342 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, iqio. 



Dwelling of Rubber Gatherers on the Amazon. 



[Built on poles for protectk n against the rife which annually takes 

 place in the rivers. Hammocks are covered with mosquito nets— a very 

 necessary precaution.] 



more whose eslradas join his, take their halls of rubber to the 

 seringal, where they are credited with the number of pounds 

 gathered, at say 50 per cent, of the market value as they know it. 

 The other 50 per cent, is to indemnify the owner of the seringal 

 for shrinkage, freight, and so on. The rubber ball is then branded 

 uiih the mark of the aviador and stored awaiting shipment. Oft- 

 entimes too it is sunned that it may not dry out too rapidly. 



ilis week's work finished, the seringueiro goes to the store, 

 gets supplies of provisions for the next week, not forgetting 

 plenty of "cachaca," which are debited to him at about 100 per 

 cent, above the cost price. 



The owner of the seringal makes his profit almost entirely out 

 of •■hat he sells to the seringueiro. The latter is obliged to buy 

 goods only at the store, or else hunt some other seringal, the 

 owner of which must assume his debt, which always exists, with 

 a 20 per cent, increase for the transfer. 



SIDE LIGHTS ON RUBBER GATHERING. 



The tree tappers are not careful of the trees. Naturally im- 

 provident they would destroy them in one year if it meant more 

 rubber, but fortunately more rubber cannot be gotten in this way 

 from the Hevea, and so the trees survive and continue to produce 

 year after year. There are stories of rubber gatherers on the 

 r reaches of the river who build fires about the bases of the 

 -ir.ii ti-.. is tc. stimulate the flow of latex, but no one seems able 

 to verify such tales. 



The tapping season may last from three to six months. This 

 depends on location, and on the size and condition of the trees. 

 Sometimes the trees are tapped daily, sometimes every other day. 

 Often they are given a rest for a year. The amount of rubber 

 secured per tree is difficult to estimate, but it probably does not 

 exceed two or three pounds, and in some districts that have been 

 constantly worked for a number of years even less than that. 

 Old rubber men tell stories of estradas of a hundred trees that 

 would turn in 20 to 30 pounds of rubber a day, but they agree 

 that the time of such production is long past. 



The actual extent of the rubber forests in the Amazon country 

 is unknown, but according to those who have done a good deal 

 of exploring only the fringe has been touched. The seringaes 

 and temporary rubber camps are all located along the waterways. 



Tapping "Hevea Brasiliensis." 

 [Th<- seringueiro in one hand holds a hatchet and in the other a latex 

 cup; several cups have been attached to the tree already; he carries also 

 a can for collecting latex, and a gun.j 



This means working the territory about a mile inland. The rest 

 of the forest, comprising thousands of square miles, is as yet 

 untouched. This is true not only in Amazonas and the other 

 great interior states, but of the state of Para as well. With labor 

 and proper exploitation four times as much rubber could come 

 out of the Ama on as is obtained at present. 



Seringueiro Coming to Camp with Latex. 



[The trunk of a fallen tree serves as a bridge over a stream.] 



