338 



THE INDIA RUBLER WORLD 



[July 



1904. 



RUBBER CURING HOUSE, CULLODEN. 



could safely do so. They said it was a very rare thing, how- 

 ever, for a white man to be bitten by one. But the natives are- 

 often bitten, and sometimes 

 fatally. The Singalese won't 

 kill them, as they think the 

 cobra quite likely to possess 

 the soul of some dead relative 

 of theirs. The Tamils, how- 

 ever, have no such prejudice 

 and are perfectly willing to 

 slaughter them whenever they 

 can. My informants acknowl- 

 edged that the bite of the co- 

 bra was very venomous, but 

 not necessarily fatal. They 

 said that some years before 

 there had lived in that district 

 a man who was known as the 

 cobra king, who not only cured 

 snake bites in others, but was 

 proof against poison himself. 

 He used to tease the snakes 

 to make them bite him, and 

 even rub their venom into 



Mr. Bagot acknowledged that the trees were set back somewhat, 

 but not very much. The general opinion in Ceylon, however, 

 is that inundations are very apt to kill out the Hevea. 



The oldest rubber on this plantation is some 15 to 18 years 

 old, planted quite closely together in a sheltered nook. In this 

 lot the outside trees which get the sun are by far the largest, 

 one that I measured roughly being 2 feet in diameter and 60 

 feet high. After having seen all of the rubber, I examined the 

 tea, saw what sights there were, and spent a very pleasent even- 

 ing with Mr. Bagot, at whose bungalow I slept. 



Very early the next morning, with a coolie carrying my lug- 

 gage, I made my way to the river and climbing down its steep 

 clayey bank, found myself aboard the steamer Kaluganga. 

 This craft was some 60 feet long and 12 feet wide, with a small 

 wood-burning boiler and engine amidships. The forward deck 

 was reserved for the whites, while the blacks huddled together 

 at the stern. I had barely embarked, when down came one of 

 Mr. Wither's coolies with two steamer chairs, one of which he 

 had thoughtfully brought for me. After a most earsplitting 

 whistle, the little steamer cast off and started down the deep, 

 muddy stream. Shortly after leaving the pier we passed the 

 Clyde estate, which shows a large planting of tea and Para rub- 

 -ber, the trees young, straight, and tall. The run down the river 



was a pleasant one, but in no 

 way exciting, and early in the 

 forenoon I took a train from 

 Kalutara and was again back 

 in Colombo. As I planned to 

 leave for the Kelani valley 

 that afternoon, I went to the 

 Grand Oriental Hotel for 

 breakfast and a siesta, from 

 which I was awakened by a 

 pleasant young reporter, who 

 interviewed me most thor- 

 oughly. I want to say in pass- 

 ing that all through the East 

 the newspaper men seemed 

 alive to the importance of the 

 rubber question and printed 

 many columns of things that 

 I did and didn't say. When 

 he had finished with me I 

 summoned Miguel and we 

 took rickshaws for Maradana 



MR. HARRISON'S BUNGALOW, CULLODEN. 



cuts on his arms, and apparently without the least injury. But 

 he was finally attacked by a sort of rheumatism, which made 

 him a helpless cripple, and he went back to England to get 

 cured. 



Close to Culloden is Arapolakanda, where I next visited, be- 

 ing entertained by the resident manager, Mr. H. V. Bagot. 

 He has but fifteen acres of Hevea in bearing, and gets twenty 

 pounds a day. In coagulating, Mr. Bagot did not follow exact- 

 ly the process used by his neighbor, Mr. Harrison, the differ- 

 ence being this; he added no acid to hasten coagulation, and 

 also smoked the rubber over a fire of sawdust ard bark. The 

 final drying was accomplished by spreading on wire screens, 

 and not a pound was shipped until it was perfectly dry and 

 transparent. By the way, he reported that he had one " dumb " 

 tree that was big. thrifty, and apparently exactly like the others, 

 but that it gave no milk. At the lower end of Arapolakanda 

 are some acres of marsh land that have been drained and re- 

 claimed and on which is standing some fine rubber. As this 

 land is near the river, it is sometimes inundated, the water 

 standing four feet up on the trunks, but for a short time only. 



Junction station and there bought tickets for Karawanella. 

 After a somewhat tiresome ride in the train we reached our 



SCENE IN KELANI VALLEY, CEYLON 



