The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-06-15
GETTING RUBBER IN NIGERIA.
An Industrious Native Will Collect Thre
or Four Pounds O Day.

An Industrious Native will Collect Three
or Foul POUNDS q Day.
Since the production of india
rubber has become one of the indus
tries OF British Nigeria, says the au-
thor of Affairs of West Africa" the
collection of the sap is carried Oh by
whole villages in much the same happy
companionship as that with which
American children so gathering nuts
in the fall.
Soon after dawn all the available
men and women of a village gather to-
gether "a l~ight-hearted, ~jabbering
crowd. Extraordinary animation
reigns throughout the village. The
ground is strewn with c%alabashes, ma
chetes, knives, dried yams in bags,
bottles of water, spears and fint-lock
guns. There is always something on
the prowl in an African forest-a man,
a leopard or 4 ''spirit"-and the weap-
ons are a necessary precautlon.
Through the village and beyond it,
passing plantations of millet, yams'
Indian corn and cassava, winds the
ravan with implements and utensils
borne on heads. At the edge OF the
forest, reduced. to single file and a mile
or more long, ii plunges into the atmos
phere of gloomy, fantastic weirdness
and disappears among the silent shad'
ows Of the giant trees.
The bare feet of the natives SINK
noiselessly in generations of rottins
leaves. The air is humid and enerVat-
ing. The procession glides along as II
oppressed by some awesome presence.
1t is a world of black shadows and
mysterious depths. A hot breath,
laden with sickly and overpowerinG
perfumes, rises in sitting gusts till
the brain reels and one longs for air
and light and a sight of green fields.
Suddenly is given 4 glimpse Of para.
dise-a view of the heavens where
some great tree has fallen, leaving a
rent in the forest dome. In that tenn
porary clearing nature seems to nave
lavished all her gifts. Festoons OF
glorious orchids stretch out in capri.
cious blooms, and wild tamarinds, with
exquisite, plush-like fruit, invite tho
touch. Countless butterflies hoyeo
about fruit and flowers.
In the caravan every member acts
now independently of the rest. No
sooner does he pitch upon a spot which
seems propitious than down comes tho
load off his head. A luncheon of vans
and water refreshes him, and going
from tree to tree, he makes gashes in
the bark and hangs his c~alabashes to
catch the sap. Then feeling fully sat
isfed with his labors, he casts himself
down upon the ground, and lies there.
needless of the crawling legions OF in.
sects.
Now and again he lazily rises and
makes the rounds of his calabashes, to
see that all goes we'll. If he is indus
trious he will thus collect three or four
pounds of rubber in a day. The whole
caravan will average perhaps two
pounds to each person. When the Gala.
bashes are all full or night is coming
on the return march begins. The home
coming is marked by general congra-
tulations on the part Of those who
stayed behind, while every proud
owner Of a calabash or two of rubber
recounts terrible adventures, in the
shape of spooks, %.leopards and what
not. which have hefallen him in the
forest.
The rubber must then be boiled in an
iron pot to make it coagulate. Rolled
into q ball, it is then carried to the
trading-station to be sold. AS the pay
ment goes by weight, a stone or piece
of iron or lead is often placed in the
centre of the ball-which the white
man discovers by cutting up the ball
before he weighs it. The negroes seem
to delight in the work when carried
on thus in their own way, and in Brit
ish and French West Africa no diff
Guilty is found in persuading them to
do so. AS a result. the rubber exports
from the west coast are increasing
with great rapidly.