October i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



iNDtAN ON THH UPPER UcAYALI. 



cred by a system that involved the destruction of the tree. This 

 method still obtains and is as follows: 



Near the base of the tree a broad V shaped cut is made and 

 the latex is caught in an earthen vessel, sometimes in a water- 

 proof bag. After all the latex has been drained out of such 

 incisions, the tree is cut down. Then circular incisions are 

 made about the trunk, about two feet apart, and the latex is 

 run through tubes of thick bamboo and caught in basins or 

 calabashes. The milk is next passed through a sieve to remove 

 bark and leaves, and then is ready for coagulation. Very often 

 the rubber gatherers hew a trough in the soft wood of the fallen 

 rubber tree in which to coagulate, while others dig a hole in the 

 ground and pour the milk into it. If the natives have soap or 

 the juice of the Peruvian vine called lerhc camole, the latex 

 coagulates very rapidly, and the result is a square block known 

 as caucho or Peruvian slab. This slab cut in slices forms what 

 is known as caucho strip. The grade of rubber known as caucho 

 ball is made up of the strings of rubber that coagulate in the 

 'ncisions on the tree and are stripped off a couple of weeks after 

 it has been cut down. For the sake of convenience in handling 

 they are made into balls. 



For a long time caucho came only from Peru, but it is now 

 found to be distributed widely throughout the Amazon valley. 

 The caucho gatherers in large parties disappear into the tracV 

 less forests and travel sometimes for hundreds of miles over 

 territory never before explored, destroying trees wherever they 

 find them. 



It is claimed that the gatherers get from 15 to 25 pounds <.i 

 dry caucho from one tree. It has often been suggested that the 

 latex could be taken out much as the HeTca latex is. Native 



Forest Scene in Colombia. 



gatherers, however, claim that such cutting of the bark results 

 in destruction of the tree by either disease or insects. It is also 

 d.iimed that, when the tree is cut down, shoots spring up from 

 the stump that in a short time become thrifty trees. It is said 

 that every eight years a cauchal, which is where the caucho 

 trees flourish, can be harvested. 



The word caucho, really the Spanish for caoutchouc, has been 

 the cause of a great deal of misunderstanding. Many writers 

 speak of caoutchouc and of its destruction in Peru. Readers 

 suppose they mean that Hcvea trees are cut down as well as 

 Castilloas, which is not the fact. Nearly all writers on Peru 

 and Bolivia tnake this mistake, and even the official publications 

 ,ire not alwavs clear. 



klVI.K iCK.N]- .\I.M0ST .XN'i v\ IIKRr. ON THE .•\m.\ZON. 



