20  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

of  tea  for  native  use),  mandioca  (a  starchy
tuber  from  which  a  bread  is  made  much  liked
by  the  native)  and  cacao  are  also  extensively
grown.  India  rubber,  the  use  of  which  was
early  known  to  the  Indians  of  Brazil,  to  whom
it  is  indebted  for  its  name,  is  the  second  leading ­
  product  of  this  remarkable  land.  The
tree,  the  juice  of  which  produces  this  twentieth
century  necessity,  grows  wild  in  the  northern
portion  of  the  country,  although  it  can  be  successfully ­
  cultivated.  No  effort  is  made  to
preserve  the  trees  when  once  tapped,  and  the
rubber  prospectors  are  continually  going  farther ­
  and  farther  into  the  interior  in  search  of
new  districts.  The  trees  are  from  three  to
twelve  feet  in  diameter,  of  slow  growth,  indigenous ­
  to  the  region  of  the  Amazon  and  its
tributaries,  growing  wild,  scattered  through
the  jungles  and  tropical  shrubbery.
The  forests  of  Brazil  are  practically  virgin.
They  abound  in  dye,  cabinet  and  hard  woods
and  the  opportunities  for  the  development  in
this  field  alone  are  enormous.  Due  to  the  fact
that  the  country  has  a  wonderful  series  of