RUBBER GOODS 86 



rubber has to be taken 250 miles in open boats, along 

 a course that contains many stretches of dangerous 

 rapids, and is blocked by a number of falls. It then 

 has to go on by steamer for 500 miles before it gets to 

 Para. And some of the Brazilian pelles are made into 

 rafts, which are taken downstream to the nearest 

 point where the pelles can be transferred to a steamer. 

 In Ceylon, the principal distribution depot is the port 

 of Colombo ; in Malaya, most of the rubber leaves home 

 via Singapore or Port Swettenham. Plantation rubber 

 travels in packing-cases to local ports by rail, by river 

 in little Noah's Ark boats thatched with palm-leaves, 

 or by road in bullock-carts. Both wild and planta- 

 tion rubber get a break of journey at some local port, 

 where there are warehouses in which the material 

 can be stored in order that it ma}^ be submitted to 

 a searching examination. It has to be weighed, 

 sampled, and sorted according to quality. Plantation 

 rubber can be very easily sampled and graded, because 

 its form is such that it can be easily handled and seen 

 through. But much of the wild product is sent to 

 market in bulky masses. It is hard work cutting 

 through the samples which are selected to undergo 

 the test of seeing whether they are as good through 

 and through as they are on the surface, or whether they 

 contain any makeweight, such as bits of old iron or rope. 

 When the time comes for the raw matr^rial to con- 

 tinue its journey to market, it is put aboard an ocean- 

 going steamer, which takes it overseas to the port 

 where it is to be sold. Here again it is received into 

 a warehouse, Once more it is weighed and sampled. 

 The samples are sent to manufacturers, with a ata- 

 logue, stating that so many pounds of rubber, corre- 

 sponding to such or such a sample, wiU be sold by 



