e gold-mines in the state of Minas
Geraes, but this region is best known for the "old mine" diamonds, the
finest produced.

The Amazon rubber-crop includes not only the crude gum obtained in
Brazil, but a considerable part, if not the most, of the crop from the
surrounding states. The bifurcating Cassiquiare, which flows both into
Amazonian and Orinocan waters, drains a very large area of forest which
yields the best rubber known. The yield of 1901 aggregated about one
hundred and thirty million pounds, of which about one-half was sold in
the United States, one-third in Liverpool, and the rest mainly in
Antwerp and Le Havre. The price of rubber is fixed in New York and
London.

The cotton and cane-sugar are grown in the middle coast region. The
cotton industry bids fair to add materially to the prosperity of the
state. A considerable part of the raw cotton is exported, but the
reserve is sufficient to keep ten thousand looms busy. About three
hundred and fifty million pounds of the raw sugar is purchased by the
refineries of the United States, and much of the remainder by British
dealers.

The seeds of a species of myrtle (_Bertholletia excelsa_) furnish the
Brazil nuts of commerce, large quantities of which are shipped to Europe
and the United States.[65] Manganese ore is also an important export,
and Great Britain purchases nearly all of it.

The coffee-crop of the southern states is the largest in the world; and
about eight hundred million pounds are landed yearly at the ports of the
United States. The coffee-crop, more than any other factor, has made the
great prosperity of the state; for while the rubber yield employs
comparatively few men and yields but little public revenue, the
coffee-crop has brought into Brazil an average of about fifty million
dollars a year for three-quarters of a century.

Cattle products also afford a considerable profit in the vicinity of the
coffee-region. The hides and tallow are shipped to the United States.
For want of refrigerating facilities, most of the beef is "jerked" (or
sun-dried), and shipped in this form to Cuba.

The facilities for transportation, the rivers excepted, are poor. The
Amazon is navigable for ocean steamships nearly to the junction of the
Ucayale. The Paraguay affords a navigable water-way to the mouth of
Plate River. Rapids and falls obstruct most of the rivers at the
junction of the Brazilian plateau and the low plains, but these streams
afford several