In November more than 40 large and small steamers are despatched from Pará and Manáos. They carry supplies for the rubber district and load, for the return trip, fine rubber and other caoutchouc varieties. Such steamers have, as a rule, a cargo capacity of 100 to 300 tons. The largest, taking as much as 500 tons, are at most 50 to 60 meters in length. The journey from Manáos to the Purús, is usually accomplished in one day. The Purús is a stately river, which, in its lower reaches often attains a breadth of 1,000 meters and although it gradually narrows, it always retains, until its confluence with the Acre, a breadth of several hundred meters. The trip to that point takes, as a rule, 12 to 16 days and except for the last stretch of about three days, is open all the year. Here is the place called Cochoeiras, where there are rapids, which during the dry season of about four months, obstruct steam navigation on the Purús. The Acre, on the other hand, has a narrow but deep bed, is rarely over 100 meters wide and often contracts to 50 to 60 meters. In the dense forests, there may be seen, from time to time, clearings on the banks with the =Baracâos= that are the stations for the fine rubber business. Also occasional larger places of residence, villages and little towns, where longer stops are often made, are encountered. We first pass Antimary, at the mouth of a river similarly named. Then we soon reach Porto de Acre, a large residential place, where the steamers must have their papers passed and pay duties. This is the beginning of the Federal territory, which is separate from the State of Amazonas and is subject to the central government in Rio de Janeiro. Hardly a day’s journey up stream lies the little town of Empreza, with its picturesque houses embowered in foliage. It is the most important place on the lower Acre and the second largest residential town in Acre Territory. About three days’ journey up the river the town of Hapury is reached, which contains several thousand inhabitants and enjoys a considerable trade. It is the largest and most important town in the entire Acre territory. [Illustration: ON THE LOWER ACRE.]