The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-03-02
INDIA RUBBER HARVEST.
GATHERING CAOUrCHoUC IN
THE SOUTH AMERICAN FORESTS.
Indians Tap the Trees and Coagulate
the Milk by Curfous Process
Harvest Home Il Wild DeDauch.

cultivated orchards, but is
taken from the trees which
9 grow wild in low-lying areas
or basins. Such areas are striking
feature of the valley Of the Amazon.
They are not marshes, but are the per-
feet analogues of the basins existing in
the food plain OF the Mississippi. The
rubber trees are found in the greatest
abundance along the tributaries and the
smaller streams which feed these. At
the beginning of the rainy season the
long siesta at the fazenda comes to an
end. Ii rubber trees exist in sufficient
abundance near at hand the indians and
Others who live in state of dependency
at the fazenda are sent each day into the
woods, where they collect the milk and
bring it in to be cured; but it often
happens that journeys of several days or
Il week must be made to procure a plen-
t;ful supply. In this case great canoes,
sometimes forty feet in length, are fitted
out with provisions, and arrangements
are made for protracted expedition.
No elaborate preparations are made for
camping A blanket and hammock for
| each Of the whites, and a rude covering
consisting OF sheets of the fbrous inner
bark of tree for the Indians, several
bags of farinha and rice, salt fish and
| plentiful store of cachacs, or rum Of
| sugar cane, with arms and ammunition,
are considered a sufficient equipment.
When a site for camp has been selected
the Indians can in half day construct a
palm .thatched hut for their abode which
will prove water tight for week. The
rubber trees being gregarious in habit,
one man can tap from forty to fifty in
day.
The whole party salies forth In the
morning, each provided with quantity
of little tin cups and a narrow.bladed
hatchet. An incision, merely penetrat-
ing the outer bark. being made with the
latter instrument, one of the cups is at
tached beneath with a bit of moistaned
clay, into which the thick white milk at
once begins to flow. The rubber gath
er passes from tree to tree until he has
consumed half the day, after which he
collects the milk from all the trees he
has tapped. This.is taken to the camp
where it is "smoked." Were the milk
allowed to stand for period of twenty
four hours or longer, it would thicken
into coarse, granular, somewhat stringy
mass, which produces very inferior
manufactured rubber The coarse ma
terial, known in Brazil as sernamby, is
often found hanging in great punches
upon the trees, where it has oozed
through a crack in the bark, or from the
end of a fractured limb. If, however,
the milk be poured over wooden blade
or round stick, and held for few mo-
ments in the dense fumes from
a fire of certain palm nuts, it is coagu.
lated into the finely elastic rubber with
which all are familiar. A second coat
ing of milk is poured over the blade and
similarly treated, until the successive
layers have made bail of considerable
size. In some sections the habit is to
make the balls, or pelas, from eighteen
inches to two feet i'll diameter, prac-
tice which results in imperIections in the
"smoking" and retards the subsequ mt
| drying of the rubber. Defects may
readily occur in this curing process by
making the successive additions of milk
too thick, or as result OF inequalities in
the exposure of various parts of the ball
to the smoke. Such deterioration is
easily discoverable By cutting the ball IL
half, when it will reveal itself by a
vesicular or granular condition of the
rubber, the occurrence of which re.
duces the whole lump to the middle
grade (entra fxa), between the "fne
Para and the "coarse," or scrnamby.
The nuts which, according to native
experience, yield uniformly the best re-
suits are those from the well known palm
Inaja. This does not usually grow in
great abundance in the neighborhood OF
the Heveas, so that the nuts of the palm
Crucury are frequently substituted; and
falling an adequate supply Of these, re-
sort is had to the nuts of the palm known
as Uauassu pronounced wah -wahs-soo).
The rubber alter being "smoGed" is still
white, only becoming black by prolonged
eX10sJre to the air. IL has, however,
acquired its Characteristic elasticity, and
an oder exactly similar to that of smoked
hams. The smoke from other nuts, or
from simple wood fire, will not pro-
ducc tie desired result. SO far as | have
been able to ascertain no thorough
chemical investigation has been made to
identify the volatile ingredient which
accomplishes this remarkable physical
change in the rubber, which, previous
to curing, is present in the sap as
an emulsion. A study of this
phenomenon might lead to i'm
portant notifications of the present
treatment, for if means could be found
to cure the rubber of the Heveas by the
addition of some liquid or powder to
the milk, it would not only prevent en-
tirely the formation of middle grade,
but would enable the rubber to be pre-
pared in a better form for shipment,
aHordiug an enormous saving to all con-
cerned.