418 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



I KM PER I. 10,10. 



Steamer "Serincjueiro" on the Acre. 



Carapuna Indians and Native Boat. 



ber takes its first journey on balsas, or small rafts. If they are 

 to pass over rough water, the logs of which they are made are 

 hollowed out. These recesses are filled with rubber and whole 

 is floored over, so even if the crew is upset or lost the rubber 

 survives. 



Two or more balsas joined together form a callapo, which is 

 used when the river broadens to admit larger craft. Still further 

 down the rivers the batelao — commonly pronounced "batalone," 

 is used as freight carrier. 



PRIMITIVE WATERPROOFING WITH RUBBER. 



It would be strange in a rubber country if there were not 

 some rubber manufacture. And there is much. Nearly all of 

 the Indian tribes make rubber ponchos, kit bags, and some very 

 curious toj s. 



In making a rubber bag, they first make a bag of fabric, some- 

 times of prettily flowered calico, which they stretch over a 

 frame until the surfaces are smooth and taut. Then they taki- 

 caucho milk, never using Hevea, and stir into it powdered sul- 

 phur, the proportion being a tablespoonful of sulphur to each 

 liter of latex. After stirring the liquid thoroughly they apply 

 it to the cloth with a feather ami give it a sure cure. If sulphur 

 is not obtainable they use gunpowder. 



When the sulphur compound is spread over flowered calico 

 the colors show through and the bags are extremely pretty. 



The gunpowder mixture, of course, is black and not trans- 

 parent. These bags will outlast a dozen made of vulcanized 

 rubber and are eagerly purchased by engineers and prospectors. 



A great many other useful articles are made, such as cigar 

 cases, tobacco pouches, and ammunition bags, and even rubber 

 shoes. Of course the latter are not made for export. Occasion- 

 ally a native makes a clay last, puts thirty or forty coats of latex 

 over it, with additional coats for the sole and heel. Then a 

 couple of days later he draws ornamental designs with a knife 

 or a piece of wire, allows the shoes to stand a week to dry 

 out and then thev are finished. 



Relic of the Collins Expedition. 



Rubber Articles Made by Bolivian Natives. 



