The Republican journal., 1898-01-27

raiment from head to foot. This extra
covering accumulates gradually by con-
tact with the rubber trees, without inten-
ton on the part of the wearer, and in
time renders his garments absolutely
water proof and almost indestructible.
By the way, you remember it was some
thing of this sort that first brought India
rubber to the worlds notice. When the
greedy conquerors were trapsing through
these forests in search of Ell Dorados and
tabled fountains, and everything else
worth laying hands on, they often brush
ed up against rubber trees, with the re-
suit that their capas, or Spanish cloaks,
soon became covered with a strange
sticky material, whose virtues were prov
ed in time and ultimately led to the mod
ern macintosh.
Having secured their grub stake''
from the traders, the yularos set out for
the forest, in small parties; and when
they have found suitable place from
which to begin operations, they proceed
to break ground for the camp which is to
serve as a general rendezvous. Then
they wander off, singly or in pairs, search
ing all day for new trees and returning at
twilight to headquarters. A huge brush
fire is always built at night, partly to
brighten away the prowling beasts whose
howlings make night hideous, and to
counterfeit the fever laden dews and
swamp eXhalations, and also to keep off
Kin xins gnats and garropitas-those tiny
but pestiferous insects that burrow under
the skin and increase with such astonish-
ing rapidity that their victim soon be-
comes a walking magazine of wrigglers.
Not only are there hungry jaguars and
pumas in the woods, (the lions and tiger
cats of this side of the world), and wild
bears and other powerful animals, but
more to- be- dreaded reptiles, some of them
no longer than your hand
There are tiny lizards and vipers the
exact color of the leaves under which they
hide, whose bite is fatal; innumerable
bugs, beetles and insects, many of them
more to be feared than the RATHER of our
Northern wids, which at least gives some
warning of his intention to bite; and mon
strous crocodiles in the lagoons and huge
serpents of hugging proclivities; and most
dangerous of ALL the fevers that nightly
stalk abroad with the noxious vapors of
the terra caliente.
The best and purest rubber the world
knows anything about comes from Bra
zil, from the great forests intersected by
the Amazon and its many branches. 1t
the .ticus elastica of India; while the rub
Der tree of Central America, the same as
that of Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico,
is the CdsteUod Elastjca-a distinction
without very much difference, except in
the eyes of botanists. The Castilloa grows
to an average height of 60 feet and throws
out its huge branches, many of them
yard in diameter, at a considerable ele-
vatIon. The bark is Of dark slate or
ash color; the leaves are from ten to eigh-
teen inches long, elliptical, glossy, close
ly veined, and paler beneath than above.
They usually grow at the tip ends of the
Dough, IN compact groups of three. The
fruit is capsule, comprising three d.
visions, each containing large seed,
white, irregularly marked with black.
The best season for tapping is from Au-
gust to February; and the operation
should be performed early in the morning.
before the daily rain, or in the evening
after the rain has fallen. In the latter
case, the milk should be coagulated as
soon after sunrise as possible next morn
ing. The tree thrives best in moist, not
marshy forests, on warm, sandy clay
but is found almost everywhere in Costa
Rica, in all varieties of soil 1t seeds in
the 10th year, and ought not to be tapped
before the eighth, or its growth may be
much retarded. The ''milk'' or sap, is
white, of the consistency of cream. ANY
slight incision in the bark, even that
caused by a woodpecker or some insect,
causes the juice to exude. 1t trickles
down the trunk, in and out of the encir-
cling creepers, sometimes reaching the
ground. The milky stream coagulates
and turns black as it runs, forming long
strip or cord, SO strong that the yuleros
often Use it to tie up their bundles.
When the hunters find a new rubber
tree, they dig small pit at its foot, strap
on their espuelas climbing spurs) fasten-
ed at the knee and ankle, pass stout
rope around the trunk and their own
waist and walk up, holding their machete
between their teeth. By lifting the rope
at every step they are able to stand al
most erect, and when lying back in the
ring their hands are at liberty. With the
broad bladed machete they cut horizon
tai canal in the bark, which almost en-
circles the trunk, terminating in V
shaped angle. Next, from the point of
the V, they cut perpendicular canal,
about two feet in length, which
Joins another horizontal canal to au-
other V; and SO on to the ground. In