THE ROMANCE OF RUBBER 7 



and byways of our native town to us, and sooner or 

 later, according as the fancy takes him to go the long 

 way round, or turn aside into a short cut, he will get 

 back to the camp. 



Whatever may have been his purpose when he 

 started out on his wanderings, clearly his chief desire 

 now is to find trees of the same kind as that from which 

 he obtained the strange material that he has made into 

 a ball. Sometimes he comes upon two or three within 

 a hundred yards or so of each other ; sometimes he has 

 to walk a good mile from his last find before he espies 

 another of the forest giants for which he is seeking. 



After a few hours' diligent search, he walks ahead 

 without stopping to test the sap of any more trees, 

 and at length we realize that during the last hour he 

 has been making straight for the camp. The moment 

 he arrives here he shows his quaint toy to his fellows. 

 The tribe are all very interested in it, very delighted 

 with it, and it is tossed from hand to hand. The chief 

 questions him, and there follows a conclave, at which it 

 is decided that a party shall set forth on the morrow 

 to collect more of the newly discovered material. 



At dawn we leave the camp clearing, and once more 

 plunge into the thick of the bush. With what a novel 

 procession we join company and once more strike the 

 trail ! Evidently it is not the custom to wear clothes 

 in this part of the world, but personal ornaments seem 

 to be in high favour. Nearly everyone is bedecked 

 with some " pretty " knick-knack, such as a necklet of 

 tiger's teeth, a jingling girdle of seeds, or a plaited- 

 fibre armlet ; and the majority seem to make " pin- 

 cushions " of their chin and lips — the fishbones you 

 see sticking out therefrom are pegs on which they 



