s which rely on fish to distribute their seeds when the rivers overflow their banks (Ibid.).
Scientists and other experts view the Amazon region as a wealth of untapped resources. From undiscovered food sources to medicines and chemicals, many believe the forests hold the key to solving a wide range of human problem. It also is the home to many Indian tribes and industries--specifically the rubber industry--both of which have been dramatically impacted by the clearing of the forests.
Tales and samples of strange bouncing balls from South America had been told throughout Europe ever since Christopher Columbus returned from his travels. And, it was during the latter half of the 18th century that rubber products made by the Indians began to reach the Old World. Interest in the potential of rubber peaked in the 1800s when the process of vulcanization was invented. Designed to prevent rubber products from becoming brittle in cold weather, this invention opened the door for a multitude of uses and the "gold rush" was on (Stone 73). The result was that within a few short years Amazon cities grew from little villages to large towns and cities.
About the same time, this influx of colonists from Europe and other parts of Brazil also began to raze the virgin forest around Belem at the mouth of the Amazon to 300 kilometers to the east. The effort was undertaken to build a railroad which was completed in 1908 and was to allow for agricultural development through government sponsorship (Ibid. 117). For a few years all went well, and then the crops began to fail and all but a few colonists moved away. The rubber era ended and the railroad shut down. What was
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