Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-03-04
Gathering Caoutchouc.

Gathering Caoutchouc.
As visitors on 9 Nicaragnan rub.
ber-hunt, we must be dressed in
strong but light clothing, stout
shoes. with canvas legg ngs, and we
must each wear q soft hat that We
can pull well down over our ears.
1t will be well for each of us to
carry staff and nsdchets, too. 1.-THE
nsdchstc is broad heavy knife. J We
must also be very careful not to
touch with our hands any tree,
branch, vine, or plant, as We mar
grasp some singing insect or thorns
which not only may be very sharp.
but poisonous as well. RENE mber
once; to keep from falling, soizing q
bush called chichicdste, which filled
my hand With minute thorns, each
producing sensation like the sting
Of . wasp. The severe pain lasted
for about . quarter Of 90 hour, but
II was weeks before the thorns
ceased to annoy me, being 80 small
that l could not extract them. We
may see on our way some wild ani-
mails and some very beautiful birds.
Monkeys are 10 great abundance
One kind, called howling monkeys,
make Q noise which sounds more
like the roar of q lion or tiger than
anything else. and is quite startling
the first time you hear it, though
the monkeys themselves are harm>
less enough. Parrots, mscaw., por.
oquets, toucans, and many other
birds,are to be seen almost any day.
There are also pumas (called the
American or maneless lion,) ounces,
and two or three varieties of tiger.
cats but all these are afraid of men,
and generally keep well out OF sight.
We may come upon q band of wild
hogs, which, if in any considerable
number, will hardly deign to get out
Of our way /; but instead Of grunting
like the domestic hog, will express
their dissatisfaction by champing
their jaws together
We will let the hunter take the
lead as be has a keen eye for snakes.
We shall find numberless insects.
any amount of briers and thorns,
and altogether it will be anything
but pleasant walk
We shall not have gone far with.
out realizing that the journey is
very difficult one, and without open.
ing our eyes with amazement at the
wonderful forest. There are multi.
tudes of different kinds of trees
growing close together, and some
OF them are enormously large, 60
large that in this country each one
would be an object of curiosity. The
rest of the trees range from these
huge fellows down to the merest
shoots and from them hang perfect
networks of clinging vines of ell
sizes, from that of kite. string to
that of good sized cable. l have
seen the vines from fifty to a hum
dred feet long, no larger than one
OF your fingers, but SO tough and
flexible that they are used by the
natives for all purposes for which
we would use ropes, cords, or string.
They also are used for several other
purposes,house building, for instances,
reing one Of them, though you might
think it q stretch of the Imagination
to call their structure house. But
it is, at least. q habitation, and in
the building of it there is not
single nail used the side, the ridge
poles and the rsfters being tied
with the same. The natives de-
clare that the vines will last and be
as ever after a nail, in their damp
climate, would have rusted away.
Whether that be truo or not, it is
well that they think so, for vines
are to be had for the gathering,
while nails are very expensive.-
Worse, if anything, than the vines
in the forests, is the underground,
consisting of canes, bushes, weeds,
several varieties of cactus and other
thorn-bearing plants, Spanish bay.
onet aad numerous plants very
much like it. Some of them are
very valuable for their fbers, but
all are very difficult to travel
through, being interlsced and mat
ted together. You can readily be-
lieve it is no small labor to work
your way along. to say nothing of
snakes, scorpions, tarantuias, and
other disagreeable things that you
may meet.
You would imagine that few men
would be willing to undertake quite
such severe work, but so large are
the returns IN money when q man
is ordinarily successful, that plenty
are ready to GO, and indeed large
numbers maze it their only occupa-
ton, going into the woods, and re-
naming one, two, and even three
months at time, according to the
luck they have.
All this we find out on our way
through the tangle, following as
closely as possible at the heels of
our rubber hunter. We are very hot
and tired by the time we reach the
tree, but we will sit down on any,
thing we can 6nd,--a stump or log,
while Juan, our hunter friend,
proceeds to tap his tree.
Juan makes with the machete, low
down upon the trunk Of the tree,
two deep scores, inolining down.
ward, and coming together at O.
very obtuse angle, just below which
he secures little gutter made of q
piece Of split care. He now makes,
higher up, other scores, oil leading
into the 6rst two. Taking hold Of
some Of the pendant vines, he man.
ages to climb twenty or thirty feet
high, securing and mutiIaiiDg the
tree most fearfully. We conclude
that with such treatment as this the
tree will not last many reasons; ju-
diciously tapped, it would yield
twice year tor many years, but in
order to get little more each time,
these improyT !. people cut the
bark up 30 badly, that 10 . few sea-
sons the tree Is ruined.
The sap, or milk, begins to oczs
cut at once, and runs down into the