August i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



379 



j4 inch long and about 2 or 3 inches apart, from the root up the 

 vine as far as the men could reach, and as the latex oozed out 

 and congealed it was picked off and made into small balls, as 

 sample No. 5, and the balls stuck together for ease in carrying. 

 I only know of three kinds of trees in this country giving a 

 sap which is elastic, but have never heard of any commercial 

 value having been attached to the latex from them. It is used 

 by the natives for trapping birds. The names of the trees are 

 " Kuckchie," which bearsa fruit like a small wild fig, largely de- 

 voured by natives and pigs ; " Mtoe " or " Tomboze," a tree of 

 extra large growth, bearing a bean filled with white milk which, 

 when boiled, is not unlike in appearance well kneaded dough, 

 not sticky and very elastic ; and " Mkuze," the same as " Mtoe " 

 but bearing no bean and having a white flower. 



JAMES HIGHFIEI.D. 

 Fort Jameson, Rhodesia, March 19, 1QO4. 



* * * 



Editorial Note. — From a physical examination of the sam- 

 ples sent byour correspondent, Nos. 1 , 2. and 3 appear very much 

 like unripe Mozambique, and should bring, at the present state 

 of the market, 75 to 85 cents a pound, Nos. 1 and 2 being bet- 

 ter than No. 3. Samples Nos. 4 and 5 are very similar to black 

 Kasai, and would bring about 95 cents a pound unless, in 

 working, the rubber should soften up. 



Mr. Highfield writes from a region westward from the lower 

 end of Lake Nyasa, and from British Central Africa, the rubber 

 production from which territory has well nigh ceased. 



Rhodesia is an extensive region, and his district is some dis- 

 tance removed from those referred to in the article he men- 

 tions in our issue of September 1, 1903. This fact may serve 

 to explain apparent differences between Mr. Highfield's obser- 

 vations and those noted in our former issue. By the way, is 

 Mr. Highfield certain that the Landolfihi* species he mentions 

 \sflorida ? 



STATE OF THE GUTTA-PERCHA TRADE. 



FROM "THE STRAITS TIMES" (SINGAPORE), JUNE 9. 



THE announcement that a new cable is to be laid, connect- 

 ing the Pelews Celebes, the Philippines, and Shanghai — 

 apart from its general commercial and political significance — 

 is of considerable local importance«as being calculated to give 

 an upward tone to the somewhat depressed gutta market. 

 Though the prices of gutta today are much better than they 

 were ten years ago, the market is nevertheless stagnant at the 

 present time, and that stagnation is due to two causes. The 

 first of these is the reaction subsequent on the completion of 

 the All British cable, and that reaction the new Holland-Ger- 

 many project will tend to stem. The other is the distrust that 

 has been awakened in the purchasing markets of the West, with 

 regard to the quality of gutta exported from Pontianak and 

 Singapore. 



This gutta — as is well known to those interested — has been 

 largely adulterated of late years with a product imported hither 

 from Brazil [Evidently Balata is meant. — Editor The India 

 Rubber World.] for the sole purpose of adulterating gutta. 

 It is an adulterant of a superior order, and cannot be detected 

 until the gum is put into manufacture, when the flaw shows 

 itself, and the gutta is condemned. Meanwhile, large fortunes 

 are being made by those local and Pontianak traders who make 

 judicious use of this interesting South American adulterating 

 material. 



The practice, however, seems to have been carried too far in 

 some instances, and The India Rubber World and other 

 trade journals have been complaining, with the result that a 



big stock of the gum — good and bad— has accumulated here ; 

 and, owing to bad prices, the river traders in Borneo, Sarawak- 

 and elsewhere are also holding their stocks for a better market. 

 The projected new telegraph line will require about 2500 miles 

 of cable ; and for this vast length, a large amount of gutta will 

 be necessary. 



Whether the demand thus created will be sufficient to en- 

 tirely relieve the local congestion, is of course a matter for 

 time to determine; but the sale of impure gutta as pure gutta 

 by exporters in this part of the world has so injured the repu- 

 tation of the article, that the purchasers will not seek the 

 Straits with the same confidence as formerly. Systematic 

 cheating on the part of the collector, the river trader, and the 

 exporter proper has too seriously hurt the trade to admit its 

 being able to recover itself at moment's notice, no matter how 



fair the opportunity. 



* » * 



Editorial Note. — The above assertions regarding the fall- 

 ing off in the Gutta-percha trade are supported by the customs 

 returns of Great Britain, by which it appears that the imports 

 of Gutta-percha for the first six months of three years past 



have been as follows : 



1902. 1903- '904. 



Pounds. 5,746,832 2,758,672 1,287,4-10 



All the above quantities are not credited to Singapore, for 

 British returns of Gutta-percha embrace also Balata. Which 

 fact is of interest in connection with another statement copied 

 above from The Straits Times — that Gutta-percha is now being 

 adulterated at Singapore with a South American gum. We 

 find that England has exported "Gutta-percha" to Singapore 

 as follows, and it is credible that the material referred to is 

 Balata, for use as claimed in our Singapore contemporary : 



BRITISH EXPORTS OF GUTTA IKK- II A TO SINGAPORE. 



1897 .pounds 2,800 1900 pounds 24,304 



1898 11,872 1901 86,8oo 



1899 15.904 1902 80,528 



"CAMETA" RUBBER OF BRAZIL. 



BY LOUIS II. AYME, UNITED STATES CONSUL. 



THE India rubber production of the Amazon valley presents 

 a problem of the very greatest interest. Much is known 

 to-diy about the Hevea tree, its/a/>.r, the methods of collection 

 and coagulation of the latex, and the subsequent handling of 

 the rubber, but doubtless much more is still to be learned. It 

 is very difficult to obtain any information from the Indians ex- 

 cept concerning the regular routine work. The Indian can not, 

 or at least does not, make generalizations, and does not note 

 the causes of the phenomena he scarcely observes. Many of 

 the data for the solution of the problem are therefore still 

 lacking. 



In the special grade of rubber known as " Cameta " I think 

 an important indication leading to a solution of the rubber 

 problem may be found. Cameta rubber is a special grade of 

 entrefino or sernamby rubber — chiefly the latter. I am informed 

 that small quantities of Cameta are beginning to come from 

 some of the older districts that were exploited after the Tocan- 

 tins, as the trade increased. This would seem to indicate the 

 probable duration, under present conditions, of the production 

 of fine rubber from any given field as from 20 to 30 years at the 

 most. 



Cameta rubber is merely self-coagulated latex ; at least such 

 is the opinion of a very intelligent rubber collector. He said 

 that even to-day there is much carelessness in tapping the trees 

 to get the "milk." In the early days this carelessness was 

 greater still. The constant wounding of the bark causes the 



