laid out trips through typical sections,
estimated their areas, and computed the number of trees. From Rio
Negro camp (about two hundred and fifty feet above sea level) trails
were cut north, south, east, and west. Then came long, hard tramps,
counting and measuring trees in typical blocks, and much questioning of
native rubber cutters for a fair estimate of the conditions that obtained
elsewhere. One fact soon impressed itself upon me. The Castilloa was
certainly better adapted to flourish there than any other of the native
trees. In spite of the war of extermination that had been previously
waged against it, it was more abundant than any other single tree. It
often happened thajt a group of from forty to fifty could be counted from
the trail, and it was a rare experience to go twenty-five feet in the lower
forest without seeing at least one tree. While many of them were lofty,
few were more than eight or ten inches in diameter. The very largest

IN PANAMA

219

tree that I saw, far up in a secluded mountain valley, was not over
twenty-two inches in diameter. The natives could always pick those that
are the best milkers. As a rule, these trees had a larger leaf area than
the others, which accounts, I think, for the extra flow of latex. Those
in the dense forest seemed to bear few seeds, while on the edges of the
trails or in open places they were abundant seed bearers. There seemed
to be no leaf or bark diseases, and even trees that had been mutilated
the worst by the rubber gatherers seemed to be sound and healthy.

INTERIOR OF CAMP RIO NEGRO.

Exploration was, of course, greatly hindered by the heavy rains
that came nearly every afternoon, and sometimes in the morning as
well. These swelled the rivers so that fording was difficult, and turned
the steeper trails into muddy torrents. The shacks of Indians who
were collecting rubber were often visited, and deserted camps always
examined. A camp usually consisted of a palm thatched leanto, just
big enough for two men to sleep in, on a narrow pole-covered bench.

220 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLO A RUBBER

In one corner was a hole in the ground about two feet deep and eighteen
inches in diameter, to receive the rubber milk, and in which it was late
coagulated. ' Three stones as big as a man's head formed the fireplace.,
with a bunch of dry sticks for fuel ; calabashes for gathering, the machete
for tapping, and the amole vine for coagulating, finish the tale of the
rubber gatherers' equipment.

Although camp Rio Negro was headquarters, we were often obliged
to make other camps for a few days. For example, when examining
the upper valleys one thousand feet above sea level, a rubber gatherers
shack was our home for three days. Two things in particular were noted
on this trip. The rubber tree rarely grew on the tops of the "hog backs''
or ridges but on the sides, and in the valleys. Nor did it grow in
wet lands at all. Then the seeding of the tree at that altitude was about
a month later than on lands from fifty to three hundred feet above 1

sea. ,

There was much less game in the upper country, and, weary <
tinned meats, it was not surprising that we tried and enjoyed parrot
stew or that the monkeys should have been turned into rabbit stew-
not big, black, twenty-five-pound monkeys, of which we shot several,
but the little brown-faced edible monkeys.

It is not to be supposed that all work was done on foot. Wherevei
it was feasible either horses or mules were used, and by following the
ancient Indian trails we were able to save ourselves much time and toil
The horses were small, gentle stallions and quite surefooted.
gentle and so thev were toward all of human kind, but when turned
out to' browse there were some very pretty stallion fights, with no harm
done however. The mules were small, but strong, and made mud:
troub'le because thev knew of the grass plains some miles distant, and
were in the habit of stealing away at night and making for them. As
the trails in some places were very steep, I chose a little mule called
Chiquita, and she proved to be a treasure. She could ford a swift run-
ning river and keep her feet, while the others were stumbling and half
swimming I verily believe she could climb a greased pole or slide down
a log chute and never miss her footing, if she so elected. The Scout.
the Pioneer, and the Prospector rode horses, while the Commodore,
who was a trifle over two hundred in weight, took the mula grande ,

Diking of the Commodore's mount, I thought he would have
trouble for that particular mule demanded the same treatment that the
other mules received. I saw him watch me when I leaned forward in

IN PANAMA

221

the saddle and eased Chiquita up a sharp rise by twisting my fingers
in her mane. The Commodore, however, by reason of his stoutness,
could not easily do this, and so sat up. The big mule grew sullen, and
finally, as we forded the Mariato, and climbed its steep, clayey banks,
he suddenly stopped half way up, shook himself and began to tip
slowly over backwards. Of course the Commodore slid off over his
tail, and sat in the river, and an instant later was holding the big mule

INDIAN TAPPING A CASTILLOA.

in his lap. I ought not to have laughed, nor should I, had not Chiquita
turned around and winked at me.

I had long wished to see how the Indians coagulated the latex of
the Castilloa by the addition of the juice of the amole vine, and now had
the opportunity, not once, but many times. Usually the coagulation
is done in a hole in the ground ; if, however, they are very careful, and
are possessed of an axe, they cut a trough out of a "balsa" log and use
that. When there is sufficient milk for coagulation, a bunch of vines is
gathered, folded together, and pounded on a log with a heavy billet

222 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

of wood until all of the fibers are well bruised. The mass is then rinsed
in water, the fluid being run through a sieve, and poured into the
trough. Extreme care is taken not to stir the latex. Instead, as it
begins at once to coagulate on the top, the rubber is gently pressed
down, gathering to itself other particles, and at the same time it is
forced towards one side of the receptacle. Thus by gently manipulating,
squeezing, and handling, most of the coagulated rubber is finally gath-
ered into one piece, which is lifted out and kneaded until much of the
water is out of it. Some more amole water is then poured into the
remaining liquid, and by the same sort of careful manipulation another
smaller slab of rubber is secured. The two are then stuck together.
A week later the milk white mass of rubber will be jet black, of about
half its first weight, and apparently as dry as a bone. Unless it is cut
into strips and washed and dried again, and all of the amole liquor got
rid of, it will sweat and deteriorate, and have a smell that makes it most
offensive.

The machete is used altogether for tapping by the natives in Cen-
tral America. Just by way of experiment I tried two different tools
that I brought with me from New York. One was a sort of farrier's
knife, that did pretty well, but was not heavy enough ; the other was
the type of tool that is now in general use in Ceylon. While it was
possible to tap with this latter tool, it did not do for the Castilloa as
well as for the Hevca. The strong fiber in the bark, unless the tool be
as sharp as a razor, makes the incision a tear rather than a clean cut.
It is possible that the tool may be changed in shape slightly and do the
work, but in its present shape it is not as good as the machete. Speaking
of the fiber in the outer bark of the Castilloa, the natives used formerly,
when they found a very large tree, to pound the bark until it was loose
then cut it off and dry it, and have a beautiful snow white sleeping-
mat, as soft as wool, and looking for all the world as if it were the
product of a loom.

Here I must mention a rubber tapping tool invented by a native
Panamanian whom I met, and who is not only a rubber gatherer but a
thinker. Although so many men have tried to evolve a satisfactory
tapping device for rubber trees, it is singular that the thought of a
would-be inventor in this line, almost invariably, turns first to some
sort of vacuum or suction arrangement, that will not only act as a tapping
tool, but pump the latex out of the tree. Of course, a little study of the
formation of the lactiferous tubes makes it evident that nothing of this
sort is feasible. The suggestion, however, has come from a great

IN PANAMA 223

variety of sources, and in some cases from scientific men. So it was
interesting- to run across the same mental processes and the same sort
of deduction among the natives of the rubber countries. The illustration
(page 221 ) shows an instrument designed and made by the native referred
to, a man named Juancho, who is shown in another illustration standing
in a grove of Castilloa. The instrument consists of a cylinder of light
balsa wood, wound with codline, through which runs a piston made
of hard wood, one end tipped with a short iron chisel. The chisel end of
the cylinder is fitted with a strip of pure rubber, a packing to be drawn
tightly around the tree. The puncture made and the piston withdrawn,
the hope was that the cylinder would fill with latex. That expectation,
however, was blasted, as only the usual amount of latex followed the cut.

RUBBER CUTTERS AT RIO NEGRO CAMP.

Two of the long trips across country brought us out at the llanos,
or grass plains prairies containing some 25,000 acres, on which grazed
some one hundred and fifty head of cattle of the old Spanish strain, but
big and fat for all of that. They were not at all wild, yet to milk a
cow it was necessary to muzzle her calf and tie it to her front legs, and
then she seemed to feel that her offspring was getting the leche that
really flowed into a calabash. In a little oasis of trees in this prairie
of rich, short grass, was a neat native house in which lived the keeper
of the herd and his wife. Thin, almost to emaciation, was Don Ramon,
gray haired, with the sparse beard of the true Indian, clad in white;

224 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

he was the only energetic native that I saw on the peninsula. Donna
Mafia, his spouse, short, fat, and comely, in calico dress and blouse,
barefooted, with a man's hat on her head, her own pipe in her mouth,
surrounded by hens and dogs, cooked in -a placid way that was most
picturesque and restful. We slept at their house one night, but on the
second visit signalled the schooner and went aboard to sleep, away from
the various insects that always infest a cattle ranch.

It was during a visit to the llanos that we nearly lost the Prospector.
It came about this way: From the time of the Spaniards the country
has been known as a gold producer. Indeed, every brook and river
showed traces of "color," while traditions of lost mines and their fabu-
lous riches were everywhere rife. As we were not after gold, but
rubber, the lost mines, or the sunken treasure ship at the mouth of the

COAGULATING RUBBER IN BALSA LOG.

Mariato, troubled us not at all. That is, not until the Miner came across
the mountains, and rode into our camp with a true Western yell. He
was a raw boned, good humored, shrewd Irish-American, who had
been in every mining camp in North America, and who was now devel-
oping the Gallo (Golden Cock) mine. He and the Prospector got
together at once and the air was full of "andesite," "quartz," and "por-
phory." Then they got to whispering and later parted. It was at the
llanos that it all came to a head, for it was there that the Prospector
began furtively to study a small diagram, and later stole away accom-

IN PANAMA

225

panied by an Indian whom he had hypnotized by the gift of a real.
They took a bee line for the shore, forded the Mariato, and on a little
island that is half covered by the tide, hunted up a certain tree, strode
away so many paces by compass, and started to dig.

It was exciting to see how eagerly they plied pick and shovel,
and how they started with joy when the pick struck a tree root. And
they dug and dug until they suddenly awoke to the fact that they were
cut off from the main land by the tide. Then the Indian went all to
pieces and wept and called upon the saints, while the Prospector uttered
words unfit for publication. There \vas no danger unless an alligator

JUANCHO IN GROVE OF CASTILLOA PLANTED BY INDIANS.

or a jaguar got them, and as there was no boat the best thing would
have been to wait for the ebb. Instead of that, they went further into
the thicket, and a few minutes later appeared, each with a pole, and
stepping into the swiftly running water started to cross. Very slowly,
bracing themselves at every step, they waded, the water up to their
breasts, and finally emerged into the shallows and were ashore. Neither
of them went back, and thus ended our only treasure hunt.

The "gusano del monte," or grub fly, was quite in evidence at the
llanos. I got three, the scout seven, and the rest their share just how

226

EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

many I have forgotten. But I have not forgotten the sharp twinge, like
a red hot needle, that tells of the presence of the grub in one's flesh,
or the killing of it with nicotine, the heating of the spot by a firebrand^
and then the desperate squeeze that shoots the inch-long" intruder out
into the open.

I also learned here why it was that so many of the natives have
sore feet, about half of our men being then laid off. A disease which
they call the "massamora," something like chilblains, attacks them, the
cause being a minute insect that is found in stagnant water or decaying
vegetation. Unless cared for, the feet swell dreadfully and the 'skin
cracks and festers, making most troublesome sores.

CRUZ, THE HUNTER, WITH WILD TURKEY.

One of the worst rains came on while we were at llanos, but all
were under cover that is, all except the Prospector and the Scout, who
came in drenched and cross because the rest were dry and feasting on
mangos and bananas. While it rained Donna Maria was approached
with the proposal that she get the Indian woman who lived near to do
some washing. She got the woman to come over, but as it was a "fiesta"
(St. Peter's Day), she had religious scruples against working. Nor
could she work the next day, she explained, as that was the fiesta of
St. Paul. All of which was solemnly repeated by Elias Ojo. I have
not mentioned him before, but he deserves it. He was a boy about
fourteen, hunchbacked, withered, with enormous black eyes, and treated

IN PANAMA 227

by all the natives as a most distinguished guest, his condition being due
to the fact that when he was young "a witch looked at him." Looking
at him in turn one wondered what result that look had upon the witch.

What with heavy rains that made the trails bad and the rivers
impassable for a half day at a time, the laziness of the natives, and
their habit of disappearing to attend far away fiestas, not to speak of the
way the mules had of hiding in the brush when they were most needed,
we were not getting ahead as fast as could be wished. So the Pros-
pector and the Miner, with Juancho, the best woodsman on the penin-
sula, took the schooner to the Quebro to arrange for trail cutters, or,
better still, canoes and men to take us up that unknown river. In the
meantime, the rest of us went on with the work of exploration. A few
days later the Quebro expedition returned and reported no canoes, no
men, and no chance of getting through until the dry season, as the rains
were far worse than where we were.

It was during the absence of the party named that the rest of us
went far up in the mountain valleys^ where no white man, even in the
time of the Spaniards, had been, and*preempting an old rubber cutter's
shack, we established ourselves in Camp Iguana. We w^ere able to
make the journey most of the way on mule back as an ancient Indian
trail passed close to it. The barometer read one thousand feet elevation,
but the Castilloa was just as plentiful as on the lower lands, and indeed,
here were the largest trees. I found also a species of Ficus that pro-
duced a very good quality of rubber, but was not plentiful enough to
have commercial value.

Our party consisted of the Pioneer, the Scout, the Commodore, the
writer, three Indians, with one pack mule, besides those we rode. As
there was no feed the mules were sent back to Rio Negro as soon as they
were relieved of their burdens. The ride to Iguana, although rough in
places was delightful.

JUANCHO S RUBBER TAPPING TOOL.

228 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

THIRD LETTER.

CAMP IGUANA CLOSE QUARTERS PROVISIONS Low LUCAS CRUZ THE FOREST
PRIMEVAL BEES AND RUBBER THE NATIVES' HORROR OF GOLD A LAND WITHOUT
LAW BREAKING CAMP MOUNTAIN CLIMBING AT LAS MINAS THE PLANTATION
"LAS MARGHARTIAS" FOURTH OF JULY FIESTA ON BOARD THE QUARTOS HERMANOS
PANAMA, COLON, AND NEW YORK.

THE ride to Iguana, as I was saying when my last letter came to
a close, was delightful. Part of the way lay through dense
forest, where some of the trees measured from ten to twelve
feet in diameter, then perhaps it was through an abandoned Indian farm,
grown up to jungle, but still producing mangoes, bananas, and alligator
pears; by climbing hills that seemed to go straight up in the air, and
sliding down others that were even straighter; frightening big iguanas
and little lizards; stepping gingerly over six-inch-wide columns of leaf
carrying ants; always on the lookout for wild pigs, deer, or turkeys to
replenish our larder; we proceeded, the whole journey full of variety
and incident. The hut at Iguana, with a little repairing, gave us barely
room to stretch out comfortably at night, and had any one man chosen
to stretch himself diagonally across the pole bed, there would have been
no room for the rest. The hut was open on three sides, was about nine
feet wide, seven feet high in front, and five feet in the rear, roofed with
palm, and had an earth floor. We used our navy bags as hold-alls
by day and pillows by night, and slept peacefully, except when our
feet went through the side of the hut, or a leak in the roof let in too much
water.

