110 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January i, 1905. 



divide $750. It took some trading to arrange that, and before 

 it was finished there was left but $600. Then apparently all of 

 the officials got a slice, for two days later there was but $10 

 left. Nor has the bridge ever been built, but there is still an 

 excellent ford, which appears to suit the people just as well. 

 They thus, it will be seen, equal us in distribution of govern- 

 ment appropriations, and outclass us in some forms of piety. 

 One of our rubbet cutters, for example, bore the name of Jesus 

 Maria Dios — but he did not look the part. 



During the forenoon I looked over the grove of Castilloas 

 that fronted the house and found that most of them had been 

 tapped that season. Indeed one of our 

 mozos said that they had been tapped 

 twice. The process of tapping here is 

 quite different from that pictured by 

 most who tell of the gathering of Pan- 

 ama rubber. They usually describe a 

 series of zigzag cuts, running one into 

 another from the base of the tree far up 

 the trunk. Here each cut was individ- 

 ual, and made with two strokes, one 

 horizontal, and the other slightly 

 downward and joining the other so 

 that a small slice of bark was taken 

 out. In the lower part of the cut the 

 thick latex gathers and is scraped into 

 a calabash with the fingers. The trees 

 as a rule were tapped as high as the 

 native could reach, and frequently a 

 rustic ladder or a rough staging ena- 

 bled the gatherers to get higher up on 

 the tree. 



It seems that the plot of trees at Rio 

 Negro were not self sown, but were 

 planted by the Indian in his rice field 

 after the crop was gathered. There 

 were 105 trees on about an eighth of Indian tapping 



an acre of land, said to be four years old. The rest of the 

 clearing had grown up to jungle, but where the rubber trees 

 were it was quite clear and the trees big and lusty. Their con- 

 dition made me wonder if the cleaning that is carried on by up- 

 to-date planters is after all so much of a necessity as they be- 

 lieve. 



Although it was Sunday all went in swimming in the swift 

 Rio Negro, and also went fishing (with a stick of dynamite) but 

 only got one. The swimming was not prolonged because of 



the rodadors, that were quite troublesome. While in the water 

 a band of brown faced monkeys expressed their disapproval of 

 our Sabbath breaking by throwing sticks and branches at us 

 from the tops of the lofty trees that hung far over the water. 

 Speaking of the animals, there were deer, wild pigs, tapir, tiger 

 cats, and jaguars, but they were rarely seen. Evidences of them 

 were plenty, however. Once when we visited the llanos (grass 

 plains), we saw where a jaguar had killed a two year old colt. 

 For birds there were innumerable humming birds, a great va- 

 riety of song birds, hawks, parrots, buzzards, cranes, grouse, 

 doves, two kinds of wild turkeys, and the justly named " fire 



^^^ ^ — , .^ 1 cracker bird." We saw no snakes, but 



-5' »ii -> \m« iguanas and lizards were common. 



The Indians think every kind of 

 snake and even lizards and tree frogs 

 poisonous. They, however, have what 

 they assert is a sure cure for the bites 

 of poisonous reptiles. After being bit- 

 ten, if the sufTerer will shut his eyes, 

 reach behind, and select three leaves 

 (any kind will do), quickly rub them 

 together, and apply to the bitten part, 

 a cure always results. 



Our helpers were in part Indians, 

 descendants of the Aztecs, and in part 

 negroes from the Cauca. Of the former 

 was Indolencia, whose strange com- 

 plaining " monkey call " could be heard 

 for miles. He always kept it up when 

 alone in the woods, even if only a few 

 hundred yards from camp. Of the lat- 

 ter was Cruz, a tall, loose jointed dar- 

 key, freshly pitted by smallpox. He 

 was the hunter and was equipped with 

 a muzzle loading " gaspipe " gun with 

 a percussion lock. It was worth going 

 I "CASTiLLOA." miles to see him flush a turkey, locate 



the tree in which it alighted, steal within range, and then snap 

 cap after cap until finally the gun went off and the turkey 

 dropped, oftentimes getting away even then. 



As it would be impossible to examine carefully the whole of 

 the 800 square miles in the month allotted to it, we first got the 

 general lay of the land, then laid out trips through typical sec- 

 tions, estimated their areas and computed the number of trees. 

 From Rio Negro camp (about 250 feet above the sea level) 

 trails were cut north, south, east, and west. Then came long 



RUBEER CUTTERS AT RIO NEGRO CAMP. 



COAGULATING RUBBER IN BALSA LOG. 



