and launched on 1 February. It traveled through the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the Brazilian city of Munguba on 28 April. The power group module arrived four days later. Both barges were floated into specially built locks. Hundreds of gum wood piles had been driven into the ground to support the two barges. By closing the locks and pumping the water out, the barges gently settled on the many piles. It was found that the growth rate of the Gmelina wood was much lower than that predicted and anticipated. To satisfy the demand of the pulp mill production it became necessary to purchase other species of wood from other Brazilian sources. Beginning in 1981 the foresters planted Eucalyptus as they harvested the Gmelina. Eucalyptus tested well for pulping, grew quite well and reduced the demand on purchased wood from other sources. Diversification Another of Ludwig's ideas was to grow all the food needed, including rice to feed the workers, which did not turn out well either. Rice growing required large amount of pesticides to keep insects at bay and the soil did not have enough sulfur for rice. Ludwig corrected the situation with the application of ammonium sulfate. He included cattle farming to feed on the grass that grew among the pine trees. He also discovered a very large source of kaolin. The mining of kaolin on the Jari river is still a large-scale commercial operation. Kaolin is exported to numerous countries in Asia and Europe for coating fine paper. Decline Problems also began to increase because of the so-called Amazon Factor - the combined effects of soil, insects, humidity and tropical disease. It was very hard to keep engineers for the pulp mill, as there was little entertainment for their wives. Newly planted trees required manual weeding for a few years, which meant importing many field laborers from the poverty-stricken Northwest of Brazil. Workers contracted malaria. Insects devoured the harvest and supplies. Then Brazilian government officials began to criticize Ludwig's methods and the extent of his land ownership. They also questioned the project's exemption from taxes, not to mention his methods - he had fired twenty-nine directors during the thirteen years of the project and preferred to decide everything essential by himself. Ludwig gave up in May 1981. The next year he turned the Jari project over to a consortium of Brazilian