Evening star., 1912-09-08

Der hunters climb the trees by means OF
rude ladders made from vine called the
Llama. Its fiber is strong and tough. and
sticks are made to serve as the cross sec
tions. Under each Of these V-shaped cuts
a vessel Is placed At the end of about
an hour all the sap, or rubber milk, as 1T
is called. has run out. From single
large tree tapped for the first time as
much as twenty gallons of the milk is
often obtained This will make about
fifty pounds of rubber.
After the rubber milk is collected, a
decoction from the Llama Is added to it in
the proportion of one pint to one gallon
of the rubber milk. This causes the rub
ber milk to coagulate and form rubber
This is made into round, fiat cakes and
sold. The rubber tree that has been
properly tapped recoverS from it's wound,
and may be tapped again the next year.
but careless cutting of the trees will kill
them. There is no adequate government
supervision of the industry.
Bluefields is the distributing point for
large space of surrounding territory.
1t is an old town dating from the seven
teenth century. and gets its name from
Blieveldt, a Dutch pirate who once raw
aged the coasts.
At the extreme south of the Atlantic
coast Of Nicaragua is the old town of
Greytown. Its once famous and splendid
harbor is now shut off from the ocean
by sand bar formed of the sand brought
down by the San Juan river. A fair
sample of the industry of the Nicara-
guanS may be seen in the fact that they
have allowed this splendid harbor to be
closed without making an effort to re-
deem 1t. Today on the banks Of the San
Juan, not two miles from Greytown,
three immense dredging scoWs lie rotting
utterly neglected. With little care and
effort these scows could have kept open
the harbor, which would have brought
prosperity of Greytown and the large
territory drained by the river.
Thn Soy Iyyop &c la net rix in,
Nicaragua, and in spite Of rapids is
navigable for river boats from the sand
bar at GreytOwn to it's source. Lake
Nicaragua, distance of 122 miles. 1t is
that the United States once proposed to
use in it's interocean canal If the
Nicaragua route had been chosen the
San Juan would have been Strengthened
gone through. it and Lake Nicaragua and
it's tributary. Lake Managua. From there
to the Pacific is distance of only few
miles. But fate and the United States
commission willed otherwise. The peace
full sleep of the San Juan is not to be
disturbed by worldwide commerce, and
i'm the future as in the past it will prob
ably roll on undisturbed to the ocean.
Near Greytown it is a sluggish stream
flowing between marshy banks crowned
with vegetation. The tangle of trees
and vines that lines its shores Is alive
with green parrots. toucans. tanangers
and various species of beautiful butter
flies and bright-hued insects. Bask-
ing in the sun, numberless alligators
lie in wait for any unwary animal that
may come within reach of their
enormous jaws The vegetation is a
riot of color and beauty. Palms. wild
cane and tall rank grass grow ir the
low places. Orchids make aerial gar
dens of many of the large trees Plants
and birds rival each other in the
brightness of their coloring.
A little farther up the banks become
higher and dryer and scattered plantain
and banana plantations are found The