The Penn's Grove record., 1893-11-03
INDIA RUBBER HARVEST
GATHERING CAoUTCHoUG n
THE SOUTH AMERICAN FORESTS



Indians Tan the Trees and Coaguiath
the Milk by a Curious Process
Harvest-Home a Will DebaIch'
'THE rubber is net obtained from
cultivated orchards, but Il
taken from the trees which
grow wild in low.lying areas
or basins. Such areas are a striking
feature of the valley of the Amazoni
They are not marshes, but are the peri
feet analogues of the basins existing
the flood plain of the Mississippi. Ihf
rubber trees are found in the greasesi
abundance along the tributaries and ting
smaller streams which feed these. az
the beginning of the rainy season tue
long siesta at the fazenda comes to an
end. If rubber trees exist in sulflcieng
abundance near at hand the Indians aud
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 OF
a week must be made TO procure a plenT
tiful supply. In this case great canoes,
sometimes forty feet in length, are fitted
out with provisions, and arrangements
are made for a protracted expeditions
No elaborate preparations are made for
camping. 4 blanket and hammock for
each of the whites, and rude covering
consisting of sheets OF the fbrous inner
bark Of q tree for the Indians, several
bags of farinha and rice, salt fish aud a
plentiful store of cschaca, or rum OF
sugar cane, with arms and ammunition,
are considered q sufficient equipment.
When a site for a camp has been selected
the Indians can in half a day constructs
palm .thatched hut for their abode which
will prove water tight for a week. The
rubber trees being gregarious in habit,
n man can tap from forty to fifty In
q day. Il
The whole party saIlies forth In the
morning, each provided with q quantity
of little tin cups and q 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 moistaaed
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 no
collects the milk from all the trees he
has tapped. This is taken to the camp
where it is 'ssmoked." 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 sernamby, is
often found hanging in great buuches
through a crack in the bark, or from the
end of a fractured limo. If, however,
the milk be poured over a wooden blade
or found stick, and held for a few mo-
ments in the dense fumes from
a fire of certain palm nuts, it ia 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 results 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 is
easily ~diseoverable by cutting the ball III
half, when it will reveal itself by a
vascular or granular condition of the
rubber, the occurrence of which re.
duces the whole lump to the middle
grade (entra tLaj, between the ''hne
Para and the ''coarse," or seruamby.
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
Urucury are frequently substituted; and
failing an adequate supply of these, re-
sort 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 exactly similar to that of smoked
hams. The smoke from other nuts, or
from a simple wood fire, will not pro-
duce the 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 thei
addition of some liquid or powder to-
the milk; it would not only prevent en-.
tirely the formation OF a middle grade,
but would enable the rubber to be pre-
pared in a better form for shipment,
lffording an enormous saving to oil con-
cerned. :.
At the end of the harvest, if such a
term is allowable, the canoes laden with
gum return to the fazenda, and then
follows merry markings, prone to the end;
in a wild debauch. Tho careful creditor
now looks out for the reward of his in
diligence, commonly making his round
of visits in q steam-launch capable of
carrying from ten 20 fifty tons of rubber.
After his collections ;Ae finished he for
wards the product to Manaos or Para,
where it is boxed for final shipment to
the United States and Europc,-uarp.