370 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August i, 1903. 



" DEL COR IE. 



burrows in the flesh, and which when approaching maturity is 

 about an inch long. It is supposed to be hatched from the egg 

 of a fly, some say a butterfly, and is very easily disposed of if 

 one knows what it is. When once imbedded in the flesh it has 

 the appearance of a blind boil, but under a magnifying glass 

 the head of the creature can be seen just above the skin, and a 

 little sticky substance, such as rubber sap, suffocates it, and it 

 is easily extracted. 



The next two days were set apart for more plantation visit- 

 ing, but my good luck, as far as weather was concerned, sud- 

 denly fled. It rained so hard that traveling would have been 

 torture, and visiting folly, so on the third day I turned my face 

 towards the city of Mexico — a far cry, however, for first must 

 come a long afternoon's tramp along the railroad track to Acho- 

 tal. We did it, reaching the town at dusk. Then followed the 

 wait until 1 in the morning, when the train arrived. We waited 

 on cots in Antonio's palatial shed, which we shared with mosos, 

 dogs, pigs, mules, horses, and the " murderer." The last named 

 was the only really interesting bit of scenery there. He ap- 

 peared soon after the rest were asleep, and crouched by the 

 side of the door of the next hut, his sullen face filled with hate, 

 his hand toying 

 with the hilt of 

 a wicked looking 

 knife. He wasn't 

 after us, so we 

 let him alone. At 

 12.30 we got up, 

 took our traps, 

 stumbled over a 

 family of sleep- 

 ing porkers that 

 were lying in the 

 passage between 

 the huts, sidled 

 down a narrow 

 plank to the 

 railroad track, 

 squeezed in be- 

 tweenalotof mo- 

 sos who, wrapped 

 in blankets, cov- 

 ered the depot platform, and awaited the coming of the train. 

 While we sat there one of the mozos roused up, and began to 

 talk to my companion. After a time Mr. Harvey turned to me 

 and said : 



"DEL CUKI E. 



CORNER OF RUBBER ORCHARD AND ROAD. 



" Here is a most remarkable thing; this man was on his way 

 to my plantation to get work, when some of the railroad men 

 told him that I drove my laborers out in the field early in the 

 morning, hitting them with the flat of the machete, that I fed 

 them very poorly, and made them sleep in a fenced enclosure 

 that had no roof over it, so he didn't dare come. That is the 

 way they try to get our help for themselves." 



At length, after an interminable wait, the train arrived and 

 we got aboard. The train boy had some canned beans and 

 crackers from which we made a hearty meal, and then, stretch- 

 ing out on the seats, slept as best we could until we reached the 

 breakfast station at Perez. The breakfast was fair, but the 

 fruit we bought later was really what made life worth living. 

 At every railway station women and children gathered under 

 the car windows with fruits, flowers, native made candies, and 

 the great variety of sweet cakes of which both Mexicans and 

 Indians are very fond. I got a dozen oranges for ten cents, and 

 they were simply delicious. A fruit that I had been very anx- 

 ious to taste was the sapodillo, produced by the tree from which 

 the Chicle comes, and, finding them on sale at last, I immedi- 

 ately invested. It is about the size of an apple, with a skin like 



the potato, the 

 pulp tasting like 

 gelatine filled 

 with brown sug- 

 ar. I also sam- 

 pled many other 

 fruits. Of them 

 all, as might be 

 expected, the ba- 

 nana is the most 

 common, and I 

 observed several 

 varieties that are 

 never seen in the 

 States. Some 

 tiny yellow ones, 

 a little larger 

 thanone'sthumb 

 have an extreme- 

 ly delicate flavor, 

 laborers' camp and CLEARING. and are deli- 



cious. Of this family is a large plantain which is either fried 

 or broiled, never being eaten raw, and which is extremely pal- 

 atable. There are a great variety of other fruits which appear 

 at certain seasons, such, for example, as the sour sop, a sort of 