Our first meal there seemed the most delicious I had ever eaten.
It consisted of canned smoked beef (the edges of the slices were too
far spoiled to eat, but the middle was good), fried bread sweetened with
condensed milk, boiled rice, and coffee. The meat was cooked over an
open fire and served on big, wild banana leaves. Nor shall I forget
the first night the almost deafening chirping of the crickets and tree
frogs, the queer cries of the night birds, the steady drip of the dew from
the trees like a slow rain, and the fireflies how big and beautiful they
were, and how still the air was, so that the flame of the candle went
straight up with never a quiver.

To assist in the exploration of this part of the tract was Lucas Cruz,
an old rubber cutter, the builder of the hut in which we were installed.

IN PANAMA

229

He had come there from across the mountains twenty years before, with
his father and five brothers, and had taken out rubber ever since, selling
it to the traders all the way from twenty to forty cents a pound, silver.
His figures as to the ancient yield of the trees were rather indefinite.
At present, however, as the trees were smaller than of yore, he tapped

NATIVE RUBBER CUTTER WITH MACHETE AND CALABASH.

about thirty in a day and got six. to seven pounds of milk, or from three
to four pounds of dry rubber. His system was to have a helper, one of
the twain tapping while the other collected the milk in a calabash.

Under his guidance we got out very early in the morning, exam-
ined the valleys and steep hillsides in various directions, and found the

230 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLO A RUBBER

Castilloa growing everywhere, and many a stiff climb Lucas gave us
before the choice growths were reached. Afterward he explained that
he took us only to the easy places, as from some where he went alone,
we would never have returned alive. Even up here I found stumps of
huge Castilloas that had been cut down to get all of the milk. The
largest trees then standing did not measure more than from sixteen
to eighteen inches in diameter, but there were many of them, and
thousands of a lesser size.

Pressed later for a definite statement as to what he gathered daily
when rubber hunting, Lucas said that two years before six of them
had, in this region, in .seven days, gathered four hundred pounds of
dry rubber. As they never work Sundays, that would mean six days'

CATTLE RANCH AT THE LLANOS.

[Don Ramon in the Foreground.]

work, that is, unless they loafed three of them, which is probable. For
an experiment, we sent out four men late one morning, who were back
by midday with fifteen and one-quarter pounds of milk that after coag-
ulation and drying made about eight pounds of rubber. As they nor-
mally get fifty cents a day, silver, equal to twenty-five cents, gold, that
was not a bad return.

It is due to the man who first told how bees collected rubber latex
as well as the rubber itself, from the cuts in the trees, that he receive
apologies of all skeptics, for the story is true. I saw hundreds in all
parts of the peninsula, and they not only love rubber, but almost every-
thing else, and are a great nuisance in camp. What they do with the

IX PANAMA

-23 1

rubber, whether it gets into comb or honey, I do not know, but they
certainly work most energetically in gathering it.

By cutting down a few trees on the top of a lofty ridge near camp,
a fine view of the country was developed, from the source of the Mariato
River to the sea, the llanos, the Suoy River, and even the far away gulf.
It was wonderful how Lucas could pick out the Castilloa miles away
from this eyrie, and without apparent mistake either.

After a few days at Iguana, we began to look anxiously for the
return of the mules, for food was getting scarce, and worse than all,
the coffee was nearly gone. Although signs of deer were plentiful, the
hunter could get none, and even parrots and monkeys were not in evi-

SUGAR MILL NEAR LAS MINAS.

[On Las Margharitas Plantation.]

dence. There was, to be sure, a land crab that the Indians caught occa-
sionally. It was as big as a saucer, with a bright blue body, red legs,
and eyes set on props an inch long. It was as giddy looking as a Chicago
runabout, and apparently about as edible. Just as we were tiring of rice
and weak coffee, the Pioneer mixed some boiled rice with condensed
milk, put it in a small pan on the fire, then laid a piece of tin over the
pan, and built another fire on that. An hour later we were feasting
upon as fine a rice pudding as ever was cooked. And at that time the
pack train appeared, and ere long we were on our way back to Rio
Negro camp.

232

EXPLORING FOR CAST1LLOA RUBBER

No incidents of special note occurred on the return trip. The
trails were so wet from recent rains that the many humming birds, the
gorgeous butterflies, and the rich tropical flowers, were hardly noted.
The swarms of horseflies that swooped down upon our patient beasts
could not be wholly ignored, however, and soon all became most expert
in killing them. As usual, a stray, starving dog appeared from nowhere
and silently attached himself to our party. Although we knew he would
crawl under our hammocks at night to give his fleas an opportunity to
emigrate to richer pastures, he was accepted without protest. He had
his virtues. Nothing could tempt him to steal, although starving, and
he would allow a wild pig to cut him to ribbons that the hunter might
get a shot, and he was after all the friend of man.

During this ride a strange thing happened: Cruz asked what the

TOWN BAKERY AT LAS MINAS.

Americanos used the rubber for! It was the first time in the memory
of the Pioneer that any cholo (civilized Indian) had ever shown the
slightest curiosity in that direction. I doubt if he appreciated some of
the uses described, but the making of waterproof clothing caught his
fancy at once. For most of the Indians have a little bag made of cloth
and coated with rubber, mixed with gunpowder, if they can spare it,
to help the sun cure it. In this, or a purse made of iguana skin, they
carry flint and steel, a bit of cotton wicking with one end let into a bone
extinguisher, and tobacco for cigarettes. They are a quiet, anemic
race, very superstitious, and so fearful of spirits and tigres that if
overtaken by night in the forest, they climb trees, and tying themselves
to the limbs, remain until morning. They have a horror of gold, not

IN PANAMA

233

the coin, but the raw material, always denying all knowledge of it, the
probable reason being that the story of the cruelties of the Spanish gold
seekers are still in vogue among them. There are, all told, on the eight
hundred square miles of the Azuero lands, some four hundred souls.
On the other side of the mountain ranges, however, are large towns
and many thousands of natives.

It took some time to appreciate that this was a land where prac-
tically no laws were operative. As the weeks passed and no word came
from the outer world, and we learned that the few letters despatched
to the faraway Panamanian postoffice would never reach their destina-
tion, we began to realize that this was indeed a forgotten corner of
the world. The natives are all good Catholics, and show their religious

THE CHURCH AT LAS MINAS.

fervor at many fiestas, by burning candles, exploding gunpowder, and
getting drunk. In this latter state they show much energy and put
up some spirited machete fights. If an Americano tries to patch up one
of the wounded, they offer no resistance, but as soon as the good Samari-
tan departs, they take off the bandages, plaster the wound with cow
dung, and if the victim dies lay his death at the door of the foreigner.
How well I remember the disgust of the scout who wanted to extract
a bullet that was just under the skin in the neck of a mozo whom the
alcade had shot for some misdemeanor.

."Why it's only under the skin; it will almost roll out," he exclaimed
in Spanish.

234 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

But they would not allow the skin to be cut, although they did
prop the sufferer up, heels in the air and head to the ground, and
watched all night to see the bullet as it rolled out.

Of the thousands of shell mounds that contain the graves of their
ancestors, the natives know little, and cheerfully assist the despoiler
to open them and secure such relics or treasure as they may contain.

The women are quite pretty when young, particularly those who
live in the mountains, and have a custom of filing their teeth so that the
points are as sharp as needles, said to be most becoming, from an Indian
point of view. The mountain men who are physically the best Indian
specimens, wear only a shirt and a pair of pants cut off at the knees,
and are known in the lowlands as the "short pants/'

That night in Rio Negro camp it was really cold. The air was
damp, and it was raining heavily, although only a little came through
the roof. We were sitting about too grumpy to talk until the gray
mule took possession of the kitchen, and, in the mix-up that followed,
led us to forget our woes. Then the Prospector began to talk about
rubber plantations, and my conceit got a shock, for he told me of some
that I had never heard of. It was on Gorgonas Island, which lies off
the coast of Colombia, owned by the fine old Spaniard, Don Ramon,
whom we met in Panama City, where are some five thousand cultivated
trees four and one-half years old. The Prospector feared that the
revolutionists from the main land might have destroyed some of them
in their periodic forays, but was not sure. Then the Pioneer took the
floor. He had formerly been manager for the Darien Gold Mining Co.,
and for them he cleared wide paths through the forest in which to plant
Castillo a trees. The planting was in part from seed, and in part of
young trees, for which he paid the natives five dollars a hundred, in silver.
This was in 1900, and there were some three hundred thousand trees
on land some miles from the coast, planted at an altitude of fifteen
hundred feet. Since leaving the company, his successor had planted
certainly as many more.

The trips that I have outlined are a few of many, long and short,
that taken as a whole gave me a knowledge of the lands as a whole.
The final journey was to be along the "hog backs" that extended
up to the mountains, then over them and down to the further shore,
whence the Almirantc had been despatched to meet and convey us to
Panama City.

First came the preparations, the most important of which was the
packing of the camera supplies. Considering the fact that the mule

IN PANAMA 235

that bore this precious load always fell down when crossing a river,
and that the searching dampness of the atmosphere had been at work
at the films for many weeks, it is a wonder that any pictures at all were
obtained. Then came the drying of clothing and a supply of bread.
The Pioneer tried his hand at bread baking along the lines of his rice
pudding triumph, but the resulting solid cakes, scorched on the outside,
and dough within, could not be honestly termed the staff of life. By
splitting open and toasting them they were edible, and were eaten, all
but one, which I saved for a paper weight.

On Sabado (Saturday) morning at 6.30, we broke camp and

FOURTH OF JULY FIESTA AT LAS MINAS.

started on what our guides claimed would be the hardest day's work
we had ever done, and it was. There was only one river to ford, the
Mariato, and Chiquita, knowing little beast, kept her feet, while the other
mules and horses were stumbling, plunging, and threatening to go
down stream with the swift current. Then began the steady climb,
over a trail that was like the bed of a brook, through underbrush that
tried the pack mules sorely, often stopping them completely until freed
by the use of the machete. I had an army saddle on Chiquita and a

236 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLO A RUBBER

rope bridle about her nose, but the first could not be cinched tight
enough to stay on, and the latter was only a matter of form. Pull all I
could, she went where she thought the trail was best, and in all fairness
I must say she was usually right. I do think, however, when she
insisted on crowding so close to a sharp stub pointing down the trail
that saddle and rider were both ripped off, instead of slipping her hind
legs out of the cinch and continuing on after the rest, she might have
waited. I certainly gave her to understand that I advised the other
side of the trail, and in response to my vigorous pull her head came round
until it almost touched my knee, but the obstinate little body went
straight on.

Some of the "hog backs" climbed were of the razorback variety
just a narrow path along the spine of lofty ridges, forested on both
sides, and incredibly steep. The gray mule got in difficulties on one, lost
his balance, curled up and rolled over and over until stopped by a
big tree and a tangle of monkey vine. He lay at ease until relieved of
the pack, then struggled to his feet and climbed back to the path, not
in the least ruffled.

It must not be supposed that the trail went up all the time ; on the
contrary,, 'it was a quarter of a mile up, then an eighth of a mile down,
and we rode sometimes lying flat on the beast's back, at others with feet
along the sides of the mule's neck and leaning as far backward as pos-
sible. Many a rod did Chiquita slide down clayey steeps, but not a mis-
step did she make through it all. We lunched by a brook in a deep
valley where the dense shade made twilight of high noon, and then
went on, the climbing worse than ever. The first signs of rebellion on
the part of the beasts of burden came from the mula grande who bore
the Commodore. "He thought it was time his rider walked a little, and
while the Commodore paused to reason with him the rest rode on. Very
soon the way became so steep that all dismounted and walked. While
catching breath at the top of a particularly stiff bit, we heard the Com-
modore coming, puffing, panting, profaning.

"Where is your mule?" I asked.

"Blank the blankity blank beast, he won't even allow me to lead
him, let alone ride!" he exclaimed. "Refuses to associate with me,
blank him !"

And so it was. Mula grande appeared a few moments later, halted
a rod away, and when approached, simply stood stock still. If the
Commodore swore, he put his ears forward so as to miss none of it,
and if he fell to belaboring him with a cudgel, simply began to eat of

IN PANAMA

237

the herbage with an air of unconcern that would have tempted many to
shoot.

About five o'clock Chepo, the pig ranch, where we must spend the
night, was reached. We were tired out but happy, for in the memory
of the oldest inhabitant never had that journey been made without
encountering a heavy rain storm on the top of Montoso (over which
we came), and we had come through dry. Hammocks were swung in
a big half ruined pigshed, a chicken was cooked and eaten, and we turned

WILD "CASTILLOA," SHOWING STUMP OF BIG TREE FROM WHICH SPROUTS

HAD GROWN.

in. The aneroid said two thousand nine* hundred and fifty feet for
altitude. It was quite cool, but deliciously dry as compared with Rio
Negro.

Up at five the next morning, after a hasty breakfast of Pioneer's bread
and coffee, the climbing was continued. Here there was less forest and
the trail was centuries old. In places it was worn down in the red por-
phory until the sides rose above the rider' head, while at the bottom it
was barely wide enough for the mule to walk. It was also often cut

238 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

into by a series of from three to five foot steps, with a pool of water in
the hollow of each, so the difficulty in getting along may be imagined.
Finally the top of Cerro Nuncio was reached, three thousand five
hundred feet in the air, and laid out before us like a map, were the
plains of the other side of the peninsula. This mountain, so said the
Miner, was a mass of gold bearing quartz, and a part of the property we
were examining, but we left it where it was. After a rest we started
down towards the town of Las Minas which was to be our recuperating
and repairing station. The descent was far too steep to ride, so we
climbed 'down, finally reaching the plains, and a little after noon, we
rode into the old Indian town. Here, installed in a house owned by
the Pioneer, we were soon sitting at a table, using knives, forks, and
napkins, as if we had always been accustomed to them.

This narrative relates primarily to rubber, and it is hard to forecast
just how much extraneous matter the reader will stand. But it is only
fair to the writer to allow him a word concerning a part of the world
which Christopher Columbus, Duke of Veragua, chose for his own, as
it was his province, Veragua, that we then were in. Not only that, but
all the Indians of his time were Spanish slaves, and the amount of work
that they did in digging down mountain sides for gold, is marvelous.
Las Minas, founded by the descendants of Columbus, has its plaza,
church, tiled houses, dogs, children, and buzzards, like all Central Ameri-
can towns. It also has several fine Castilloa trees, and not far away an
extensive Castilloa plantation. The latter is known as "Las Margharitas"
and is owend by the alcade of Las Minas. It consists of about twenty
hectares of land, planted with rubber and coffee. There are said to be
some twenty-five thousand Castilloas, that for age would average about
three years. One tree that was ten years old was sixteen inches in
diameter, and bled freely, but the latex was waxy, and did not coagulate
until the wax was worked out. This was not the case with all, and I
think the difference was individual.

In our conversation with the Indians we learned all that they knew
of the land just explored. They confessed that they did not like to go
over there, as they were afraid of getting lost. They also boasted of
the times when their grandfathers crossed the mountains and, filling
canoes with latex, used them as coagulating vessels, and very hesitat-
ingly, and only after very much persuasion, they told of the gold some
brought out and of the "lost mines" that had once produced such riches
for the Spaniards before the Indians rose and massacred them.

