The Opelousas courier., 1893-04-15
INDIA RUBBER HARVEST,
GATHERING CAoUToHoUo I'M
TIE SOUTH AMERICAN FORESTS.

LIN
TIE SOUTH AMERICAN FORESTS.
indians Tap the Trees and Coagulate
the Milk by q Curious Process
Harvest Home a Wild Debauch.
TYHE rubber is not obtained from
cultivated orchards. but is
taken from the trees which
Q grow wild in low-lying areas
or basins. Such areas are a striking
feature of the valley of the Amazon.
They are not marshes, but are the per-
tect analogues of the basins existing in
the flood plain Of the Mississippi. The
rubber trees are found in the greatest
abundance along the tributaries and the 4
smaller streams which feed these. At
the beginning of the rainy season the
long slesta at the fazenda comes to an
end. If rubber trees exist in sufficient
abundance near at hand the Indians and
others who live in a 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
a week mutt be made to procure a plen-
tiful supply. In this case great canoes.
sometimes forty feet in length, are fitted
out with provisions, and arrangements
are made for a 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 a tree for the Indians, several
bags of farinha and rice, salt fish and a
plentiful store of cachaca, or rum of
sugar cane, with arms and ammunition,
are considered a sufficient equipment.
When a site for a camp has been selected
the Indians can in half a day construct a
palm -thatched hut for their abode which
will prove water tight for a week. The
rubber trees being gregarious in habit,
n man a tap from forty to fifty in
a day.
The whole party sallies forth In the
,norning, each provided with a quantity
Of little tin cups and a narrow.bladed
Ratchet. 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 a period of twenty
four hours or longer, it would thicken
into a coarse, granular, somewhat stringy
mass, which produces a very inferior
manufactured rubber. The coarse ma
terial, known in Brazil as s%ernamby, 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 a wooden blade
or round stick, and held for a 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 a ball of considerable
size. In some sections the habit is to
make the balls, or pelles, from eighteen
inches to two feet in diameter, a prac-
tice which yssults in imperfections in the
"smoking' and retards the subsequent
drying of the rubber. Defects may
readily occur in this curing process by
making the successive additions of milk
too thick, or as a result of inequalities in
the exposure Of various parts of the ball
to the smoke. Such deterioration il
easily ~discoverable by cutting the ball IN
half, when It will reveal itself by a
vesicalar or granular condition OF the
rubber, the occurrence of which re-
duces the whole lump to the middle
grade (entra fina), between the 'ine
Para and the "coarse," or sernamby.
The nuts which, according to native
experience, yield uniformly. the best re-
suits are those from the well kno wn palm
Inaia. TIL y does not usually grow in
great abundance in the neighborhood OF
The Heveas, so that the nuts of the palm
Urucury are frequently substituted; and
falling an adequate supply Of these, re-
49,
sort is had to the nuts Of the palm known
as Uauassu pronounced wah-wahs-sool
The rubber after being ''smoked" is still
white, only becoming black by prolonged
exposure to the air. It has, however
ACQUIRED its characteristic elasticity, anc
an odor exactly similar to that OF smoked
hams. The smoke from other nuts, Of
from a simple wood fire, will not pro
duce the desired result. So far as | hav'
been able to ascertain no thorough
chemical investigation has been made t
identify the volatile ingredient which
+, accomplishes this remarkable physica
change in the rubber, which, previous
to curing, is present in the sap a
an emulsion. A study Of thi
phenomenon might lead to i'm
nortant notifications of the presen'
treatment, for il means could be found
to cure the rubber of the HeYeas by tn
addition of some lauid or powder t.
the milk, it would not only prevent en-
t,rely the formation of a middle grade,
but would enable the rubber to be pre-
- LAln~ En~u, for chinmnnt