Washington telegraph., 1892-10-19
when / met Peary I resolved to

|
"lieut Peary," said I, ''what fea-
ture of that stran re land struck YOU Us
the most remarkableP'
..senator Jones,n he replied, "what
would you gurss?''
Il am sure l don't know unless 1t
was the Aurora Borealis," | said.
.sNo, not that; you could hardly
guess if you had years time, re-
joined Peary.
"Then what is the most striking feat
ure of that mysterious land,o | asked.
"The silenee,n y SAID the explorer. 'lt
is dreadful, 1t is awe-insplring, IL Is
horrible beyond description. In all
my life | never encountered anything
which produced IN me such strange
and indescribable sensations as did that
awful, deuth>like silence which per-
vades all nature. l. was oppressive,
painful, slckening. Every one oil our
expedition were affected IN the sane
way by the terrible silence, and were
miserable beyond compare WHILE unaef
its influence. They could not flee from
it; there was no escaping it. FAINT ef-
forts were made to fight ii off by whis-
Ting, singing, shouting, kicking over
chairs, hammering on the ice with
sticks, and making such other noises as
were possible. But the men would soon
grow tired of these exercises and then
there was "a recurrence of che trlghtful
stiffness The average man would
90 wildly insane in month II COM
pelled to live alone amid such death
like surroundings. | dread the silence
of the Arctic circle more than | do the
perils of cold and hunger"
"You have travelled good deal in
South and Central America; what was
the most interesting sight you met with
in those tropical regionsP" asked the
TELEGRAPH editor of Gen. Il. G. Shaver,
of Center Point.
"Aeeording to my recollection, l met
with nothing which interested me more
) than the harvesting of India rubber '
3 replied the General.
! "Then you saw the whole processF'
Eyes, from Alpha to Omega. lndif
rubber, as you are doubtless aware,
is extracted from tree bearing tha
j name. This tree has three coats o
n bark. FIRST q thin, loose, dry coat
/ something like the sycamore. jus
: beneath this IS another thin coating o
4 bark greensh in color. and immedlatei
beneath this is the third coat, which
} soft and moist A sharped-edged stee
N oouoe, shaped at the point eomethln
------- : sad faiss i,anln
II are Cut dlagonally downrthe tree, on
}. ON each side the two trenches comm,
n 10 focus about twenty or thirty inche,
q from the point OF starting, and formln,
i sort OF triangle. AT the point O
junction miniature trough made O
. plastic clay is placed TO catch the gun
: as 1t exudes from the trunk of the tree
S and which it drips into a bucket placed
g beneath to receive it. A good tree
t VIII yield two and half gallons IN
tweuty-four hours. When it gets full
the gum is emptled from the bucket
INTO box 12x1S inches and inches
in depth, and set out IN the sun to drv.
The sun causes the moisture to evapo-
rate and the gum coagulates. 1t is then
ready for shipment. These cakes or
slabs OF india rubber look very much
like dirty side of bacon. It's shipped
IN this form to Europe and North
America, where il goes through the re.
hnlng mills. The gum, when it first
exudes from the tree, Is the color of
cream, and about the same consistency
"Along the Dulce river, in Guatemala.
is the most prolific fell for harvesting
india rubber. A man leases so many
, trees from the government, incloses
them, and puts his tappers to work
This is called an india rubber planta.
tor. Germans, Euglishmen and North
Americans monopo'ize the industry.
employing native labor exclusively"
''1ou constantly hear people com |
planning of hard. times, business de.
preston, scarcity of money, low prices
OF produce, ETC., and you hear all sorts
OF opinions as to the causes which have
brOughI about these conditions" sn1d Il