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Balata
Trees of living gold in the Amazon jungles, guarded by alligators, poisoned darts and rival hunters—such was the lodestone that drew an American expedition, and the unwilling Pete Holcomb…. Never before reprinted, it’s one of the best high adventure stories Argosy fan-favorite Fred MacIsaac wrote for the magazine. Volume #7 of The Argosy Library.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 6, 2015
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September 18, 2025
This was an excellent adventure story, first published by Argosy Magazine in 1930. It is reprinted here with the magazine illustrations.
The first chapter of five pages is an info dump. I normally don’t like stories to begin in this way, but the author kept it short and it does bring you up to date. From that point on, the tale is slow at the beginning and gains ground rapidly as the pages fly by until there is a hunger to see what happens.
Balata is a kind of super rubber that grows in trees in the Amazon forest. The trees aren’t plentiful and it is difficult to find a large stand. One explorer finds and purchases a large area with thousands of these trees. He then goes to a millionaire to enlist him in backing an expedition to explore how to get it out of the Amazon and then distribute the product around the world. We then have the explorer, the millionaire, the millionaire’s sister and an old male friend that he had hired as his secretary as the major party.
Getting bearers, they go into the womb of the Amazon and face treachery, murder, natives with their poisoned blow darts, along with the perilous river itself with alligators and various kinds of animals. And let’s not forget the terrible insects. There is also a love story that develops involving three men who are smitten by the sister.
This was good stuff and I wish MacIsaac had written more in this vein.
The first chapter of five pages is an info dump. I normally don’t like stories to begin in this way, but the author kept it short and it does bring you up to date. From that point on, the tale is slow at the beginning and gains ground rapidly as the pages fly by until there is a hunger to see what happens.
Balata is a kind of super rubber that grows in trees in the Amazon forest. The trees aren’t plentiful and it is difficult to find a large stand. One explorer finds and purchases a large area with thousands of these trees. He then goes to a millionaire to enlist him in backing an expedition to explore how to get it out of the Amazon and then distribute the product around the world. We then have the explorer, the millionaire, the millionaire’s sister and an old male friend that he had hired as his secretary as the major party.
Getting bearers, they go into the womb of the Amazon and face treachery, murder, natives with their poisoned blow darts, along with the perilous river itself with alligators and various kinds of animals. And let’s not forget the terrible insects. There is also a love story that develops involving three men who are smitten by the sister.
This was good stuff and I wish MacIsaac had written more in this vein.
Displaying 1 of 1 review