Para

a city of Brazil. It is on the Para River, one of the mouths of the Amazon. The other mouths are obstructed by sandbars and are difficult of navigation by reason of great tidal waves. Para is sixty-five miles from the open sea, but the estuary is deep, and wharves of concrete, backed by filled land, are under way, permitting ships to tie up in thirty feet of water. Para has a unique situation. It is unlikely to have a rival on a thousand miles of coast line. It is 3,000 miles from the head of navigation of the Amazon; 3,000 miles from Buenos Ayres; 3,000 miles from New York; 3,000 miles from Lisbon; and 4,000 miles from London. It commands the commerce, present and future, of the greatest and possibly the most fertile river basin in the world. Para is the world's headquarters for rubber. It now fixes the price of $100,000,000 worth of crude rubber yearly, and is preparing to go into the business of vulcanizing rubber and manufacturing rubber goods. Brazil has agreed to exempt such factories from taxation. In 1909 the port of Para was entered by seven lines of steamers, six running to Europe and one to New York. About half of the rubber is exported to the United States.