Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-02-13
HARVESTING RUBBER
TAPPING TREES FOR "MILKy AS
YOU WOULD FOR MAPLE SAP.

Gathering the Juice of the India Rubber
Trees in South America Is Different
Regions of the North.
Rubber is not obtained from cultivated
orchards, but is taken from the trees which
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 perfect analogues of
the basins existing in the food plain of the
Mississippi. The rubber trees are found in
the greatest abundance along the tribu-
taries and the smaller streams which feed
these. AT the beginning of the rainy sea
son 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 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 Jour
neys of several days or a week must be
made to procure plentiful 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 con-
sisting of sheets of the fibrous inner bark
OF tree for the Indians, several bags of
farina 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
camp has been selected the Indians can in
a half day construct palm matched hut
hnI bod Nrhtn oh,
tight for a week. The rubber trees being
gregarious in habit. one man can tap from
forty to fifty in day
The whole party sallies forth in the morn
ing, each provided with quantity of little
tin cups and narrow bladed Ratchet. An
lnclsIon, merely penetrating the outer bark,
being made with the latter instrument, one
OF the cups is attached beneath with bit
of moistened clay, into which the thick
white milk at once begins to flow The
rubber gatherer 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 TWEEN
ty-four hours or longer it would thicken
into a coarse, granular, somewhat stringy
mass, which produces a very inferior grade
of manufactured rubber.
The coarse material, known in Brazil as
sernamby, is often found hanging in great
punches upon the trees, where it has oozed
through crack in the bark, or from the
end of a fractured limb. II, however. the
milk be poured over a wooden blade or
round stick and held for few moments in
the dense fumes from fire of certain palm
nuts, it is coagulated into the finely elastic
rubber with which all are familiar A sec
ond coating of milk is poured over the
blade and similarly treated until the sue
cessive layers have made ball Of consider
able size In some sections the habit is to
make the balls, or pells, from eighteen
inches to two feet in diameter a practice
which results in imperfections In the
smoking" and retards the subsequent dry
ing 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 ineouali.
ties in the exposure of various parts of the
ball to the smoke. Such deterioration is
easily discoverable by cutting the ball in
half, when it will reveal itself by a ves;cu-
lar or granular condition of the rubber. the
occurrence of which reduces the whole
lump to the middle grade (entra final, be
tween the fine Para and the coarse or
sernamby.
The nuts which, according to native ex-
perience, yield uniformly the best results
are those from the well known palm Inaja
This does not usually grow in great abun-
dance in the neighbcrhood of the Hcvcas,
so that the nuts of the palm urucury are
frequently substituted, and failing an
adequate supply of these, resort is had to
the nuts of the palm known as Uauassu
pronounced wah-wahs- soo) The rubber
after being smoked is still white, only
becoming black by prolonged exposure to
the air. 1t has, however, acquired its
characteristic elasticity and an odor ex-
actly similar to that of smoked hams.
The smoke from other nuts, or from a
simple wood fire, will not produce the de
sired result. So far as have been able to
ascertain, no thorough chemical investiga-
ton has been made to identify the volatile
ingredient which accomplishes this remark
able 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 important 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 Il middle grade, but
would enable the rubber to be prepared in
better form for shipment, affording al
enormous saving to all concerned.
At the end of the harvest, if SUCH a term
be allowable, the canoes laden with gum
return to the fazenda, and then follow
merrymakings prone to end in wild de
bauch. The careful creditor now looks out
for the reward of his indulgence commonly
making his round of visits in a steam
launch capable of carrying from ten to fifty
r l. L III
finished he forwards the product to Manaos
or Para, where it is boxed for final ship
ment to the United States and Europe
CourtenaY de Ealh in Harner's Weekly