Fourth of July came while we were in Las Minas, but it would take

IN PANAMA

239

pages to tell of the fiesta that we gave the town, and of the baile they
gave us in return. At this baile the alcade played the first violin, and
was accompanied by a mandolin, a triangle, and a native drum. All day
long the whole population was shouting Viva Independencia Estados
Unidos! and we in turn Viva Independencia Panama! while Amigos
Americanos and Amigos Pana something or other were swapped
back and forth most fraternally.

Visiting the old Spanish mine, the Golden Cock, now being devel-
oped by Americans, we learned from the natives that at times a golden
cock crows, and then all the dead men killed by a cave-in during the

INDIAN PACK BEARER.

Spanish occupation, groan in concert. A golden bull that is somewhere
inside of the mine also has a habit of roaring when certain calamities
are due.

From Las Minas came the journey to Pese, a town of some five
hundred inhabitants. Here the Pioneer also had a store, and his home,
where we were entertained most royally. We did not tarry long, how-
ever, as the Prospector was already suffering from painful tropical
boils, and it seemed necessary to get where there were physicians. From
Pese we went to Chitre on horse or mule back all except the invalid,
who rode in a bull cart and finally arrived at Innocentias Hotel. I

240 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER

was about as near a wreck as one could be, for Chiquita on level ground
developed into the fastest, hardest gaited little trotter that I have ever
seen. She simply would not canter, and in her trot she kept up with the
galloping horses and pounded me almost to jelly.

At Chitre we expected to find the Almirantc, but she was not
there. After waiting two days we took passage on the Quartos Her-
manos, the Prospector being brought aboard on a mattress. It must
not be thought he was the only damaged one, for all of us were some-
what battered. I had a scalp wound an inch long that I had secured by
going through a doorway at Innocentias without stooping enough to
avoid the sharp tiles, the Scout had a cracked rib, because his horse
jammed him under a leaning tree, and the Commodore had a touch of
fever.

The Quartos Hermanos got away late, by poling down the narrow,
muddy Parita River one and one-half miles to the bay. At the river's
mouth, we met the Almirante, and, leaving the Commodore to guard
the luggage, boarded our own boat. It was hard work to get El Capitan
to turn about and follow the other schooner why, I don't know but
it was finally accomplished. But alas, hardly were the schooners a
quarter of a mile from shore when both were aground. Half an hour
later one could walk on the hard, black sand from one boat to the other.
It would be flood tide by midnight, and if there was wind that would
mean a race for Panama. So I offered our captain ten dollars, silver,
if he got in first. By eleven our boat was again on even keel ; ten
minutes later she was under way, the breeze freshening every minute.
It finally got so fresh that I could not sleep on deck but went below.
With the exception of one hour's calm the wind held all the next day,
and at midnight blew us into Panama harbor. But the shrewd old
Portuguese captain of the Quartos Hermanos beat us an hour by getting
to the windward and then sailing like a streak.

It was just sunrise as we dropped anchor in the bay opposite the
Hotel Marina, from which picturesque hostelry many boats put off
to secure the job of putting us and our belongings ashore. This task
was accomplished after much haggling, and within an hour we stood
on the beach surrounded by our luggage, objects of much interest
to a score of watermen, half as many dogs, and a huge drove of wild
pigs that had just been unloaded from a small freight schooner. One
more hour on the beach sufficed to purchase porters and a cart I say
"purchase" advisedly and start our belongings toward the hotel.

Once again at the Hotel Grand Central, where were stored most

IN PANAMA 241

of our clothes, we prepared to assume the habiliments of civilization. The
first thing was to induce the hotel management to open the bathroom
and furnish water. After a forenoon of persuasion that was finally accom-
plished, and we felt better, even if the hotel employes did not. Then
followed a visit to the cable office, a second exploration of the city, and
preparations for passage to New York, on the good ship Yucatan, which
was to sail, and did sail, on the day following.

In our journeys about the city and along the line of the canal, I
tried as far as possible to get close to the people that is, in the way of
mental, not physical contact. Of the native Panamanians I found some
exceedingly well educated and active, sane, business men. They were,
almost without exception, most pronounced in favor of the annexation
of the young republic by the United States. The mass of the people,
however, apparently wish only to be let alone, and resent the bustling
ways of the Americans. I should say also that there was an exaggerated
idea, in their minds, concerning the prowess of the Americans, particu-
larly the trim looking marines who wa4]<ced the streets as if each individ-
ual could put an army to flight.

That the canal would be put through and in less time than is
generally believed, all of the business men were agreed, and that both
Colon and Panama City would one day, under the American engineers, be
free from yellow fever and as habitable and safe as Singapore or Havana
none doubted, but that either city would be of great commercial import-
ance once the canal was finished was not predicted.

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA.

A RACE FOR PORT THE JOURNEY TO BARRANQUILLA HOTEL EXPERIENCES IN
THAT CITY A LARGE SUM EXPENDED FOR DOUBTFUL PLEASURES THE STAY IN
CARTAGENA LITTLE INFORMATION TO BE GAINED ABOUT RUBBER THE MEETING
WITH MR. GRANGER, UNITED STATES CONSULAR AGENT AT QUIBDO, COLOMBIA
His INTERESTING SUMMARY OF THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY AND His PROPHECY
FOR THE FUTURE.

IT had been my fortune a number of times to observe the pictur-
esque coast of Colombia from the sea, on both the Atlantic and
Pacific sides, but up to the time that the good ship Sarnia landed
me at Savanilla I had never set foot on its sacred soil. It was, there-
fore, with much interest that I stood on deck and watched the approach

VIEW OF BARRANQUILLA.

of the vessel to the three hundred-foot iron pier that is about all there
is of the "Port of Colombia." There was, to be sure, a cluster of huts
about the litle railway station ; huts that seemed to grow up out of the
desolate shore much as the cactus and mesquite did, without any human
intervention, but the result rather, of a dry, creative impulse of some
arid desert god.

245

246

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

We had been shouldered and buffeted for several days by the
restless Caribbean, scorched by the sun and wilted by the heat, and we
were glad of the prospect of getting ashore. We therefore entered in
spirit into the feelings of our captain, who was racing with a French
steamer for a good mooring, and whose Teutonic oaths we piously
echoed without knowing exactly what they meant. Whether this helped
in the race is a question, but at all events we got the berth, and as we
were making fast the captain joined our group. His good nature was
restored, and as we stood under the awning, not much bigger than a
pocket handkerchief, sheltered from a shower, he called attention to a
man standing on the pier who was General Somebody, and a personage
of great importance.

HOMES OF THE POOR.

"You mean the chap in the mackintosh ?" asked an English ship-
mate.

"No, the man in the rubber 'goat/ " growled the captain.

Both of them stood pat, and the argument lasted long after we
left them and stepped upon the pier, which was crowded with freight
cars, natives, sailors, and the nondescript Anglo-Saxons that become
residents of such places and never get either money or energy enough
to get away. Did I say that it was Sunday when we landed? Well,
by the calendar it certainly was the holy Sabbath, but so far as we
could see, no one observed it but ourselves, which we did by rigidly
abstaining from work, and preparing to journey up to Barranquilla early
Monday morning. This town, which is some nineteen miles away, is
connected with the port by a jerkwater railroad that has great difficulty
in negotiating two trips in twenty-four hours. We therefore made all

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

247

preparations, and as I was the only one who knew how to ask for three
tickets in Spanish, I was elected treasurer, and full of confidence
approached the ticket office with the demand, "Tres boleto Barranquilla."

After much conversation and considerable sign language, I dis-
covered that single fare was eighty-eight dollars, round trip being
seventy-four dollars ; so I bought round trips, thus saving forty-two
dollars. The price seemed a little high, but it gave us an added respect
for a corporation that could secure such prices.

Taking our places in the passenger coach which was about fifteen
feet long, with exceedingly narrow sides, we were bestowed as com-
fortably as might be. We three were the only Americanos, and the
Colombians, particularly those with the store teeth, which seemed to be
quite a fad, smiled at us benignly. We were unable to sit together, and

MOUTH OF THE SINU RIVER.

to one fell the luck of being seated by the side of an exceedingly dark
complexioned lady with much adipose tissue, who shook with the motion
of the train so that we feared her calico swathings would give way
and she would run all over the floor; while between her and our com-
panion sat a perfectly naked boy about six years old. I have forgotten
how the rest of us were bestowed, I was so interested in watching the
disgusted look on the face of the crowded one.

When the train was loaded and everything ready, we had the usual
South American wait of about half an hour, and then finally, after much
protesting on the part of the fussy little engine, the train dragged
slowly along the wharf, around by the station, and following the shore
took its way through most uninteresting country until we reached

2 4 8

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

PANORAMIC VIEW OF CARTAGENA.

Barranquilla. This proved to be quite a city, Spanish- American through-
out, and unspoiled by the tourists. Around the station were two score
of rickety carriages, to which were attached, by rusty and nondescript
harnesses, a collection of horses, cadaverous and dispirited in the

SCENE IN gUIBDO, A RUBBER TRADING CENTER.

REGION OF

Rubber Plantations

IN THE WEST OF T

COLOMBIA

FIGURES IN THE MAP RELATE TO THE LOCATION OF RUBBER PLANTATIONS (MEN-
TIONED ON ANOTHER PAGE) BELONGING TO THE FOLLOWING I

i. Juan C. Olier.
2 - Ciceron Angel.

3- Carlos Nicolas Ferrer

4- Gonzalo Zuniga.
5. Meluk & Co.

6. Delfino Diaz.

7. Manuel Rios.

8. Louis Gonzales.

9. Abuchar Hermanos.

10. Rene Granger

n. Louis M. Santamafia.

12. Francisco De B. Carasco.

13. ' Le Barrigona" De La

Torre Brothers.

250

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

extreme. Two of them succeeded, however, in getting us and our
luggage to the Hotel Anglais, run by an English woman, where we
secured a room. It contained four beds, a passage way between them,
a washstand, and a broad balcony overlooking the street. The heat was
really terrific and the sandy streets of the town shot it up into the
rooms until it seemed almost unbearable. Our stout companion by
this time had a splitting headache, so we put him to bed and began to
take care of him. I secured for him a cup of tea, part of which he drank.
Another got him a glass of lemonade, which seemed to do him more
good than the tea, and then for the moment he felt so much better that
we got a waiter to bring him up a light meal, after which, discovering
that the hotel afforded ice cream, he had a plate of that. Then he began

COLOMBIAN SCENERY.

to feel ill again : indeed, I think he would have refunded all he had eaten
had I not shown him the bill, which was itemized as follows :

Tea $10.00

Lemonade $.00

Food 50.00

Ice Cream i5-QO

Total

t.oo

Thrifty New Englander that he was, he subdued nature, and in a swelter
of perspiration announced his intention of keeping what he had paid so
high for.

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

251

Our British hostess did not have any time to spend upon us, and
as English was an unknown language in the town, we were doubly for-
tunate in making the acquaintance of Julius Caesar Visbal, a coffee col-
ored, barefooted urchin, brought up in Jamaica, who spoke English flu-
ently and melodiously. His presence so cheered the sick one that he
suddenly became convalescent, lost his headache, got up and joined us
while we did the town. Julius was indeed a treasure. He explained
everything to us briefly and quaintly, and incidentally gathered at his
heels one-half of the populatiaon of the town, who cared not a whit for
us but who wanted to hear him talk English.

That night we dined in the main dining hall, but my appetite was

LUMBER AND WILD RUBBER CAMP.

spoiled by a sign on the wall which read: Ice cream, $15.00; sliced ham r
$45.00; ox tongue, $100.00.

After dinner we walked around in the cool of the evening, bought
some Aztec pottery warranted to be genuine, and later retired to our
room. It was then that we began to appreciate the deadly stillness of
the tropics. The dog fight that started in the hallway ended in our
room, as the combatants fell against the door and burst in. This,
mingled with the evening song of several cats, the katydid chorus, and
the constant whistling of the police patrol, soon lulled us to sleep; that
is, accurately speaking, it lulled one of us, who, when he once lost

252

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

himself, had the whole tropical chorus beaten to a standstill. As an
originator of strange gasps, groans, sobs, and strangling snorts, he out-
classed anything that we had ever heard before, and while we did not
sleep, we lay and listened, filled with awe, as in the presence of the
emperor of all snorers.

In the morning, desirous of showing our appreciation of what
Julius had done for us, we asked him to name his own reward, and he
decided that he would like a pair of shoes. We therefore purchased for
him for thirty dollars a pair of stout leather shoes, and for fifteen dol-
lars more a pair of stockings. Then loath to part with him we gave
him money to purchase a ticket to ride down to Savinilla with us and

MEDELLIN STREET SCENE.

see us off. This he did in the thriftiest sort of fashion by buying a
third class ticket, round trip, for ten dollars, and entering our first
class car, calmly putting himself under our protection, ignoring the
expostulations of the outraged conductor. We found incidentally that
the fact that Julius went away with us caused a wave of indignation
to run throughout the town, as they believed we had practically
abducted him. A British friend, also, who had remained aboard the
steamer, was very much surprised to see the treatment that we accorded
Julius, and asked an explanation of it, in reply to which the Manufac-
turer said, jocosely :

"Him and me is partners."

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

253

"I am sure you are, from your grammar," replied the Briton, with
a sarcastic emphasis that was delightful.

We had dinner on the .boat, and after dinner I rendered an account
of my stewardship, which the figures show :

Railroad tickets $222

Carriage 80

Thre t e lemonades 24

tip : s

Miscellaneous, 150

Hotel 845

Ticket, Julius 10

Total

$1336

MEDELLIN HOME OF A WEALTHY CITIZEN.

All this money for twenty-four hours of doubtful pleasure ! I have
forgotten whether I remarked that one dollar of Uncle Sam's money was
readily taken by the Colombians for one hundred dollars of their own.

The reason for the great depreciation in Colombian currency is
said to be that twenty-five years ago Colombia coined both gold and
silver which circulated at par, but the law allowed all debts to be paid
in silver which was the cheaper, and in a very short time gold went out
of use and became a subject for speculation rather than a circulating
medium.

254

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

We got away at eleven o'clock that night and on the following
morning were out of sight of land, continuing so all day. As there were
no ladies aboard, and as it was exceedingly hot, we lived in pajamas and
came nearer to being comfortable than we had at any time for a week.
It was told us incidentally during the day by one of the officers that the
report had gone abroad in Barranquilla that the President of the United
States had been assassinated a report circulated probably by some one
who was feeling sore about Panama. The matter furnished a day's

THE WRITER (ON THE RIGHT) AND HIS COMPANIONS DU VOYAGE.

[The boy is Julius Caesar.]

excitement, until the arrival of the next steamer confirmed its untruth-
fulness.

The following morning found us at the entrance of the harbor at
Cartagena. We entered by the old Spanish forts, passing groves of palms,
coming into a beautiful stretch of harbor, where fronting us lay the old
walled city, built close to the water's edge, with a background of tree
clad heights, a sight picturesque and beautiful, and a wonderful con-

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA 255

trast to the Colombian towns we had just left. Making fast to the
pier, the steamer was at once surrounded by dugouts, in which natives
with monkeys, parrots, coral, etc., tried to tempt money from the
reluctant pockets of the passengers. Getting ashore we took a short
railroad ride to the middle of the city and breakfasted at
the Hotel Americano. Even here there were few Anglo-Saxons.
Indeed, one of the storekeepers to whom we had letters of introduction
said at that time that there were only seven Americans, four English-
men, and three Germans in Cartagena. The old city was fascinating

BANANAS.

in the extreme, and we spent every moment that we could spare in view-
ing the walls, the cathedral, the fortifications, and the public buildings.
We also went up against a native manufacturer of Panama hats, and
each bought several of them. Incidentally, of course, we looked for
rubber, but found that there was very little in town. Indeed, few knew
anything about rubber any way, either wild or cultivated. A young
Philadelphian who went down with us reported that on his company's
concession, which covered some two hundred square miles, the natives
had cut down nearly all the rubber trees, and that that sort of work
had followed throughout the whole of their district.

