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 lead 
ing 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 suc 
cessfully cultivated. No effort is made to 
preserve the trees when once tapped, and the 
rubber prospectors are continually going far 
ther and farther into the interior in search of 
new districts. The trees are from three to 
twelve feet in diameter, of slow growth, in 
digenous 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