Chapter XIX from this 1911 book gives an account of rubber production in Peru, written during the period of the rubber boom. Given the time, one can assume this chapter was written as a guide for those interested in entering the rubber business in Peru. As rubber became a very profitable export, Iquitos grew very quickly and foreign companies quickly began to build roads to facilitate access to the city. The text mentions that for two years around 1902, an English steamboat company had a monopoly on rubber export using boats specially built for the area. It lasted until direct shipments from Iquitos to New York and Liverpool began. At the time, several tribes had settled and would “wage relentless warfare against the wholly savage tribes,” capturing them and teaching them to work as rubber laborers. The chapter gives an overview of the extraction techniques and types of rubber. Lastly, the author gives an overview of the legal issues in securing land from the government, including that the government allows land contracts to go into effect only after a surveyor has viewed the land.

This source is rather unique in that it acts as a primary source for the rubber boom in Peru. By looking at a guide to Amazonian rubber at the time, one can better understand the mindset of the characters that inspired the movie. The section on legalities indicates that the entire purpose behind Fitzcarraldo’s journey has a historical basis rather than existing solely as a creation of Herzog’s to make a more coherent plot. The discussion of Iquitos allows one to better understand the setting of the film. The town was just on the brink of a population explosion during the period in which the film takes place. Watching the film, one can understand that most of the wealth in the town has just emerged. As Fitzcarraldo explores the land in the film, he contributes to only the earliest stages of the rubber boom, and while somewhat apparent in the film, one understands this far more upon reading this account written a little over a decade of the movie’s setting.