It was a very fortunate accident that at this juncture brought me
in touch with Mr. Henry G. Granger, United States consular agent at
Quibdo, Colombia, and it is due to his instant good will that the fol-
lowing record is here appended.

256 EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

Quibdo, by the way, on the river Atrato, in western Colombia, is
a town of some commercial importance in that region, as well as a
political center, being the residence of the prefect of one of the provinces.
The term, "the Choco," mentioned by Mr. Granger, is a legacy
from the former days, when a province existed by that name, derived
from an ancient Indian race called the Chocos. The region referred to
now, however, forms a portion of the present department of Cauca.
Mr. Granger's information follows:

"Thirty years ago the production of wild rubber in the Choco
amounted to several million pounds per year. The trees were cut down
and bled to the branches. As the wild Castilloa here runs a free latex,
it is gathered in kerosene cans, or holes in the ground, and is brought to
market in solid cakes. Owing to the destruction of the trees, the

SUGAR MILL.

output steadily fell off and the cakes became adulterated by earth and
non-elastic saps mixed in to make weight, until the business became
pretty well discredited, and relatively nonimportant. Then attention
began to be called to small balls of rolled strips, chaza (pronounced
chassa), brought in by Indians and occasional negroes, which were
taken from cultivated trees by cutting the bark with machetes at inter-
vals of a few inches, as far as a man could reach. The cultivated trees
are called 'borroso' as they give a thick latex which runs but a short
distance down the trunk, and is gathered, when dry, by tearing off the
strips and rolling them into balls, or packing in boxes in which case they
dry in the form of the receptacle.

"Practically all traveling in the Choco is done by water, and soon

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA 257

canoes began to arrive bringing only chaza, as this class of rubber, in
view of the superior price it brought in the foreign markets, was paid
for at much higher rates than the ordinary cakes. This stimulated the
negroes, and about nine or ten years ago they began to plant rubber,
until today, of the estimated population of eighty thousand negroes in
the Choco, he is the exception who has not, if not bearing, at least a few
dozen trees planted. And some of them have as high as four thousand
trees in a plantation.

Now, in the rubber shipped from Choco, the cake is the exception
and chaza the rule.

The products of the Choco are shipped by the steamer Condor and
a number of dory shaped schooners to Cartagena on the Atlantic coast,
and by dugouts to Buenaventura on the Pacific. The only two vessels

LUMBER.

which have kept a record of their classified freight for the past year
are the steamer Condor and the schooner Tulia. Inquiry from their
owners resulted in the statement that they carried, during this period,
seventy-one and eighty tons of rubber respectively. As there are a
number of other schooners which run to Quibdo and are known to bring
rubber, it is entirely reasonable to place their entire total at that of
the Tnlia, or a general total to the port of Cartagena of two hundred
and thirty-one tons per year. Senor Luis Durier of the firm of Zuniga
and Diaz, at present manager of their Cartagena house, who has had
extended experience in the province of San Juan, says that unquestion-
ably this region ships as much as the Atrato. But if it shipped far less
we would still have a product of over a ton a day, the great majority of
which is chaza, or the product of standing cultivated trees.

258

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA

"It is an accepted fact that in five, or even four years, if well cared
for, a rubber tree in the Choco will give a total annual product, of
various cuttings or tappings, of a pound of chaza, and that if care is
taken not to injure the tree, this amount will annually increase. The
commerce of the Choco is in the hands of the white race, who live in
the principal towns. Many have gone into rubber planting, and some

CACAO.

esteem their plantations more than their merchandising. Among the
principal ones are :

Juan C. Olier, Rio Sucio, Atraio, Colombia.

Ciceron Angel, Quibdo, Atrato, Colombia.

Carlos Nicholas Ferrer, Quibdo, Atrato, Colombia.

Gonzalo Zuniga, Quibdo, Atrato, Colombia.

Meluk & Co., Quibdo, Atrato, Colombia.

Delfmo Diaz, Quibdo, Atrato, Colombia.

Manuel Rios, Rio Sucio, Atrato, Colombia.

Luis Gonzales, Turbo, Atrato, Colombia.

Abuchar Hermanos, Sautata, Atrato, Colombia.

Rene Granger, manager, Yankomba, Atrato, Colombia.

Luis M. Santamara, manager, La Carolina, Uraba, Colombia.

Francisco de B. Carrasco, Istmina Choco, San Juan, Colombia.
not to mention the hundreds of small plantations of much larger
aggregate than the above, whose planting will amount to probably about
three hundred thousand trees, all of Castilloa except at La Carolina,

EXPERIENCES IN COLOMBIA 259

which is trying Manihot Glaziovii with seeds brought from Don Simon
de la Torres's ranch La Barrigona on the upper Magdalena, which
in turn brought seeds from Ceylon.

"It is found that rubber to thrive in the Choco must be planted in
the sun, and the accepted distance apart is four to five meters. The
construction of the Colombia Central Railroad from the Gulf of Uraba
(Darien) to the interior will open up a lot of rubber land in addition
to the areas already accessible. Banana raising, quartz mining, and
gold dredging are industries of great promise here, but none of them
will surpass the rubber planting business if the present enthusiasm con-
tinues, and judging from the outlook it will."

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA.

ON BOARD THE SARNIA A WORD CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA ITS
DISCOVERY, FORMATION, ABORIGINES, NOMENCLATURE, RAINFALL, GOVERNMENT AND
LOCATION INFORMATION FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE A VISIT - TO
CASTLETON GARDENS SOMETHING ABOUT THE RUBBER PRODUCED THERE AND THE
CONDITIONS ATTENDING IT HOPE GARDENS HEVEA AND CASTILLOA THE MILK
WITHE.

JAMAICA peaceful, fertile, rich in cheap, free labor, and close
to the United States through location and language, will some
day, perhaps very soon, be an exporter of India-rubber gathered
from annual crops. The beginning of experimental planting may be
even before this book goes to press hence the story of the island, briefly
told.

KINGSTON STREET, KINGSTON.

I had long wished to visit it and see for myself how it sized up
as a place for planting rubber. This wish was intensified when Pro-
fessor N. L. Britton, director of the New York Botanical Gardens,
leased the English tropical experiment station at Chincona, and assured
a future for American botanical work in which rubber can hardly be
ignored. I was more than glad, therefore, when my journeyings made

263

264

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA

it convenient for me to stop and have a look for myself. We left New
York late in November on the Saniia, which was crowded; so much so
that one of our party, planning for my comfort, wrote a few days prior
to the start :

''I have ordered the upper bunk in Stateroom Twenty-one made
up especially for you, with a delicate blue counterpane, with little blue
ribbon bows on the pillows which I think will match up with your beau-
tiful complexion very well."

Newspapers, however, have special privileges, particularly when
the Editor knows the agent of the line, so I was able to secure a roomy
cabin by myself, but alas, without the delicate colored counterpane
and ribbon.

COUNTRY NEGROES.

We got off in a snow squall, stopped for an hour in Gedney Chan-
nel to ease up on a hot bearing, and then we put out to sea. It was not
too rough to have the port holes open, although an occasional big wave
slopped in. Our fellow passengers were a circus troupe on a two years'
circuit around the world, via South American ports; some mining and
lumbermen bound for Colombia, and a miscellaneous lot of tourists.
One of the lumbermen confessed to owning a small plantation of Cas-
tilloa in Honduras, but was far from enthusiastic about it, as he could
not keep the natives from stealing the rubber, poor though the yield
was.

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA 265

As we got further south it became warmer very rapidly, and soon
sweaters and heavy suits were laid aside. At Fortune Island we took a lot
of Jamaica negroes aboard, and one evening they came to the promenade
deck and gave a concert. It was very darkeyish, but not half so musical
as what the American plantation negroes do. Off the coast of Cuba
the temperature on deck was eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, and
in my cabin, ninety-eight. It is unnecessary to state where I spent
most of my time.

Now just a word concerning the place we were to visit. The island
of Jamaica was discovered in 1494 by Christopher Columbus, who was

BOG WALK.

very much taken by its beauty, and delighted with the politeness and
good nature of the natives ; so much did he and his followers appreciate
them that within a few years they had robbed them of all they had and
practically exterminated them. The island, by the way, was not known
as Jamaica in those days, but as Chab-makia, from two Indian words
meaning wood and water, or in the thought of the Indian, "watered by
shaded rivulets/' The Spanish softened the word to Chamakia, and in
turn the English made it Jamaica.

In 1654 the English captured the island and began to colonize it.
For many years they sent their convicts there to work for the planters,

266

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA

but in 1689 the labor situation was such that the government recognized
slavery, and for a time all was peaceful. There were several revolts,
however, on the part of the slaves, one occurring in 1760, when sixty
planters were killed and half a million dollars' worth of property
destroyed. The rebels were finally subdued, and as a warning, one
of the ringleaders was burned at the stake and two others were put in
iron cages and allowed to slowly starve to death. In 1834 the British
government insisting that the slaves be freed, arranged an apprentice
system for the 311,000 slaves, by which laborers in the field were to
work six years more and then be free; while domestic laborers were
to work four years more. The crown also paid thirty million dollars

ENTRANCE TO HOPE BOTANICAL GARDENS.

indemnity to the owners. After being freed, the slaves became English
subjects with all their rights, and it is only fair to the black race to
say that they have progressed remarkably; as well, perhaps, as whites
would have done under the same circumstances. To show the propor-
tion of whites and blacks on the island, figures from the last census are
given as follows: Whites, 14,692; colored people, 121,955; blacks,
488,624; and 14,000 East Indians, Chinese, etc.

The "Jamaica nigger" at home is not a very hard worker, but he is
good natured, self respecting, and in many cases thrifty. The island
does not afford enough work for him, and so they are to be found all

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA

267

up and clown the coast of Central America, where they are very proud
of the fact that they speak English, and that they are free men.

It is doubtless a surprise to many people when they discover how
far south Jamaica really is. The island lies directly opposite Cape
Gracias a Dios on the Mosquito coast of Nicaragua, and it is so situ-
ated that when the Panama Canal is finished, it will be a most impor-
tant strategic point. The chief business of the island is planting sugar,
coffee, bananas, etc. The natives work as a rule from seven in the
morning until four in the afternoon, with an hour out for noon break-
fast. They rarely work Saturdays. The average pay for field labor
is fifty cents a day. The island, although only one hundred and forty-

PORT ANTONIO.

four miles long and forty-nine miles wide, has a climate varying from
tropical to temperate.

One of the first questions that the prospective rubber planter asks is,
"What is the rainfall?" In no way can this be answered so comprehen-
sively in the case of Jamaica as by the accompanying rain chart reproduced
from "The Rainfall of Jamaica," by Maxwell Hall, M. A., F. R. A. S., F.
R. M. S., and published by the Institute of Jamaica. The mean rainfall
for the whole island annually is sixty-six inches. The northeastern end,
however, has an area where the rainfall is one hundred inches and over,
shown by the darkest portion of the chart. Northwest of
this there is a tract where it is from seventy-five to ninety-
five inches which is indicated by the next lighter shade. The

268

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA

MAP SHOWING AVERAGE RAINFALL OVER JAMAICA FOR ONE YEAR.

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA 269

western central portion has a large area that runs from seventy-
five to ninety-five inches, while all along the coast and a strip through
the middle of the island, there is only from forty to fifty inches, and in
places thirty to thirty-five. It will thus be seen that the planter can
get almost any rainfall his crops may need. The island is of volcanic
origin and indeed, has been, within the memory of man, visited by
severe earthquakes. The formation is coral, white and yellow lime-
stone, and in some places, trap rock. In the river valleys there are
some quite rich alluvial areas where excellent crops are produced.
There are many thousands of acres of crown lands not yet taken up,
which are disposed of to settlers under exceedingly favorable terms.

SUGAR CANE FIELD.

Very early in the morning we passed the old Spanish fort at
Port Royal, entered the harbor, and at seven o'clock were tied up at
the pier in Kingston. The wharf was crowded with ebony-colored
''Englishmen/' who bore themselves with much dignity. Pushing
through them we made our way to the Myrtle Bank Hotel, where a
good breakfast was discussed, and then we did the town; that is, until
the sun got a bit too hot for walking. As I wanted to get all the
official information possible, we looked up the Department of Agri-
culture. In a short time we were furnished by the very capable secre-
tary with maps, rain charts, reports and practical information that told
pretty nearly all we wished to know. The officials were most prompt

270

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA

and polite, and really saved us days of hard work in what they fur-
nished us.

The printed matter was good, but we wanted to see rubber grow-
ing, and therefore took the nineteen-mile trip to Castleton Gardens.
These gardens, established some forty years ago in what was supposed
to be a sheltered valley, would, if more money were spent upon them,
be of great value to the whole of the West Indies. The average tem-
perature at the gardens is seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit, and the rain-
fall, 114.07 inches, annually. The first ten miles of the journey was by
excellent trolley cars and gave us a fine chance to view the country.

COCOANUT PALMS.

The product most abundant was, of course, the banana, grown in big
and little lots for the United Fruit Company. At the end of the trolley
line was the Constant Spring Hotel where we secured carriages for
the rest of the journey. The way was hilly, but the roads good, and
the soil although not apparently rich, seemed, under the influence of
the sun and the abundant rainfall, to be very productive.

The gardens were in a measure a disappointment, as they are not
large, and have a neglected look, except in parts. This is due to lack
of money and not lack of interest on the part of the caretakers, the
whole appropriation for the upkeep being fifteen dollars, gold, a week.

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA 271

Unfortunately when the first real experiments in rubber culture in
Jamaica were undertaken, the Ceara tree was selected as the best fitted
for that climate. As far as can be learned, the tree behaved exactly as
it did in Ceylon, grew vigorously, but as a latex producer was a disap-
pointment.

There were several specimens of Ficus elastica and Landolphias
as well as some fairly good Cast ill oas. The rubber trees that gave the
most promise, however, were Hevea Spruceana and the Hevea Brasili-
ensis. The Spruceana was particularly thrifty and gave out good latex
abundantly. The rubber from it was of a light yellow color and very

CASTLETON GARDENS.

tough. The trees that we saw were only a remnant of a fine lot, most
of which were destroyed by a hurricane that swept the island some
little time before. Our guide, by the way, who was a negro foreman
at the garden, knew the botanical names of all of the plants, and was
indeed better posted than any white man that we saw out there.

The elevation of the gardens is three hundred and seventy feet,
and there seemed to be plenty of land thereabouts that could be utilized
for Hevea growing. As labor (negro) is very plentiful, and the daily
wage fifty cents, and as in addition the laws are as good as anywhere
in the North given no more hurricanes it would look as if rubber

272

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA

might be made to pay. The soil, as already remarked, is in this part of
the island, poor, but royal palms, cocoanuts, ceiba trees, indeed all of
the ordinary growths of the tropics were in evidence. In addition to
this, a few miles took one up in the mountains to almost any climate
that one could choose, a valuable adjunct to a tropical plantation oper-
ated by a white man.

