The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-12-25
GATHERING RUBBER IN AFRICA.
A Woman Missionary Tells How the Ma
fives Collect 1t.

tives Collect It.
III the months of March and April
during the, rainy season one sees busy
life in the native towns of the French
Congo The men are preparing TO go
to the bush to cut rubber. Every wem-
an and child seems to have something
to do. and even the men do not lounge
about as usual, but are sharpening their
knives and machates and putting their
guns into proper trim. The women are
digging cassava, and SOME of them are
washing it and preparing ehignanga or
native bread. Others are cleaning the
cassava with knives and tying it into
mattets made from palm leaves. This
kind of cassaEa IL roasted over the fire
and eaten warm. while the bread is
eaten cold and is mostly used OH the
road. The men curry their guns so they
may kill the game which abounds in the
forest
When all is ready drunken earousaf
and dance are given the night before
the start by way of saying farewell to-
the villagers left at home. Sometimes Il
is found after a march of two or three
days, but oftener the journey takes IL
week Or more. III this case the mell
keep carriers on the road with food for
them. because there is nothing to be had
in these parts with the exception of
game.
The rubber in Central Africa is not
tree but Il vine, often 3 or 4 inches in
diameter. This vine generally climbs UP
the tallest trees. and the natives often
use one of the vines to ascend the tree,
After the branches are reas.hed. which
in most cases are at least fifty feet FROM
the ground, the men proceed TO cut the
| vines away at the top. leaving only one
for their descent, and this one. if posi-
hIr kt,<,r
that the natives cut away the rubber
plants and SO destroy them instead of
tapping them. but they are too lazy to
learn any other way.
After the vines have fallen they are
cut into lengths of three or four feet. and
the juice is collected into iron pots This
is a tedious job. The piece of the vine
then by the other until the juice ceases
running. Then the piece is cut again to
get at any juice which may have been
left in the middle. After pot is nearly
full a rest is taken. and this juice is
boiled for nearly two hours. and. dur
ing the boiling: process, is mixed with
the juice of other vines and some. lime
| juice. so that the mixture is more sticky
| and easier formed into balls
AS soon as It cOOlS down sufficiently to
| be handled. the hardening rubber il
shaped b.. winding it, at first around Il
SUCK. A1-eF Oh the SUCK Is pulled
| out and the ball is rewound to finish it
| off. III some places these balls weigh
| three pounds or more each: in others, five
| of them make pound. The purity of
| the rubber depends much upon how much
| other juice has been added. The best
| and purest is that obtained from the
! juice without boiling This is only found
| in the shape of bracelets. because the ma
| tives wind the juice as it runs out
| around their wrist and let it dry there.
When perfectly dry it slips off easier
! This would be transparent rubber if the
| skin and fingers of the natives were not
so very dirty.
The natives often used to put foreign
substances, such as small stones. naIn-
| nuts and little balls of grass into the rub
Der ball to make it heavy. They were
soon found out and every ball is now cut
through the center to reveal its mixture,
Often the rubber is buried for some days
because it draws the moisture from the
ground. which adds to the weight Cheat
ing is resorted to because the pay is 80
poor. 1t takes a party of eight or ten
men and boys six to eight weeks to gath.
er from eighty to 100 pounds of rubber.
from 200 to $50 yards of cotton cloth or
forty gallons of rum or three or four
f1intlock guns. Surely this is poor pay
for this kind of work.
Still, the natives rejoice greatly if the
men from one town return with 100
pounds. 1t seems like fortune to then
because they need so little that civilized
people crave and pay for. When this
little fortune is spent and the weather
permits. another trip is undertaken to the
rubber region.-Ncw York Sun.