Smyrna times., 1881-02-02
How They Get India Rubber in At
RIGA,


Having passed fully three years on the
southwest coast of Africa, as trader for an
English firm, / will endeavor to describe
the manner in which India rubber is pro-
cured in that country, as India rubber
formed the staple product of the district
where | was located.
The natives are in a very rude, unciv-
ilized condition. They have no currency,
and do all business by bartering the
native products for manufacturing stufs.
Their wealth consists chiefly in the num-
Der of slaves they possess, who fish, hunt,
and keep their plantations in good order.
When rubber has to be collected, from
four to ten slaves get their flint muskets
i'll order, each carrying, in addition, a long
sword shaped knife called machete,
number of calabashes or jars to collect the
juice of the rubber vine, and little food
that has been in smoke, as they can find
plenty of sustenance in the bush without
carrying it about with them from place to
place.
The vines are in some cases near to the
towns, but generally the natives have to
go several days journey into the bush be-
fore they can sit down and commence
business. The vine itself is Of a rough,
knotty nature, about as thick as mans
arm, aud grows to length Of fully
two hundred feet. Its leaves are glossy,
like those of the South American rubber
tree, and large fruit, much liked 10y the
natives, is gathered from it. l have tas-
ted it and found it very palatable, being
slightly acid.
This vine (what its scientific name is
don't pretend to know yields several
grades of rubber, each of different COM
mercal value, the best quality being taken
from the highest part, and the poorest
from the bottom.
With their knives or matchetes, the ma
tives slash the vine in several places, and
put broad leaves directly underneath the
wounds for the juice to drop on, and
which, being of strong adhesive nature,
none of it gets lost. When the top part
of the vine is bled, calabashes, or jars are
placed with their openings to the wounds,
SO that none of it may drop on the
branches Of the tree and so get lost; but
it is not often they trouble themselves
climbing, unless the vines happen to be
scarce in the vicinity. The entire day
they devote to cutting next day they
gather what was cut the day previous,
and so on. Each evening, after collect
ing, they put all the juice they have into
several iron pots, or earthen vessels OF
native manufacture, and boil it; at the
same time they can greatly improve the
lowest quality by adding little salt, and
the more they boil the juice the better ii
becomes. When sufficiently boiled the
water is poured off and the juice is allow
ed to cool, when it is fashioned according
to the grade--ball, fake, mixed, or tongue
and is ready for market. In this way
about twenty or thirty pounds a day are
generally collected 1t is then taken to
the factory and there exchanged for guns,
ect When it is received at the factory il
is carefully marked, classed, weighed,
and put into casks for shipment. 1t con-
talns SO much water that twenty per cent
is deducted from the weight of each cask,
as that is about the amount of shrinkage
on the voyage. This is, however, loss
to the native, as it is deducted from him
when selling.
This vine, from my personal observa-
ton, is to be found from Sierra Leone in
the north to Vunsembo in the south, but
along the coast line it is rapidly becom-
ing extinct, as the natives are so careless
or rapacious that in many cases they CON-
pletely sever the vine, thus killing it, in
stead of simply bleeding it-RaJ6e' Era.