About six miles from Kingston are the Hope Gardens which are
both for botanical specimens and great nurseries. Here are two hun-

CASTILLOA EL'ASTICA IN HOPE GARDENS. (TREE 3 YEARS
AND 6 MONTHS OLD).

dred and twelve acres, the elevation being six hundred to seven hundred
feet. The annual rainfall is 54.21 inches and the average temperature
77.2 F. Of the rubber trees that are growing in these gardens only
the Hevea and the Castillo a are conspicuous. The former does not
seem to be well at all, as it is spindling in its growth and far from
vigorous. This is undoubtedly due to the comparative dryness of the
atmosphere. The Castilloa, however, showed a fine growth, due no
doubt to the fact that it was irrigated. If its vigorous growth means

A FLYING TRIP TO JAMAICA 273

added latc.r, it opens up a new field for the planting of this tree where
there is small rainfall but plenty of water for surface work.

It may not be generally known, but Jamaica has its own rubber
producer, a climbing shrub known as the Milk Withe. Its botanical
name is Forsteronia Horibunda (G. Don) and its stem yields a rubber
that as long ago as 1891 was valued in England at seventy-nine cents
a pound. That does not mean necessarily that the product is equal
to fine Para, although it brought the Para price, for the samples were
very dry and showed but little shrinkage. It is a fact, however, that
it was a good grade of rubber, and if the reports of the first shippers
are accurate, the latex is very rich in caoutchouc.

To go back a little, the plant is a climbing vine or liane, and grows
only in the woods in the interior, chiefly in Manchester and St. Eliza-
beth counties. The best manner of coagulating was found to be the
simple application of heat. So far, it has never been exploited commer-
cially, nor is it known whether or not the vine is susceptible of culti-
vation.

Reverting again to the Castilloa, there is said to be one plantation
of some three thousand trees at the western end of the island, but it is
carefully guarded and information refused to all.

I have not touched upon the varied delights of Jamaica to the
winter tourist, nor described the many minor adventures that three
Americans off for a holiday are sure to discover, for this, after all, is
not a holiday tale. It is rather a suggestion to Americans and English
that Jamaica is a good place in which to "get busy" on the short crop
proposition.

RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

2 o

<! *

ffi

THE TERRITORY OF HAWA

RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

THE FIRST SIGHT OF HAWAII A BIT OF THE HISTORY OF THE SANDWICH
ISLANDS TEMPERATURE, CROPS, ETC. PROSPECTS FOR RUBBER GROWTH FIRST RUB-
BER PLANTINGS THE NAHIKU RUBBER COMPANY, LIMITED PRINCIPAL PLANTING
DONE BY UNITED STATES SETTLERS.

WE crossed the Pacific from Yokohama to Honolulu in the China
and as passengers were few I had a roomy, high-studded cabin
to myself. Against the advice of the steward I kept the port
open, preferring to take a chance on drowning to one on asphyxiation,
and my chance proved well taken. When we crossed meridian 180 we
had the somewhat unusual experience of having a day forty-eight hours
long. We were given two sunrises, two sunsets, and six square meals,
all on Friday, and all on the fifth of the month. Had it been Thursday
or Saturday I should not have cared, but I hate fish, and that was cer-
tainly a long day.

Our first sight of the Hawaiian group came at evening from the
"heat lightning" playing over one of the outlying islands, and at day-
break the next morning we were at Honolulu (pronounced Honolulu by
the inhabitants). I say at the place, but not in it, for one of our steer-
age crowd of Koreans, after troubling the ship's doctor by developing
granulated eyelids, and threatening smallpox, came down with a huge
abscess in the arm pit that the quarantine officials diagnosed as bubonic.
So we waited while they took a section of him ashore, only to return
with the glad news that it was simply a respectable but angry boil.
After this comforting assurance we went ashore and had tiffin at the
elegant Alexander Young Hotel,. went to Wakaki Beach for surf riding,
bought curios, took trolley and carriage rides, and in fact settled down
to real hard work as sightseers. I am, however, going to put off the
story of my own adventures and get right down to the story of Hawaii
as it is and as it will be when it gets to be a rubber producer.

To go back a little, the Sandwich islands were discovered in 1778
by Captain Cook, whom the natives believed to be edible, and whom
they at once proceeded to get away with. Some time in the present
century they were re-discovered by William J. Gorham of the Gor-
ham Rubber Company, of San Francisco. The natives did not cherish
the illusions regarding him that they did toward the former discoverer
and he got away with them. When I met him in Honolulu he had just
subjugated every trader in the group, and was planning to sell to a
syndicate, enough of his wonderful steam hose to run a pipe line from

279

280

RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

the volcano of Kilauea to Honolulu, to furnish steam for industrial
purposes.

The islands comprising the territory of Hawaii are seven large ones
and quite a number of little ones. They are Hawaii, Maui, Oahu,
Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, and Niihau. According to the census of 1900

VIEWING YOUNG RUBBER.

they had 154,001 inhabitants. Of these islands, the most densely
populated is that of Oahu, which has nearly 60,000, and it is on this
island that the city of Honolulu is situated. The native population
today is small, being less than one third of the total, the predominant races
being the Chinese and the Japanese. Probably no country in the world of-
fers ai greater variety of beautiful scenery than does this midocean territory

RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

281

282

RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

of ours, and not only is the scenery marvelous and the arable land rich
and productive, but the climate is uniformly the finest on earth. The
very hottest day that the islands can furnish will not show a temperature of
over 90 F. and it never gets colder than 55. On the mountain tops
they have cool nights, occasional frosts, and sometimes a little snow,

SEVEN YEAR MANIHOT NEAR NAHIKU LANDING.

but anywhere near the sea level there is beautiful May weather the year
round. It is certainly a fisherman's, huntsman's, bicyclist's, automo-
bilist's, or general tourist's paradise, and the American people are
rapidly waking up to the fact.

Sugar cane, of course, is the main crop in the Hawaiian islands. I
have forgotten exactly the number of acres but think it is about 200,000,

RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII 283

PLANTING ON NEWLY CLEARED LAND, NAHIKU PLANTATION.

284 RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

most of which are tilled by great corporations under their own planta-
tion systems. There are, however, many small planters whose cane
finds a ready market at the sugar mills. A great variety of tropical
fruits such as pineapples, bananas, alligator pears, oranges, etc., are
also grown and a good deal of coffee is raised while the Chinese planter
is quite a feature as a rice producer.

It is claimed that there are at the present time something like 40,000
acres of arable land on the islands, most of it belonging to the govern-
ment. This may be easily acquired by those who contemplate any sort
of planting proposition. Much of this land lies in sheltered valleys, and
at the present time it is heavily wooded. The soil being volcanic, except
on the coast plains which are of coral origin, the drainage is good and
the land fertile. For certain growths, however, fertilizers are needed,
and to those who contemplate taking up land in the territory of Hawaii
it is strongly urged that they communicate with the special agent in
charge of the Hawaiian Experiment Station at Honolulu, who is a
gentleman of much experience and who is in a position to be very help-
ful. Exactly what it would cost one to purchase land it is difficult to
state. Good sugar land brings from $25 to $60 an acre, that is, when
purchased from private individuals, but bought from the government
it would cost from $10 to $15. These holdings are classified, and the
commissioner at Honolulu can give any inquirer full information
regarding what is open, conditions" for the homestead lease system, right
of purchase, leases, cash freeholds, and so on.

I have dwelt at some length upon this for the reason that now that
rubber culture has made a beginning in the Sandwich Islands, and par-
ticularly as these islands are now making real progress, many faces will
turn towards this Pacific possession of ours, and much agricultural
development will result. It is to be hoped that a large part of this, or at
least a fair proportion of it, will be along the line of rubber cultivation.
Indeed it wouldn't hurt the writer's feelings a bit if the thousands of
acres devoted to the luxury, sugar, were turned within the next five
years into the production of the necessity rubber.

To speak a little further about conditions for the man who wishes
to plant rubber or anything else: It will be a satisfaction to many to
know that there are no snakes or poisonous reptiles of any kind in all
the islands. There are no such pestilences as are to be found in other
tropical countries, and there isn't a wild beast anywhere there; nor have
they yet discovered malaria. Of course there are certain drawbacks.
While there are apparently no insects poisonous to man, there are many

RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

285

"MANIHOT GLAZIOVII," NAHIKU I'LAXTATIOX. (22 INCH DIAM.)

286 RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

agricultural pests. For example, the fruit industry suffers from scale
and mealy bugs and sugar planters are obliged to fight the borer and
all his kin. Then, too, there are cut worms, plant lice, Japanese rose
beetles, and lots of others of the same sort. Whether there is anything
that will be injurious to rubber no one knows yet, but it is quite likely
that some of the existing insects will adapt themselves to the rubber
situation as it develops.

My interest in rubber in Hawaii dates back to 1890, during the
reign of King Kalakua, with whom I had a most interesting correspon-
dence. That is, I wrote him some very interesting letters and got no
replies. I don't say specifically that that is why he lost his throne, but
any student of history knows what has happened to the islands since I
received the royal snub.

The defunct ruler, however, went on record as believing that some-
thing might be done with the Ficus religiosa and the Ficus Indica which
grow there in "prolific profusion." He also noted that the bread fruit
tree (Artocarpos incisa) produced a gum that for centuries had been
used by his subjects for waterproofing purposes, and which he believed
might contain a percentage of rubber. With regard to the cultivation of
rubber, he promised his royal sanction to anybody with money to spend
to come there and spend it for rubber or anything else.

Somewhere in 1900 the papers in the Far East claimed that the
United States government was going at once to save $30,000,000 that it
was then paying for imported rubber, by booming cultivation in Hawaii.
The story was, that the nucleus was to be 100,000 rubber trees trans-
planted from Brazil to the newly acquired territory. Nothing, however,
came of this.

It was on the island of Maui that the first real start at rubber
planting was made. Seven hundred and sixty square miles has Maui.
and a most romantic island it is. It is really two mountains connected
by a sandy isthmus, and is wonderfully varied both in climate and
scenery. For example, speaking of climate, one side of the island is
dry and barren, but the other, the windward, is exceedingly fertile.
This portion, which consists on the lower levels of picturesque valleys.
has plenty of rain and rich soil, and it is here that the rubber is being
planted, and Ceara (Manihot) was the first tree selected. Rumor has
it also that there was something like two hundred acres, part Herea
and part Ficus, planted about the same time, but no record of this plant-
ing is at present available. In 1905, how r ever, there was formed the
Nahiku Rubber C<>., Limited, which took over the plantation containing

288 RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII

the Ceara trees planted some years before, which although few in
number, had not only matured remarkably, but had some excellent
rubber producers. This was rather remarkable, that is, the fact that the
trees produced latex, as the rainfall was nearly two hundred and fifty
inches, and with the experience of the Ceylon planters before them many
thought that the trees would be barren. The reason for this difference
perhaps lies in the fact that although the rainfall is great the evapora-
tion is very sudden so that the trees are led to expect a drought, which
never comes. The same company are also importing seed of the Heuca
from Ceylon and expect to plant that on a large scale

With regard to the yield of the Ceara trees in the Nahiku planta-
tion, six small incisions produced an ounce of dry rubber, and this
tapping may be repeated once a week through the year.

Mr. Jared G. Smith, who is in charge of the Hawaiian experiment
Station, is authority for the statement that the Manihot trees at Nahiku
landing have already produced a pound and a half of dry rubber a year.
This assures a good profit. He also mentions the recent incorporation of
two more planting companies but gives no particulars further than that
they are already planting and the young trees showing marvelous
growth. As several leading business men from Hawaii have recently
been in Ceylon and the Straits studying rubber culture it is quite likely
that future planting will be in part, at least, of the Hcrca. It is worthy
of note, that the principal rubber planting in Hawaii has been done by
settlers from the United States. These are small beginnings, but begin-
nings all the same. Just keep an eye on T. H. and see if in another
decade she is not producing good rubber as well as furnishing seed for
Formosa, the Philippines, Samoa, and other tropical countries.

< 6
B U

j .y

INDEX

Achotal, Along the Railroad

Track to 157

Experience at 107

Aden . ,. 9jlo

Administration Buildings of the
Royal Botanical Gardens,

Peradeniya 38

Africa 8,154

Alexandria 7

Alkali Plains, Over the .... 100
Allianca, Steamer ..... 201
Almirante, Schooner . 203, 208,234,240

America 9,H5

Central . . 115,193,201,222,267
South . .... 54,59,H5

Spanish 186,192

Americas, The ........ 115

American 5,99,105,127,137,138,150,152
. . . 160,188,192,239,255,273

Americans, Latin 188

Amole Vine for Coagulating Rub-
ber 143,221

Animals of the Malay States . . 73

Arapolakanda Estate 6l

Smoking Rubber at .... 61
Atlantic, Crossing the .... 3

Aztecs 218

Descendants of 218

Land of 97,ioi

Azuero, Lands of 233

Peninsula 213

Bab-el-Mandeb 9

Bagot, H. V., Manager of Ara-
polakanda 61

Bailey, W. W., His Bungalow at

Klang 81

His Plantations at Klang 81,82,83
Some of His Experiments in

Planting Hevea .... 83
Banana Republic, Costa Rica . . 185

Banco de la China 197

Barlow, Prof., Kingston, R. I. . 182
Barranquilla, Arrival at .... 248
Belanger's Incorporated, Nicara-
gua 167

Bird Cage, The Family Hotel at

Minatitlan 138

Briton 10

" Prof. N. D., Director New

York Botanical Gardens . 263
W. L., State Entomologist

of Connecticut 180

Blake, Sir Henry, Governor of

Ceylon 33

Bluefields 167,169,178

Bonifacio, Straits of ..... 5

Boston Rubber Tree 135

Botanic Gardens, Singapore . . 70
Brindisi 7

British, The ^ ?6

Broun, Capt. . ' 8

Buddhist Temple .. . . .'.'.' 16,44

Buenaventura ". . . . . 257

Bullock Hackery . .....' 2Ij2 2

Bureau of Entomology, Washing-

r . ton - 180,182

Calcutta ...... 154

Camp Iguana, Panama . 227,228,231
Canada Plantation, Nicaragua . . 178
Canker Fungus, Devastation in

Hevea Trees 33,34

Its Treatment ..,-.. 34
Cape Gracias a Dios .... 182,267

Maisi '201

Carey, E. V., Manager Kong Yaik

Estate, Klang 85

His Experiments in Planting 85
Carruthers, J. B., F. L. S., His
Opinion of Canker in Hevea
Trees and Methods of Eradi
cation ...... 33,34,37

Cartagena, Harbor at 254

Population of ... . , . 255
Rubber Shipments .... 257
Castifloa, About Camp Iguana,

Panama 230,231

Adapted to cultivation in Pan-

218

At Culloden Experimenting
with

52
39
273

At Experimenting Station .
At Western End of Jamaica .
Banner seedling at La Buena

Ventura n8

Brutally Tapped 188

Camp Rio Negro .... 213
Characteristics of the . i . 118
Claims of a Scientist concern-
ing 122

Classified by a Rubber Cultur-

ist 198

Comparison of trees at La

Buena Ventura 116

Diseases and Enemies of

179,181,182

Free from pests 128

Honduras Plantation . . . 264
Impracticable methods of

planting 195

In Malay States '72

In province of Veragua, Pana-
ma 238

In Selangor ...... 90

Las Margharitas, Panama . 238
Latex coagulated with juice
of Amole Vine .... 221

Little land in Costa Rica for 195

INDEX

Castilloa, Needs of quick drainage 172
" Peculiar methods of tap-
ping 216

Plantings of coffee and . . 144
Principal plantations in

Colombia 258

Seed vitality of the ... 131
Soil necessary for cultivation
. ..... . . . . . 119,196

