Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-06-06
MISUNDERSTANDING OH the Amazon.
scribner for june

Serlbner for June.
| The rubber-swamps are all around,
but land travelling is out of the ques-
ton. So an Indian canoe-man is en-
gaged-a good-natured fellow, and an
adept in wood-craft. He sets us across
the river at a halfruined hut, where
bright vines Chamber over the broken
thatch and hang in long festoons in
front of the low doorway; but within,
the floor is sodden black clay, and dark
mold hangs on the side, and the air is
like sepulcher. The single slovenly
nsan,eltca woman who inhabits the place
complains bitterly of the ague which
tortures her; yet year after year, until
the house falls to pieces, she will 60 on
dying here, because, forsooth, it is her
own and the rubber-trees are near. She
will not even repair the structure. You
can see sky through the roof, but if rain
drives in, she will swing her hammock
in another corner, and shiver Oh through
the night as best she may: for to-mor-
row there are rubber-trees to be tapped,
and fresh harvest of the precious milk
to be brought homeland what will you
have? One must expect discomfort III
a swamp.
| Back of the house the rubber trees
are scattered through marshy forest,
where we Chamber over logs and
sink into pools of mud and leap the
puddles; where the mosquitoes are
bloodthirsty, and nature Is damp and
dark and threatening; where the silence
! is unbroken by beast or bird-a silence
that can be felt it is like tomb, in
which we are buried away from the
sunshine, away from brute and man,
alone with rotting death. The very
beauty of our forest tomb makes us
shudder by its intenseness.
In the early morning men and
women come with baskets Of clay cups
on the backs, and little hatchets to cash
the trees. Where the white milk drips
down from the cash they stick their
cups on the trunk with daubs of clay,
nodded so as to catch the whole flow.
II the tree is large one, four or five
gashes may be cut in circle around
the trunk. On the next day other
gashes are made little below these,
and so on until the gashes reach the
ground. BY IL o'clock the flow of
milk has ceased, and the seringueiroS
come to collect the contents of the cups
in calabash jugs. 4 gill or so is the
utmost yield from each tree, and
single gatherer may attend to 100 trees
or more, wading always through these
dark marshes, and paying dearly for
his profit in fever and weakness.
Our mamehtca hostess has brought III
i Ia, 10 Vs. Il Ia no ah TiIII Tf
white liquid, in appearance precisely
like milk. If left in this condition il
coagulates after while and forms an
inferior whitish gum. 70 make the
black rubber of commerce the milk
must go through peculiar process OF
manufacture, for which our guide has
been preparing. Over smoldering fire,
fed with the hard nuts of the tpcun,d
palm, he places kind Of clay chimney,
like wide-mouthed, bottomless jug;
through this boiao the thick smoke pours
in Il constant stream. Now he takes
his mold-in this case wooden one,
like round-bladed paddle washes it
with the milk. and holds it over the
smoke until the liquid coagulates. Then
another coat is added, only now, as the
wood is heated, the milk coagulates
faster 1t may take the gatherings Of
two or three days to cover the mold
thickly enough. Then the rubber is
still dull white, but in short time it
turns brown and finally almost black,
as it is sent to the market. The mass
is cut from the paddle and sold to trad
ers in the village. Bottles are some
times made by molding the rubber over
clay ball, which is then broken up
and removed. Our old-fasnioned rub
Der shoes used to be made in this way.