193 
Note on the INDIA-RUBBER Of the Amazon ;* by R. Spruce, Esa. 
The extraction of caoutchouc from the various species of Siphonia 
was, at the time of my arrival in Pará (July, 1849), a branch of indus- 
try limited to the immediate environs of that city, being carried on 
principally in the island of Marajé and about the mouth of the Tocan- 
tins. The low price it fetched in the Park market (10 milreis—£1 
3s. 4d. the arroba of 32 lbs.), and the great gains which those who 
trade in the sertio+ expect on their outlay, prevented the sertanejos 
from employing themselves in the fabrication of seringa; to which con-- 
tributed also the universal apathy and even antipathy to everything 
new, if it involved labour, no matter how profitable. When I ascended 
the Rio Negro in 1851, I pointed out to the inhabitants the abundance 
of seringa-trees they possessed in their forests, and tried to induce 
them to set about extracting the gum; but they shook their heads, and 
said it would never answer. At length the demand for India-rubber, 
espécially from the United States, began to exceed the supply; the 
price consequently rose rapidly, until early in 1854 it reached the extra- 
vagant sum of 38 milreis (£4. 8s. 8d.) the arroba. This woke up the 
people from their apathy, and the impulse, once given, extended so ra- 
pidly and widely, that nearly throughout the Amazon and its principal 
tributaries, the mass of the population put itself into motion to search 
out and fabricate seringa. In the province of Para alone (which now — 
includes a very small portion of the Amazon) it was computed that | 
25,000 persons were employed in that branch of industry in the year — 
1854. Mechanics threw aside their tools, sugar-makers deserted their _ 
engenhos, and Indians their rogas; so that sugar, rum, and even fa- 
rinha, were not produced in sufficient quantity for the consumption of 
the province, the two former articles having to be imported from Ma- — 
ranham and Pernambuco, and the last from the river Uaupés. 
The mode of obtaining the milk is almost universally by tapping. — 
bber on the Amazon is “ Xeringue" (pro- 
btedly an Indian corruption of the Por- - 
r-pipe, the fabrication of which was the - 
was applied in its native country. In 
it h i piei . e cena Get E 
1t has no affinity with any ober word in the same pen io csi miae ie 
Puce do "The = ove aren Ogg wage yapi, dápi, a dipiche . 
+ ‘The Interior, —literally, **the desert.” 
VOL, VII. o» "n 
* The name usually given to India-ru 
nounced nearly Sheringhy). This is undou 
tuguese word “ Seringa,” a syringe or clystei 
first use to which the gum of the Siphonia 
Lingoa Geral, zeringue is the common term for a 