Some of Panama's large trees 227
Specimens of, in Jamaica . 271,272
Tapping . . . . . . . . 222

Taproot of the . ... IJ 9

Testing Seed of 132

Trees at the Rubio Estate . . 141

Wild seedlings 141

Wild trees at Colombia . . 256

Castleton Gardens 270

Cauca District .... 210,218,256

Ceara (Manihot) At Maui ... 286
At The Experiment Station
Peradeni}^. . . .. ' . . . 39

In Ceylon . . ..... 23

In The Malay States ... 72
Trees in Jamaica and Ceylon 271
Yield of Trees at Nahiku
Plantation . . ' . ... 288

Cebaco, Island of . ... . 207,208

Cerro Nuncio 238

Ceylon, Area, Products, Population,

Government, etc., . . 11,12
Climate, Customs, Dress . 13,14
Contrasted With South Ameri

ca in Marketing Rubber . 54
Insects .-.- .... 18,34,35,36

Kalutara ....".".'.. 45
Methods Observed by Hawaii-

ans 288

Roads and Railways of . 30,31,46
Rubber, Its Special Purposes 4
Rubber Seeds From . . . 259

Tools in Use at 222

Weeding of Crops a Science 47

Chagres River 202

Chiapas ....'. 95

Chichigapa River . . . .'"'. . 139

China, Steamer 279

Chinaman 153

Chincona, Experiment Station at 263
Chinese .... 17,84,99,186,266,280

Chitre . 239,240

Chittenden, F. H. Acting Chief,
Bureau of Entomology at

Washington 181

Choco, The 256,257,258,259

Chocos, The 256

Christmas, On a Tropical Sea . 65,66
Clearing and Burning by Contract 130

Climate, Knowledge of .. . . . 118

Clyde Estate 62

Coachapa River 141

Coatzacoalcos . . 132,138,143,144,150

River 138.139

Colombia, A Consular Agent at . 255
A Town of Western . . . 256
Central Railroad ... . . . 259

Coast of . . . . 201,234,245

Coinage of Gold in .... 253

Colombians 247,253

Colombo, Cost of Rubber at . . 58,59

Harbor at n

Rubber Costs 16 cents Pound,

Landed at .... . " . 58

Train to .... 30,45,62,63

Colon, A Prophecy of ..... 241

Inhabitants of 202

Connecticut Agricultural Experi-
ment Station 180

Constant Spring Hotel . . . . 270

Cordoba 105,160

Cortez . .... 205

Costa Rica, A Rubber Plantation

of ...... 193

Castilloa of .... 198

Development Company 197
Interest in Rubber

Planting in ... 196
Little Land for Castil-
loa Growing in . 195
Costa Ricans ..... 186,187,188

Cow Pea (Vigna kantaing) . . . 163
Cross, Robert, Hevea Measure-
ments Near Para Taken by 27

Cuba 201,265

Cuidad Porfirio Diaz, . Mexican

Border Town 99

Cukra Plantation Company . . . 171
Rubber Curing House at . . 175
Tapping at ..;.-.... 175

Culebra Cut 202

Culloden, Drainage at 49

Its Rubber Production . . 48,51

Labor at 51,55

Rubber Curing at ... 53,54,55
Rubber Tapping at .... 49

Daedelus Shoal 8

Darien, Gulf of 210

Daytonia 174

De Lesseps, Mons. 7

Demarest Estate no

De Silva, Singalese Plant Collector

at Peradeniya .... 45,63

De Verts ..." 144

Devonian, Steamer ...... 3

Diaz , 99

" President 103

INDEX

Dorman, S. D . 162

Dos Rios, Steamer 143

Region '...'. 144

Dover . . . . . . . . ; . . 4

East Indies . .... ... . 115

Edangoda, Ceylon . . . .... 48

El Ritero . . . . .... . 112

Escondido River 170

Ferrocarril Costa Rica ... . 188

Fertilizers .......... 71

Fever, A Touch of .... . 63

Ficus, Benjamina , . . .-.* . 134

Ficus Elastica, 83

At Castleton Garden,

Jamaica .... 271

At Maui 286

At S clangor . . . 88,90

Indica, At Hawaii . 286

In the Malay States . 72

Religiosa, At Hawaii 286
75 Year Old Growth

at Experiment Station 39

Ficus, Specimens of in Panama . 227

27,115
. 162
. 130
. 164

. 100

288

273

21
234

355

38
208

Fiji Islands

Filisola Plantation

Fire, Danger From . . . . .

Florida Experiment Station

Food, Native Mexican > . . . .

Formosa v . .

Forsteronia floribnnda (Milk
Withe) ,; ^-. . -. .

French Indo-China* . . . . . .

Gorgonas Island ...-.;...

Governor of Ceylon . .;'".; , .

Granger, Mr. Henry G. ....

Green, Mr. E. E., F.E.S., Govern-
ment Entomologist of Cey-
lon ;.'.

Gubernador Island

Gutta-jelntong in the Federated

Malay States ..... 72

Gutta-percha 74,75,76

Hall, Maxwell, M.A. F.R.A.S.,

F.R.M.S 267

Harrison, Mr. R. W., Manager at

Culloden 47,48

Harvey, Mr., La Buena Ventura

. 114,115,120,132,140,154,158,160

Hawaii, A Prophecy of ... 284,288
As a Rubber Producer . . . 279
Territory of 280

Hawaiian Experiment Station 284,288
Islands ..;... 279.282

Heatherly Estate 48,57

Heneratgoda, Annual Measure-
ments of Typical Tree . . 27
As a Seed Bearing Proposi-
tion 27

271
40

Heneratgoda, Castilloa Elastica at
First Successful Planting of

Para at

Government Gardens . . .
Landolphia Florida at ...
Oldest Hevea Rubber Plant-
ing

Rubber Tapping at ....
Yields and Tapping Experi-
ments at 29

Hevea Brasiliensis, 288

At Arapolakanda . . 61
At Malacca ... 91
At Maui . ... . 286
At Port Dickson . . 89
At Sunnycroft ... 63
Canker Fungus . 33,34,37
Chinese Plantations 84,85
Comparative Methods

of Coagulating . . 61
Enemies of .... 63,64
Growth of Trees at

Heneratgoda . 23,24,25
Government Planta-
tions of ....
In Castleton Gardens,
Jamaica ....
Increase in Planting .
In Hope Gardens, Ja-
maica 272

Introduction in Mexico 154
Leaf Analysis . . 57,58
Measurements at the
Royal Botanical Gar-
dens

Measurements near

Para of Wild . ' .

Oil From Seeds of .

Phenomenal Growth .

Plantations Along the

Railroad . . . . .,

Planted by Natives of

Ceylon

Rubber Tapping, Tools,

etc ,

Successful Growth at
Botanic Gardens,
Singapore ... 70
Visit to Plantations . 19
When Mature at Klang
and Manner of
Planting ,, . . 82,83

Hevea Spruceana 271

Himalaya, On Board the . . . 3,4,11

Honduras 264

Hongkong 5

Honolulu ...... 279,280,284

Hope Gardens, Jamaica .... 272

INDEX

Hotel Experiences ...... 250

India 5,9,11

Indian, A Hypnotized 225

Civilized 232

Rubber Planted by the . . 216

Indians, Aztecs 218

Castilloa Coagulated by . . 221
Mackintoshes of the . . . 152
San Bias . . . ... 167,210

Shacks of the . ... . . 219

Stories Told by ".'... . . . .207

Indian Ocean . . .... . . . 10

Insects Of Mexico 156,157

Rubber Scale of Nicaragua

180.181

Leeches and Mosquitoes, and
Pests of Ceylon and their
Methods of Attack, etc.,

i8,34>35,36

Institute of Jamaica . . '. . . 267
Isthmus of Tehuantepec . .-'. 95, 102

Ixtaccihuatl . . . 102

Ixtal ......... 107,122

Jamaica, A Prophecy . .... 263

Discovery of 265

First Rubber Culture Experi-
ments in . . , . . . . 271
Government of . ... . 266

Island of 265

Rainfall of 267

Para Seeds Sent to . . : . . 27
Japanese ......... 280

Java . . . . . . , . . .21,27,115

Javanese .......... 84

Juancho . . , . . . . . 223,227

Kalani Valley ." ..;.... 62

Kaluganga, Steamer ..... 61

Kalutara . .... . . . 45,62

Kandy, City of .... 41,43,44,45

Kandyans ......... 12

Karawanella ..... . . . 63

Kauai 280

Keith, John M., of the United Fruit

Co 195

Keith, Minor C, of the United

Fruit Co., 187,196

Kew Gardens 26

Kickxia in the Malay States ... 72

Kickxia Africana 154

Kilauea 280

King of England, The .... 12,186

King Kalakua 286

Kingston, Jamaica . . . . . 269,272
Rhode Island . . . . . 182
Klang, In Selangor, Malay States,
Rubber Plantation in charge
of Mr. Bailey . . . 81,82,83
Koschney, Mr. Th. F. of Costa Rica 197

La Barrigona Ranch 259

Labor, at Peradeniya Gardens . 41
Average wage of Tamil

Coolie 60

Contract 130

Coolie Contract Work at

Culloden 58

Tamil, Chinese and Japanese 84
The Mozo in Mexico

124,125,126

La Carolina Plantation .... 258

La Crosse Plantation Co. . . . 146

La Florencia, Estate . ., ,\ ,; . 120

La Junta, Labor at . . . . . . 124

Tennessee Negroes to

be delivered at . . 127

" Visit to 124

Landolphia . . . V ... . . . 271

Landolphia Florida : . . . . . 25

Las Margharitas . \ . ... 238

Las Minas ; . . . . . . 238,239

Latex 4

A Pound Dry . . . ... 58

Abundant Flow of . ... 122

Age of Trees . . . N . . . 116
All Castilloas with One

Exception Yield . . . . 116

Coagulated by Panama Indi-
ans 221

Collected by Torchlight . . 56
Cukra Plantation, Method of
Coagulating* . ...". . 175,177

Difference in the 116

Experiments in Coagulation

of 29

Ficus Elastica in Ceylon pro-
ducing little 39

Methods of preventing too

rapid Coagulation ... 51

Of Milk Withe Rich in . . 273
Of the Ficus Benjamina of

Little Value 134

Slow Running in the Middle

of the Day .... 38,49,56,57

Thin and Watery . . . 195
Lewis, F., Assistant Conservator

of Forests, Colombo . 39,63,64

Luther, Mr. A. B 138,141,143

Magdalena 259

Mahaweli River 39

Malacca, Straits of 67

Maltrata, Village of 104

Mammals of Mexico . . 152,153,158
Manhattan Plantation, Headquar-
ters at 178

One Hundred and Forty

Thousand Trees at ... 178

Manaos 60

INDEX

Manaos Para 3

Manihot Glaziovii, in Colombia . . 259

Trees at Nahiku Landing . 288

Mariato River . 207,221,224,225,235

Maui, Island of 280,286

Maxwell, Le Froy, Government En-
tomologist at W. Indies Re-
commends Cure for Castil-

loa Scale 180

Mexico, Animals of . , . 152,158

Climate 102

City of 96,102,103,114,154,157,162
Dry and Rainy Seasons in

119,120

Insects of 156,157

Laws of 150,151

Native Food of IOO

Reptiles of .... 120,122,124

Taxation 159,160

Train Service in .... 104
Two Conditions not Touched
upon in Guide Books About 103

Valley of 101

Milk Withe (Forsteronia floribun-

da) .... ... . . 273

Minatitlan .... 138,139,141,143

Minecoi Island 10

Mohammedan Merchants in Cey-
lon 15

Molokai Island 280

Monkey Hill Cemetery, Colon . . 202
Montijo, Gulf of . . . . . . 206
Montoso . . .... . . . 237

Moors 12,17

Morning Glory Vine, in Mexico and
Nicaragua suggested as
cover for rubber tree
trunks ....... 135,172

Mosquito Coast 267

Mount Lavinia I5>i7

Nahiku Rubber Co., Ltd. . . . . 286
National Theatre, San Jose . . . 190

Newmark, Plantation 112

Nicaragua, Greytown 197

Rainfall in 173

Report of a Beetle Trouble-
some in 182

Securing a Passport for Leav-
ing 178

Voyage on Schooner . . . 167

Nochistongo Canal 101

Northern Railway, Costa Rica . . 195

Oahu, Island of 280

Oaxaca, State of ... . . . . 95

Opals, Mexican . . . . . . . 101

Orizaba, City of . . . . . . . 105

Palo Seco 210,213

Panama 240,254

Panama Bay . . . . .... . 206

" Canal 267

Panama City, A Government Ap-
propriation for .... 215
Freed from Yellow Fever . 241

Panamanians, Native 241

Para (See Hevea)

Parita River 240

Pataling Estate Selangor ... 89
Pearson, Sir S. Weetman, English

Railroad Constructor . . 144

Penang 27

Peradeniya, Administration Build-
ings at 38

Inspecting Gardens at ... 33

Laboratories at 38

Para Seeds Transferred from

Heneratgoda , . . . 26

Rainfall at 41

Royal Botanical Gardens at . 19
Visitors at . . .... . 21

Perez, Mexico 158,160

Pese, Panama . . . .... 239

Philippines, The .... ; . . 99,288

Plant Pests 128,129

Plantation, Rubio On Horseback

Through Miles of Rubber 140-1

Plantation San Francisco, Mexico 144

Polgahawela, Ceylon ...... 32

Popocatepetl 102,104

Port Limon, Castilloa Plantations

Near 196

Seven Million Bunch-
es of Bananas Ship

ped yearly from . 186

Port Royal . . 269

Port Said . . s . . ... . , 6

Punta Malo ........ 205

Punta Mariato . . . ... . 206

Punta, Moro Puercos . V r . . 206

Quebro 227

Outlaws 206

River 207

Queretara 100

Quibdo, A Political Center of Co-
lombia 255,256,257

Rainfall, At Heneratgoda . . . 240

In Hawaii 286,288

In Jamaica 270,272

Rains, Torrential .... 120,131,177

Rainy Season 119,172,201

Rambukkana, Ceylon 32

Raphael . . . 203

Rest House 30,45,46

Ridley, Henry N., F.L.S., Director

of Singapore Botanical Gar- .
dens 70

INDEX

Rincon Antonio, Mexican Railroad

Town . . . . . . 146,157

Rio Negro Camp, Panama 213,216,218,
..... 220,227,231,234

Royal Botanical Gardens at Pera-

deniya .... ... . 19

Experiment Stations at . . 39
Rubber, A Costa Rican Orchard

of Castilloa 193

At Culloden, Cost of . . 58,59
At La Junta . . . 124,126,128
At Plantation Rubio . . . 140
Canker in Hevea . . . 33,34,37
Castilloa and Ceara at Experi-
ment Stations 39

Castilloa and Ceara in Malay

States 72

Castilloa and Coffee on San

Francisco Plantation . . 144
Castilloa at the Demarest Es-
tate 1 10

Castilloa at the Rubio Estate 141
Castilloa Brasiliensis at Hope

Gardens, Jamaica . . . 272
Castilloa Elastica at Henerat-
goda ....... 25

Castilloa Experiments at Cul-
loden . . ... . . . 52

Castilloa Free from Pests in

Mexico 128

Castilloa, Large Trees in

Panama 227

Castilloa, Native . . . . . 122
Castilloa on the Darien Gold

Mining Co. Plantation . . 234
Castilloa Plantation at Jamai-
ca 273

Castilloa Plantation in Verag-

ua, Panama 238

Castilloa Seed and Blossom 131
Castilloa Trees on Las Mar-
gharitas Plantation . . . 238

Ceara at Ceylon 23

Ceara, At Mauri .... 286
Ceara at Nahiku Plantation,

Hawaii 288

Ceara Trees in Ceylon and Ja-
maica 271

Ceylon 4

Ceylon, English Opinions of . 3,4
Characteristics of the Castil-
loa 118

Chinese as Rubber Planters,

(Federated Malay States) 84,85
Chinese Plantations . . . 84,85
Coagulating Castilloa . . 221
Comparative Prices of Para 59,60

Rubber, Conclusions Drawn from

Visit to Mexico .... 96
Curing House at Culloden 53,54,55
Diseases of Castilloa . 179,181,182

Distances 64.71

Enemies of Hevea . . . 63,64
Experiments Instituted at Cul-
loden ....... 56,57

Ficus Elastica at Castleton
Gardens, Jamaica .... 271

Ficus Elastica at Klang ... 83
Ficus Elastic in the Malay
States . .'. . "-. ' ... . . 72

Ficus Elastic 75 year old
Growth at Experiment Sta-
tion 39

Ficus for Future Planting in

Hawaii . . .-.'-. . 286,288
Ficus Indica . .... . 286

Ficus Religiosa 286

Ficus Specimens in Panama 227
Ficus, Superior Growth at Se-

langor 90

Gathering and Testing Castil-
loa Seed 131,132

Government Hevea Planta-
tions At Peradeniya . . 39
Government Plantations of

Hevea 39

Great Care to be Exercised

in Preparing Ground for . 132
Grove Plantation . . . . 174
Gutta-jelutong in the Jungle.

