River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-02-10
How They Get India Rubber in Africa

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 procured in that country, as
India rubber formed the staple pro-
duce of the district where ! was To-
Gated
The natives are in very rude, I'M
civilized condition. They have no cur
rency, and do all business by bartering
the native products for manufactured
stuffs. Their wealth consists 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, in
addition, a long sword-shaped knife
called a macheto, a 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 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 before they can sit down and
commence business. The vine itself is
of rough, knotty nature. about as
thick as a mans arm, and grows to
length of fully two hundred feet. Its
leaves are glossy, like those of the
South American rubber trees, and n
large fruit, much liked by the natives,
is gathered from it. / have tasted ii,
and found it very p4latable, being
slightly &C d. This vine (what its sci
entific name is / 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 matches, the
natives slash the vines in several
places, and put broad leaves directly
underneath the wounds for the juice
to drop on, and which, being of a
strong, adhesive nasure, 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 them
selves climbing, unless the vines happen
to be scarce in the vicinity. The entire
day they devote to cutting; next day
what was gathered on the day previous,
and so on. Each evening, after collect
ing, they put all the juice they have
into several iron pots, or earthen yes
sells of native manufacture, and boil III;
at the same time they can greatly i'm
prove the lowest quality by adding a
little salt, and the more they boil the
Juice the better it becomes. When
sufficiently boiled the water is poured
off and the juice is allowed 20 cool,
when it is fashioned according to the
grade-ball, fake, mixed or tongue
and is ready for the market In this
way about twenty or thirty pounds a
day is generally collected. 1t Is then
taken to the factory, and there ex-
changed for guns, cloth, ruin, &c.
When it il received at the factory 1t y
carefully marked, classed weighed, and
put into casks for shipment. It con-
tains so much water that twenty per
cent, is deducted from the weight Vt
each cask, as that is about the amount
of shrinkage on the V yage. This is
however, a loss to the native, as il is
deducted from him when selling,
This vine from my personal ooserya-
ton, is to found from Sierra Leone in
the north to Vunsembo in the south,
but along the coast line it is rapidly be-
coming extinct, as the natives are so