Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-03-02
INDIA RUBBER.

Having passed fully three years on
for an English firm, I will endeavor tc
describe the manner in which india rub
Der is procured in that country, as india
rubber formed the staple produce of the
district where was located. The natives
are in very rude, uncivilized condition.
They have no currency, and do all bust
ness by bartering the native products for
manufactured stufs. Their wealth con-
ssts chiefly in the number 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
in order, each carrying, III addition, a
long sword-shaped knife called a machete,
number of calabashes or jars to collect
the juice of the rubber vine, and little
food that has been cured in smoke, as
they can find plenty Of sustenance in the
bush, without carrying. The vines are
in some cases near to the towns, but gen
orally the natives have to goseveral days
journey into the bush before they ca1
sit down and commence. The vine itself
is of a rough, knotty nature, about as
thick as mans arm, and grows to a
length of fully 200 feet Its leaves are
glossy, like those OF the South American
rubber trees, and a large fruit, much
liked by the natives, is gathered from it,
| have tasted it, and found it very pala-
table, being slightly acid. This vine
(what it's scientific name [ don't pretend
to know yields several grades of rubber,
each of different commercial value, the
best quality being taken from the highest
part, and the poorest from the bottom
With their knives or machetes the natives
slash the vine in several places, and put
broad leaves directly underneath the
wounds for the juice to drop on, and,
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 oft may drop on the branches
of the trees, and SO get lost; but it is
not often they trouble themselves climb
ing, unless the vines happen to be scarce
in the vicinity. The entire day they de-
vote to cutting; next day they gather
what is cut the day previous and so
on. Each evening after collecting they
put all the juice they have into several
iron pots or earthen vessels of native man
ufactrre, and boil it; at the same time
they can greatly improve the lowest
quality by adding a little salt, and the
more they boil the juice the better it be-
comes. 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, faxed, mixed or
tongue-and is ready for the market. In
this way about twenty or thirty pounds
day is generally collected It is then
taken to the factory and there exchanged
for guns, cloth, rum, etc. When it is
received at the factory it is carefully
marked, classed weighed and put into
casks for shipment. 1t contains so much
water that 20 per cent. is deducted from
the weight of each cask, as that is about
the amount of shrinkage on the voyage.
This is, however a loss to the native, as
it is deducted from him when selling.
This vine, from my personal obserya-
ton, is to be found from Sierra Leono in
the north to Vunsembo in the South,
but along the coast-line it is rapidly be-
coming extinct, as the natives are SO
careless or rapacious that in many cases
they completely sever the vine, thus
killing it, instead Of simply bleeding it.