July 1,1'Jll. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



347 



"Your letter of recent date received today, and I most cer- 

 tainly do not agree with your deductions. Brittle balata, or as it 

 is sometimes called, bastard balata, is altogetlier different from 

 the recognized balata of commerce. Brittle balata is, in my long 

 and experienced opinion, a caoutchouc, whereas the balata of 

 commerce is a gum. My samples are from the milk of latex 

 of caoutchouc trees which grow in enormous numbers through- 

 out the whole of tropical and subtropical .Vmerica, htnce th.' 

 rubbers from them can be regularly shipped in enormous 

 quantities. 



"I send you five samples made fnim caoutchoucs collected from 

 our forest trees by very experienced bleeders. These five sam- 

 ples are the same as sent to Europe and wliich have been well 

 received, and have been valued at prices tliat will, 1 tiiink, satis- 

 factorily recoup us. 



".Mthough the enclosed samples are small, they are quite large 

 enough for any real expert or for any capable manufacturer to 

 judge by. 



■■.^s soon as our new factory is started we hope to turn out 

 a ver\ large supply and later on we may have to establish 

 branclu s in Trinidad, Brazil and Venezuela." 



Back in 'S3 and again in '85 Jenman sent in a voluminous 

 report ccucerning the "gutta" trees in the colony. It was char- 

 acterized by the direct style that all of his communications show, 

 and in <\nU: nf the fact that it was published as a dignified 

 .governnicntal utterance, is fascinating reading. Me briefly 

 sketches the Indians and the bush negros, and an enthusiastic 

 botani.st, recognized and noted hundreds of tropical trees, vines 

 and plants, as he journeyed into the forest in his search for 

 tin- "bully" tree. Hits of tropical experience crop up, as for 



T.VNK FOR CO.AGUI.ATING BALATA. 



"I believe we have an assured trade with both England and 

 Germany and perhaps also with Denmark, so I cannot see how 

 we should fail with .Xmcrica, as your letter so manifestly indicates. 



"As before stated, these caoutchoucs can be easily obtained 

 from trees that are enormously abundant, so that the rubbers 

 from them should naturally be supplied at a low-er price than the 

 generality of such articles arc. Therefore, we can ship to America 

 if f)nly the prices will allow us. and if only we can find trust- 

 worthy people to ship to, because it is we alone who are 'ship- 

 ping, and it is we alone who are to be afterwards paid for ar- 

 ticles that only the market requires, therefore, we wish to know 

 the present approximate market demand, as well as the 

 present approximate market iirice of the sam|)les sent ycui 



example, the presence on the Savannahs of xveree-weree fly 

 that just as soon as the perspiration starts swarm over the 

 face and creep into the eyes. The engineers on the Madeira- 

 Mamore Railway know all about them, and it may comfort 

 them to know that Jenman, 26 years ago, spoke of them only 

 as a trifling annoyance, as he did also of the Cabowroo (known 

 in Central America as the Rodador). His examination of the 

 balata bark was very thorough, and so imderstandablc that it 

 is worth quoting verbatim. 



"If a piece of partly dry bark be examined it presents (with- 

 out going into the details of structure) three primary layers. 

 The outer layer is dark brown, hard and dry; the next, which 

 is usually nmch thicker, is rather spongy in tissue and lactiferous 



