34 RUBBER 



Castilloa, and Mexico has large areas of a rubber-giving 

 shrub called " Guayule." 



Now that you have seen how caucho is collected in 

 South America, you will, I feel sure, be all the more 

 interested to get a peep at some caucho-gatherers in 

 Central America, who work in a different way. So let 

 us go to Nicaragua. 



Once more we are standing in the maze of a tropical 

 forest. Just in front of us is a tree, which has big 

 leaves hanging independently of each other from either 

 side of the branches. By the shape and arrangement 

 of its foliage we recognize it as a Castilloa. Under this 

 tree stands a semi-clad, brown figure. What a dwarf 

 he looks ! No wonder ; the tree with whose height 

 you are unconsciously comparing his stature is a giant, 

 whose top-to-root measure is well over 100 feet. 



The native is going to collect caucho-milk. He does 

 not cut down the tree, but taps it as it stands. With a 

 big knife he makes V-shaped cuts in the trunk, operat- 

 ing on the lower part from the ground, and on the upper 

 part from a hanging ladder. This rough-looking 

 climbing apparatus he has made for himself out of 

 bush-rope. You can see for yourself that it is easy 

 enough for him to find bush-rope in this forest ; from 

 the branches of numbers of the trees around hang 

 lengths of naturally-corded fibre, some of it string- 

 like, much of it thicker than any rope that is ever made 

 in a factory. 



The caucho-milk runs out from the cuts and trickles 

 down the trunk into a. calabash. When the collector 

 has tapped several trees, he puts all the milk into an 

 old pan, and adds to it some watery juice which he has 

 obtained from a particular variety of creeper. He 



