“Events that perhaps lacked a historian” - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 321

One can see also in a quick glance at the map annexed to this study [see chapter 19 ] that already
at that time more than four hundred rubber estates graced the margins of the Purús (not counting
the Ituxi, the Pauini, the Acre, and Inauina, the Iaco, etc.), and a city, Lábrea, was formed as a
comarca —aformaladministrative unit—in1881,aswellasthesettlement ofCanotama.Manyofthe
rubber estates are in fact villages where one can discern solid constructions, certainly unlovely, but
ample and comfortable, contrasting mightily with the primitive hovels of Paxiuba palms. . . .
In the next period, 1882-92, the speed of occupation did not slacken. Considering the last stretch
of river, we note that even in this most remote area twelve new estates were established. The total
exports of Purús in 1892 weighed in with 3,359,455 kg of rubber, more than double that of 1885, and
Lábrea appeared with the largest import and export balance of all the intendencias of Amazonas, in-
cluding Manaus. As the turmoil of earlier episodes died down, the newly established society in those
newlandsequilibrated,disciplineditself,andexpandedthemaineconomicactivity.Itembellishedthe
restrictive routine of rubber production with small-scale cultivation of common foodstuffs, still only
forlocalconsumption.Aroundthelargebarrackstheymadethefirstclearings,revivingthelandscape
with the regular cultivation that binds the occupants to the land.
Buttheexportationoflatexesintheirvariousforms,whichrangefromthefinestproductsof Hevea
to caucho to sernambi , continues to be the most secure measure of general progress. The Purús ex-
ports doubled in the decade from 1892 to 1902, and simple reference to the production of the last
three years, 5,500,000 kg in 1900, 6,016,000 kg in 1901, and 6,750,000 kg in 1902, showed that this
river alone accounted for more than a third of the production of the entire state of Amazonas.
The waves of colonists dominated almost all of the upper Purús. Except for tributaries like the
Acre,whereinthatperiodthepaceofoccupationresultedingraveconflictswithBolivia,whichisnot
our purpose to document, and restricting ourselves to the main channel of the Purús, we see that from
1898 to 1900 yet another five seringais were established on its most distant points. Sobral, which
sproutedin1898,todaymarksthefurthestsentinelofthisenormouscampaignagainstthewilderness.
Who arrives there has traveled 3,889 km or 400 leagues, from the mouth of the Purus and has tan-
gible proofs that four-fifths of the length of this majestic river is completely populated by Brazilians,
without one hiatus or the blemish of one abandoned area, linking all the seringais , uniting them, de-
fining a still rustic society, but one that is vigorous and triumphant.
What is realized there and continues to be realized is a vast natural selection. In this duel with the
unknown, a simple craving for riches is not enough; rather, what is required is a will, a stoic fearless-
ness, and a privileged physiognomy. Only the strong survive. There, exceeding numerically by virtue
of better organic equilibrium due to a more rapid adaptation based on their sturdiness, their eagerness
and indifference to danger, are the admirable northeasterners, mixed breeds, the sertanejos , who truly
discovered Amazonia.
There is no doubt that in that emergent society, the vices and disorders inherent in great social dis-
locations reappear there as they did in the early days of the Transvaal, in the turmoil of the Far West
or the mines of California. Poor distribution of land: on the one hand the latifundias stretch out on
lands bounded only by rivers; they are limited economically to the hands of a few owners. The rough
seringueiro is brutally exploited, living forgotten on a bit of land on which he wanders long years,
and in his precarious situation he urgently needs social legislation that would guarantee him better
returns for such immense effort. The solitude in which he is entombed at the most remote outposts,
which is aggravated by the lack of communication, reduces him to a serf, at the capricious mercy of
his masters. Justice there is naturally slow or nonexistent.