(Federated Malay States) 72
Hevea at Arapolakanda . . 61
Hevea at Culloden . . . 49,56
Hevea at Heneratgoda. 1883. 26
Hevea at Klang .... 82,83
Hevea at Malacca .... 91
Hevea at Port Dickson , . 89
Hevea Brasiliensis at Hope

Gardens, Jamaica .... 272
Hevea Brasiliensis at Castle-
ton Gardens, Jamaica . . 271
Hevea Brasiliensis in Mexico 154
Hevea Leaf Analysis . . 57,58
Hevea Measurements at the

Royal Botanical Gardens 27
Hevea Planted by Natives of

Ceylon 20

Hevea Spruceana at Castleton

Gardens, Jamaica ... 271
In Hawaii, The Prospects 279.286
In the midst of planted Rub-
ber 171

Interest in Hawaii .... 286

Increase in Hevea .... 40

" Kickxia Africana in Mexico 154

INDEX

Rubber Landolphias at Castleton

Gardens, Jamaica . . . 271
Landolphia florida at Hener-

atgoda 25

Little Castilloa at Selangor 90
Manihot Glaziovii in Colom-
bia 259

Mr. Carey's Plan at Kong

Yaik Estate 85

Mr. Lewis's Part in Advanc-
ing Rubber Interests in

Ceylon 64

Necessity of Observing

Proper Conditions for . 118
" Oldest Rubber on Arapola-

kanda Plantation .... 61
Orchard of the Manhattan
Para at Heneratgoda . . 25
Para at Heneratgoda in 1886 26
Para at Selangor Rubber Go's 88
Para Clyde Estate .... 62
Para Produced at Culloden 48,51
Para Production at Culloden 48,51
Phenomanal Growth at Bo-
tanical Gardens, Singapore 70
Planting. Increasing Interest

in Colombia . . . 258
Planting in Jamaica (Experi-
mental) 263

Private Castilloa Plantations 175
Prize Castilloa Plantations 196,197

Profits 20,64

Producer (Milk Withe) . . 273
Proper Conditions for Castil-
loa 118,195

Recent Activity in Costa Rica

in 197.

Samples ... .179

Seeds, A peculiar theory of . 192

Shrinkage 3

Smoking, at Arapolakanda . 61
Soil Tells Story of Filisola

Plantation Failure . 162,163

Some Nicaragua Plantations 178

Some Peculiarities at Klang 82
Successful Experiments with

Seeds for 132

Tapping Castilloa . ... 222
Taproot of the Castilloa . . 119
Tapping, At Cukra Planta-
tion, Nicaragua . . 177
At Culloden . . 49,50.51
At Culloden at Night 56,57
At Heneratgoda . . 28
At Klang Determined

by Size .... 82

At Peradeniya . . 38
Brutal Tapping of

Castilloa . . . 188

Rubber Tapping, By an Indian 221

Tools . . . 29,38.49,85
Up the Coachapa River 141
Varying Opinions as to

Frequency of . . 142

Trees cut down in Colombia 255

" Trees Destroyed by Fire . . 130

Trees Less Frequent at High

Altitudes in Costa Rica . . 189

Trees, Wild 118

Up The Rivers and Lagoons

in Nicaragua 17

" Wild Castilloa in Colombia . 256
Wild Trees in Costa Rica . 196
" Wild Hevea Measurements

near Para 27

Willughbeia Firma, Gutta-
percha, Ficus, and Kickxia
in the Malay States ... 72

" Samples .179

Samoa 288

San Carlos River . . . . . 197
San Geronimo Valley, Mexico . . 146
San Jose, Its Resemblance to a

- Modern American City . 190
San Marcos Plantation .... 160
Santa Lucretia, Mexico 107,134,136,150
Savanilla, Colombia -. 245,252
Schooner Sunbeam, Experiences on 167
Selangor, How Land is Acquired in 85
" Methods of Planting, Etc.

86.87,88,89

" Older Heveas destroyed at . 78

" Rubber Co., 86,89

Siam ............ 21

Sim Iron Plantation .... 174

Singalese - - 11,12,17.61

Singapore, Area, Population, Rain-
fall, Location, Government.
When Founded, Etc. -. . 68
" Departure for Hong Kong 91

" Tropical Plants and Trees

Sent to Mexico from . . 154

Slave Island Station 45

Sloophouse Creek, Nicaragua . 170
Staples, Mr. F. H. M., Chief of the
Agricultural Bureau at Jo-

hore 76

Suoy River 231

Smith, Jared G., of the Hawaiian

Experiment Station . . 288
Spanish, Companion's Knowledge

of Language Helpful . . 105
" Language in General Use . . 192

Snakes 122,124

Solo Suchil, Mexico 138

" Pantation . . . . 139

INDEX

Suez Canal . . . ...... . 7,8

City of ." . . . . . 7,8

Gulf of ... ; .... . s

Sumatra . . . . . 21

Tabasco, State of . ...... 95

Tabeuwana, Ceylon ; . . . . 46

Tamils 12,17,61,84

Tampa, Florida ...... 164

Taxation in Mexico 159

Teck Wah Liong Co., Chinese Mer-
chants 74

Tehuantepec, City of . . 144,148,150
Thwaites, Director of the Royal

Botanical Gardens, Ceylon 26

Tierra Blanca 106,160

Caliente . . . 95,103,119,128

Timsah Lake . . 7

Toboga, Panama 204,205

Torrean, Mexico 99

Tres Amigos River 197

Triman, Dr. Successor to Dr.
Thwaites of the Royal Bo-
tanical Gardens, Ceylon. . 26,27
Rubber Tapping by .... 28
Trinidad, River District . 114,130,162

Tudugala, Ceylon 48

Tula 100,101

United States, Negroes from . . 126
Annexation Panama . 241

Marines 201

Settlers from ... 288

Tehuantepec Survey . 127

Varney Rubber Co., Mexico . . 130

Velvet Bean, Recommended for
Planting Around Trunks of

Rubber Trees 164

Vera Cruz 130

Vera Cruz and Pacific Road . . 105
Vera Cruz, State of .... 95,119

Veragua, Panama . . . . ,. . 238

Wakaki Beach 279

Waldron, Gordon, of the Cukra

Company . . 171,175,177,178

West Indies 115,180,270

Willis, Director J. C, F.L.S., of the
Royal Botanical Gardens,

Peradeniya 19,21

Measurements Taken by . 27

Rubber Tapping by .... 28
Willughbeia Firma in the Malay

States 72

Withers, J. T. of Clontarf, Cey-
lon 47

Wreck, Just Averted 208

Wright, Mr. Herbert, A.R.C.S., In
Charge of Experiment Sta-
tion at Royal Botanical Gar-
dens 39

Yatiyalagala, Ceylon .. .^ . . . 39

Yatupauwa, Ceylon . .... 48

Yokohama 5*279

Yucatan, Ship . . .... . 241

Zacatecas ......... 99

City of 100

Zapotaco Women (Tehuantepec

Women) 148

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Amusements Committee . . . . . . .,-- .. , . . : ' t '- ; .5

Port Said Water Front . . ..... ' . . ' . . . . . . . .6

In the Suez Canal . . . . . ^ . . . . . 7

Breakwater at Colombo, Ceylon ..... . . . . . .. . 10

Paddy (Rice) Field in Ceylon . '. . . . . . .- . . n

Catamaran With Sail, Ceylon . . .. ' . ' . . . . . 12

Street Scene in Colombo . . ..'.' . . . : . ; . . .. : . . 13

Banyan Tree, Ceylon . , . . . . . ... . v . . . 15

Plantains, Ceylon . . . ' . . : . " ~. ;.'. . . * " fc . . . . 16

Native Method of Tree Climbing .. . . . . . . . .. . . 17

An Upcountry Tea Estate in Ceylon . " . J . ..... . 18

Hevea at Heneratgoda . . .. . ... "v . . . . . 19

Para Rubber Trees (Hevea Brasiliensis) at Heneratgoda . . , . . 20

Bullock Hackery and Rickshaw, Colombo . * ... . . . . 22

Experiment Gardens, Peradeniya . . .. .' . ... . . 23

Peradeniya Garden . . ... . . , . / . . . . . 24

Portion of Old Hevea Tree . . . ^ , , . ; ; . . 25

Hevea Brasiliensis . . . ... . - . . . . . . 26

Peradeniya Garden Entrance . . . . . .... . . . 28

Ficus Elastica, Peradeniya, Peradeniya Garden . . . i. . . 29

Dendrocalamus Giganteus . . ..... ... . . 31

Peradeniya Garden . . ... . . . ( . . - . '. 32

Ficus Bengalensis Banyan Tree . '- . . . . . . . * . 33

Young Hevea Trees . . .-.*"% . . . . ; . . . 35

Satinwood Bridge, Peradeniya . ... ... . . . . 37

Hevea at Edangoda . . . . . '* . ' . . . .. 3^

Peradeniya Garden . . .40

Rubber Trees Killed by Flood . . . . 41

Sensation Rock, Near Kandy 43

Kandy Lady Horton's Walk 44

Ceara Rubber Tree . . 46

View from Hilly Road Near Culloden . 47

Fifteen Year Old Hevea Trees ... 48

Hevea Rubber Tree 50

Hevea Trees at Culloden . . . . 51

Hevea Trees at Culloden 52

Scene in Kelani Valley, Ceylon 53

Rubber Curing House, Culloden 54

Coagulating and Pressing Para Rubber . 55

Mr. Harrison's Bungalow, Culloden 56

Jack Fruit 57

View of Hevea Six Months After Planting 5^

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Wild Ficus Elastica . . ... . . . . . . . . 59

Hevea Planted 1889; Photographed 1903 . 60

Hevea Trees at Sunnycroft . . ..... . . . . . 62

Johnston's Pier, Singapore . . . . . '". -\ . . 66

Malay Village, Pulo Bram, Singapore .... . . . . . 67

Orchard Road, Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Field of Para Rubber (Hevea) . . .... . . . 69

Shoots from a Fallen Hevea Trunk . . . . -.-".; . 7

Gutta-Jelutong Tree . . . * % . . . .-.; . . * . 7 1

Malay House in Johore . ..' . . . 74

New Mohammedan Mosque, Johore View from Seaside . . . . .75

Istana of the Sultan of Selangor . ' . ... ' .. . . 77

View of the Plantation of the Selangor Rubber Co., Federated Malay States

(Hevea and Ficus Interplanted) . ...!". _','. . - 7

Four Year Old Hevea, Klang Estate .... .. ... ',." . . 80

A River View from Klang . . ... . . ' . .-.-.. 81

Mr. Bailey's Bungalow, Klang . . . .-..:. . . . . 82

Four Year Old Planted Ficus . . \ . , . . ... . 83

Rubber Plantation View in Selangor, Federated Malay States . ^4

Rubber Plantation View in Selangor, Federated Malay States ... 85

Rubber Plantation View in Selangor, Federated Malay States . . ' . . 86

Hevea on the Vallambrosa Estate^ Klang . . . . - . . . . 87

Cutting a Road Through Jungle . . . ....'... . 88

View on the Plantation of the Selangor Rubber Co., Federated Malay States . 90

Young Hevea Seedlings in Beds, in Manure Test . . -. 9 1

Native Hut in the State of Vera Cruz . . ..,....-. t 95

Cane Fiber Raincoat . ...... . . . . . . 96

Cocoa Fiber Raincoat . . . . . . . . . . -97

Map of Mexico (Itinerary of a Visit to the Rubber Plantations) ... 98

Primitive Means of Transportation 99

Maquey Plantation Near Mexico City 100

Snow Capped Orizaba . . . . . . . . . . . I01

Mountain Climbing Engine . . . . . . . . . .102

Looking Down Upon Maltrata from the Train . . . . . . 103

Street Scene in Cordoba 104

Ficus Benjamina .......... IO 5

La Junta Corner of Rubber Field One Year Old 106

La Florencia Plantation House . . . . . . I0 7

La Florencia Tapping Large Wild Rubber Tree ....... 108

La Junta Headquarters of the Plantation Company . . . . . 109

La Junta Rubber Plantation Seen from Trail 109

Interior Camp No. 4 on Plantation Rubio ii j

Water Front at Manititlan .112

La Florencia Trail Through Forest Growth . . . . . . IT 3

La Florencia Coffee Among Rubber Trees Three to Five Years . . .113

La Florencia Fine Stand of Rubber Two to Four Years Old ... 117

La Florencia Large Cultivated Rubber IT 7

Hotel Palomares, IVJanititlan . . . . ' . - IJ 9

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Rubio Interior of Temporary Office . .121

Plantation Rubio Tract for Planting, After the "Burn" .1 , . t . 123
Rubio Young Planted Rubber . . . . ... ... 125

Rubio Brick and Tile Factory . ... * . . ." . . , , . 127

Bodega on Plantation Rubio . . . . . : .' . , . . . 131

Another Camp on Plantation Rubio . ... . . . . . 133

Piece of Road on Plantation Rubio . . . . . . . ... 135

Wild Rubber Tree on Coatzacoalcos River . . 137

Thatched Village on the Ubero Plantation . . . . . ... 130

Steamer "Dos Rios" on the Coatzacoalcos . . . . . . .141

The Tehuantepec Market . . . . . . . ... . 142

La Trinidad Five Year Old Cultivated Rubber ... . . 145
Del Corte Laborers Camp and Clearing .-.. . ... . . . .147

Del Corte Corner of Rubber Orchard and Road . . . .. . . 149

Del Corte Extensive View of Rubber Planting . . ... . . . . 149

Del Corte Road Through Rubber . . . . . . . . . .151

Trees on Filisola . . . . . . . ... . . 153

La Trinidad Five Year Old Rubber and Coffee . ... . . . 155

Filisola in Its Palmy Days . . . ... .' . . . . . . 157

Filisola Water Front at Present ...-*. * 159

Del Corte Administration Building and Rubber Trees . .... .161

Rubber Tree Twenty-seven Months Old from Seed . ..... 163

Wharf at Belanger's . . . . . . . . . . ,. . . 167

Water Front at Bluefield's . . '. , . . f . . . . 168

La Tropical Hotel, Bluefield's . . . . . . . . . . .169

Waldron's' Store Cukra and Canada Plantations . . ... . . 170

Waldron's Canada Plantation . . . -, . . . . ..',. 171

Residence of Sim Iron . . . 172

Sim Iron's Rubber Plantation . . . . . . . . . . . 173

In the Shade of a Rubber Tree . ... . . . . . 174

Manhattan Plantation Dwelling House ... . . . . . . 175

Manhattan Plantation Castilloa Trees, Ground Covered with Morning Glory

Vines 176

Road Through Manhattan Plantation, Among Castilloa Trees ... .176
Mosquito Indians . . . . . . . . , . ... 1/7

Castilloa Stem Attacked by Scale . . .178

Larvae of Castilloa Borer . . . . 179

Stern of Nat, Jr. . . . . 181

Wharf at Port Limon, Costa Rica 185

United Fruit Co.'s Commissary, Port Limon . . ..... . . 186

Loading Bananas on a Train ........... 187

Ten Miles Out of Port Limon .188

Chirripo, Showing Minor C. Keith's Place 189

River Scene Near Port Limon 189

Mountain Road Near San Jose 190

Typical Costa Rican Land Cleared for Pasture, With Castilloa Standing (on

the left) . . . . \, .191

Scene in Street in San Jose . . . . . . . .'." . . . I9 1

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Central Park, San Jose . . ^ . . . -..-.. . . . . 192

Railroad on the Way Up to San Jose . 193

Native Rubber Ten Years Old Surrounded by Planted Rubber and Chocolate 194

Typical Lowland Town ... . . . . 194

Rubber and Bananas . . . . '-. . . . . . 'V . . 195

Rubber and Cacao Alternating, Showing Method of Cleaning . . . 196

Cacao Pods and Scrap Rubber from Wild Trees . ... . . . 197

In the Canal Zone River View . '.''. . .. , . . 202

Cathedral Square and Hotel Grand Central, Panama City . . ' . . . 204

Part of the Panamanian Army . . 205

The Schooner Almirante . . . . , . . . ... 207

On the Beach, Gubernador Island . . 209

Jungo, Cook on the Almirante ; :.. . . / . . 210

The Touraine Canvas Shelter on the Almirante .' . t . , . .211

Panamanians . . . . -, " . . ... . -."... . . 214

Camp Rio Negro . .' . . . . ' . . . . . . '. . 215

Map The Azuero Rubber Lands Republic of Panama . . -.- . . 217

Interior of Camp Rio Negro . . . . . . ... . . . 219

Indian Tapping a Castilloa . . .... . . * . . . 221

Rubber Cutters at Rio Negro Camp . t . . . . . 223

Coagulating Rubber in Balsa Log . . . ..... . . 224

Juancho in Grove of Castilloa Planted by Indians . ; . . . . 225

Cruz, the Hunter, with Wild Turkey . . .... . ... . 226

Juancho's Rubber Tapping Tool . . . . ^ . . . ... - . 227

Native Rubber Cutter with Machete and Calabash . . . ... . 229

Cattle Ranch at the Llanos . . .; . . . . .-1 . . . 230

Sugar Mill Near Las Minas . , . . . . . . ; . . . . 231

Town Bakery at Las Minas ... . 232

The Church at Las Minas . "f- TV - " . . 233

Fourth of July Fiesta at Las Minas 235

Wild Castilloa, Showing Stump of Big Tree from Which Sprouts Had Grown 237

Indian Pack Bearer ............. 239

View of Barranquilla . . . ... . . . . . . . 245

Homes of the Poor 246

Mouth of the Sinu River 247

Panoramic View of Cartagena 248

Scene in Quibdo, a Rubber Trading Center ........ 248

Map Region of Rubber Plantations in the West of Colombia . . . 249

Colombian Scenery ............ 250

Lumber and Wild Rubber Camp 251

Medellin Street Scene 252

Medellin Home of a Wealthy Citizen 253

The Writer (on the right) and His Companions du Voyage .... 254

Bananas 255

Sugar Mill 256

Lumber 257

Cacao 258

Kingston Street, Kingston 263

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Country Negroes . 264

Bog Walk 265

Entrance to Hope Botanical Gardens . . 266

Port Antonio . . ... . . . . . .... . 267

Map Showing Average Rainfall Over Jamaica for One Year ... . . 268

Sugar Cane Field . . ''.*. . . . . . . .'- . .,' .. . 269

Cocoanut Palms . . . . . > . . , . ,. . ."... . 270

Castleton Gardens .... . . . . . . . . 271

Castilloa Elastica in Hope Gardens (Tree Three Years and Six Months Old) 272

Map of the Hawaiian Islands, Comprising the Territory of Hawaii . . . 277

Native Hut in Maui Island . . . . . . . ... . 278

Viewing Young Rubber . "... . . . . . . . . 280

Manihot Glaziovii Trees (Seven to Ten Months Old) . . . . . 281

Seven Year Manihot Near Nahiku Landing . . . . . . . . 282

Planting on Newly Cleared Land, Nahiku Plantation . . ... . 283

Manihot Glaziovii, Nahiku Plantation (Twenty-two Inch Dam) .... 285

Rice Field . . . . 287

The Ewa Mill and Cane Field . . . ^, 287

Typical Hawaiian Views . . . ... . . . . . . 289

The San Miguel
Plantation Company

GROWERS OF

Rubber

Sugar Cane and other Tropical Products

Four and a half year old Rubber Tree
on San Miguel Plantation

Inspecting Sugar Cane on San Miguel
Plantation

For full information write

The San Miguel Plantation Company

814 Chamber of Commerce,

CHICAGO, ILL.

The pages of this book embody every detail of Tire Formation,
the opening chapters telling What Rubber Is and How It Is Manufac-
tured and the two succeeding ones dealing in order with the processes
it undergoes before it has assumed the proportions of a tire.

The Pneumatic Tire is then considered and Theory, Size, Inflation,
Defects, Life, etc., are treated in detail.

The English, French, German and American makes of cycle and
automobile tires are next in order, Cushion Tires, Heavy Traffic Tires,
Solid Tires of American and Foreign Types, Tire Testing, Tire Fabrics,
Tire Pumps, Valves, Anti-Skids, Puncture Proof Tires, Spring Tires,
Care of Tires, Puncture Fluids, Cements, Repairing, Repair Kits, Tire
Cases, Tools, Tire Life and cost of Maintenance, Tire Applying
Machines, Solid Tire Treads, Leather, Paper, and Wooden Tires, Spring
Wheels, Shock Absorbers, Where Tires are made, Making roads for
tires, and Substitutes for Rubber, are some of the chapters that follow.

Illustrations are used wherever it is possible to illumine a subject,,
this feature adding materially to the value of the book-

published by The India Rubber Publishing Company,

35 West 2 1st Street, New York, I. 8. A.
Sold by Subscription Only, Price Tnree Dollars.

The North America
Rubber Culture Co.

Organized in 1 900 Capital, $11 0,000

Owners of Lot Ten of
Colombia Plantation

1100 acres of hill land, all suitable for rubber
Colombia is on the Coatzacoalcos river, navigable to the
Gulf, and is 5 miles from the railroad junction at Santa

Lucrecia, Vera Cruz, Isthmus of Tejiauntepec.

On this land are about

100,000 4J year old rubber trees. 20, 000 of these trees

on ftftn \ " " " " are now 6 inches m

Q " diameter. In 1908

6 there should be

100,000 2 " 50,000 6 inches or

50 000 1 " larger and therefore

* ready for the first

tapping, which will
276,000 trees in total. be made then.

The Company issued $220,000 of 20 year 6% Gold First Mort-
gage bonds. With each bond was sold an equal fraction of the
stock, so that all the stock is owned by the bondholders. The in-
terest coupons No. 1 on the bonds will be due and will be paid on
April 15, 1907.

The whole of the securities were sold in 1903, part of them on
5 year instalment payments. Correspondence is invited from inter-
ested parties regarding any lapsed bonds and stock which may be
from time to time available for resale. Owing to the advanced stage
of the Company and its safe and solid condition, any of these seem
peculiarly attractive investments.

AMERICAN OFFICE

New York Life Building
KANSAS CITY, MO.

MEXICAN ADDRESS

Plantation Colombia
SANTA LUCRECIA, V.C.

FOR THE RUBBER FACTORY.

CRUDE Rubber and Compounding Ingred-
ients" has been found a veritable encyclopedia
of information concerning India-rubber, crude

and compounded.

The author, Mr. Henry C. Pearson, editor of The
India Rubber World, brought out this book after twenty-
five years of practical experience and intimate knowledge
of the modern processes of manipulation and compounding.
Special attention is given to the grades of crude rubber
now on the market and the book also contains a table
showing the analysis of typical sorts of crude rubber.
Chapters on Gutta-Percha, Reclaimed Rubber, Rubber
Substitutes, Vulcanizing Ingredients, Fillers, Coloring Mat-
ters, Solvents, Acids, Oils and Alkalies, Gums and Earth
Waxes, and Unusual Ingredients are all exhaustively treated.
There are tables that show the results of hundreds of ex-
periments made by experts and chemists relating to physi-
cal tests of India-rubber, analyses of substitutes, compound-
ing ingredients, gums, etc. The best work of all the
leading English, German and American experts in India-
rubber is summarized in this book.

For Sale by
The India Rubber Publishing: Co.

35 NVest 21st Street, INew York.

LOS SOLD ADOS RUBBER COMPANY

P. O. ADDRESS: -CO ATZACOALCOS, COUNTY OF
M1NATITLAN, VERACRUZ, MEXICO.

PRIVATE PLANTATION OF CASTILLOA RUBBER

RUBBER, 4) YEARS OLD, PLANTED UNDER SHADE.

NEW YORK OFFICE,

1 70 BROADWAY, CORNER MAIDEN LANE.

FINE RUBBER PREPARED BY CENTRIFUGAL PROCESS.

Edited by

Henry C. Pearson,

35 W. zist Street, New York. Read the World over
by those who keep in touch with current rubber news.

Each Issue Contains :

Articles on Rubber Planting.

Practical Articles on Matters Pertaining to the Trade.

New Goods Fully Described and Illustrated.

Reports from Correspondents at all the great rubber
centers, crude and manufacturing.

Resume of Rubber Patents.

Trade Happenings among the Factories, at the Selling
Agencies or among the Wholesalers and Jobbers.

Chats with and Sketches of the Leaders in the Rubber
Trade.

Complete India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha Market Report.
Progress in the Manufacture of

Belting, Packing, Hose and General Mechanical Goods.

Insulated Wire and Cable Work.

Rubber Clothing, Mackintoshes, and Carriage Drills.

Hard Rubber.

Druggists' and Surgical Sundries.

Rubber Boots and Shoes.

New Machinery, Tools and Appliances.

Special Factory Processes.

Cycle, Automobile and Carriage Tires, and their
Accessories.

Gutta-Percha Production, Goods and Manufacture.

Finely and Profusely Illustrated.

Subscription Price, $3.00 per year in the United States, Canada and
Mexico, in all other countries, $3.50.

The Ohio Rubber Culture Company ,

CANTON, OHIO.

Is engaged in scientific planting and cultivating rubber on its
3,700-acre plantation, situated on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in
the true rubber zone of Mexico, and has a limited number of its
First Mortgage "Improvement" Gold Bonds
and accompanying shares of stock for sale.

The Company invites the closest scrutiny of its property, its
plans and its methods, confident that they will meet the approval of
those seeking a safe, substantial and remunerative investment.

Its lands are fully paid for and its title to same perfect.

Only 2, 500 shares of stock, all common, and over 1,000, 000 rubber
trees already planted.

Its plantation management is in the hands of men of recognized
ability, whose twelve years' successful experience in tropical plant-
ing guarantees success.

For free copy of the Company's Prospectus, which fully explains
our plans and proposition, address,

THE OHIO RUBBER CULTURE COMPANY,

THE COURTLAND BUILDING, CANTON, OHIO.

THE BATAVIA PLANTATION.

Comprising 10,000 acres choice land, located in the foothills
between the Usila and Santo Domingo Rivers, State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Altitude 1,000 to 2,500 feet. Climate ideal. Ample local labor sup-
ply. Substantial buildings including Coffee beneficio completed and
equipped with machinery. No indebtedness.

CAREFUL AND CONSERVATIVE MANAGEMENT

Energetically applied to the marvelous agricultural resources of
the Tropics 1,000 acres of land now planted to 150,000 rubber trees,
100,000 coffee trees, 10,000 vanilla vines, pasturage etc. Many
thousands of young coffee and rubber plants growing in nursery.

Earning annual dividends which have aggregated 18i% during
the past three years. Said annual earnings will increase materially
each year after 1908 with commencement of rubber tapping.

Investors please write for full information to

BATAVIA COMPANY,

MilwatiKee, "Wisconsin.

3U J^ue\)a $rctott>encia Rubber Company,

(Incorporated January 1903.)

PROPERTIES : CAPITAL :

DEPARTMENT OF ESCUINTLA, $100,000. Common.

GUATEMALA, CENTRAL AMERICA. $50,000. Preferred.

DEPOSITORIES:

NATIONAL BANK OF NORTH AMERICA MECHANICS NATIONAL BANK

IN IN

NEW YORK. PROVIDENCE.

We offer for sale 600 shares of our Preferred Capital Stock. The par value of
shares is $25.00. This preferred stock is guaranteed 8%, and cumulative from date
of issue. The dividends on this stock are not limited to, but guaranteed not less than,
&%. This preferred stock also shares equally with the common stock., when the
dividends on the common stock exceed 8%.

None of our stock has ever been sold by brokers or agents, and this is the first time
any of our stock has been offered to the general public and will probably be the last.

Our Capital is extremely conservative ; the Management careful, but progressive ;
our Proposition ligitimate and honest, and we cordially invite investigation.

Ours is an enterprise with prospects of good dividends in the near future, and you
cannot afford to miss this opportunity.

For price, terms, and further information address the corporation, Box 1 462
Providence, R. I.

MUTUAL RUBBER PRODUCTION COMPANY No. 1.

QS IV1IUK STREET,
BOSTOIN, MASS.

ONE OF THE COMPANIES THAT IS REALLY PLANTING RUBBER

FOR SALE.

We offer for sale an interest in the Del Corte Rubber Plantation, being the shares of
certain members who are unable to complete the payments on their stock.

This plantation has been running seven years; has about completed its development work
and is tapping its rubber trees this year.

Prices and particulars on application.

THE MELANCO COMPANY.

Sales Agents.
RAILWAY EXCHANGE, MILWAUKEE, WIS.

(See illustrations of their rubber trees in the author's description of his visit to Mexico.)

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