208 CAOUTCHOUC AND GUTTA-PERCHA. 
the savages. It is equally remarkable that many of the plants containing poi- 
sonous juices yield some of the most important means of subsistence in those 
regions. We mention here only the arrow-root, which, in tropical countries, is 
a substitute for potatoes; the yam-root, which has of late fiequently been pko- 
posed as a substitute for the diseased potato in our own countries; and chiefly 
the manioc, (zatropha manihot,) which is to the natives of South America 
—colored, as well as white—what rice and the cereals are to the inhabitants of 
the Old World. Nay, our own potato offers an example of the same kind. 
The plants which yield caoutchouc, now become an important commercial - 
article, belong to all the three families above enumerated. ‘he real caoutchoue 
tree, from which elastic gum was first. extracted, is designated by the scientific 
name of siphonia elastica, and belongs to the euphorbiacez ; it yields the greatest 
quantity, but many other trees of the same family yield smaller quantities. The 
best caoutchouc is derived from a plant of the family of the apocynez, called 
cynanchum. ¥urther are to be mentioned here, wrceola elastica, Roxb., a plant 
of Sumatra; vahea gummifera Poiset, of Madagascar; collophora utilis Mart., 
and hanconia speciosa Mart., of Brazil; willughbera edulis, of India, &e. 
Among the urtices the various fig trees deserve particular mention, (/icus relig- 
zosa, indica, benjaminea, toxicartas, F. elastica, Roxb.,) but besides them several 
other plants. 
Tropical America and the East Indies are the great sources of supply. In 
the former it is chiefly the euphorbiacez, in the latter the fig trees, that yield 
caoutchoue for trade; while the plants of the family of the apocynez are rather 
common to both. As soon as the Caucasian race will grant the unhappy inhab- 
itants of Africa the right of being men, rich sources will also be disclosed in this 
part of the world. 
The genuine caoutchouc tree was first described by Aublet, under the name 
of hevea guianensis; but its blossom and fruit parts were not well known to 
him, they being first made known at a Jater period, by Richard, whose merits in 
making us acquainted with this useful plant were, however, subsequently passed 
over in silence by his own son. Wildenow subsequently referred the spe- 
cies to the genus siphonia. This tree grows sixty feet high, and about 
three feet thick; its wood is white, and its bark, especially on its very wide- 
spread branches, thin, grayish brown, and smooth. The Indians make long and 
deep incisions, reaching the inner wood, all around the tree, from which, the 
wound being kept open by a small wooden wedge, the milky juice flows sponta- 
neously and profusely. ‘To promote its drying, they make it flow in thin layers 
over moulds of unburned clay, mostly of the form of round and short-necked 
bottles of various sizes. The coating is repeated until the required thickness is 
obtained ;* the drying process is facilitated by fire, the smoke of which gives a 
black color to the gum; the moulds are then crushed within and removed in 
pieces. Formerly elastic gum used to come to us in strange shapes of birds, 
quadrupeds, &c.; now we receive it mostly in large plates, or blocks, or also in 
a fluid state, in hermetically-closed jars. 
The collecting of the milky juice is done by the Indians with little care; the 
gum, therefore, contains many heterogeneous substances, which are an impedi- 
ment in its elaboration. In general, the price of the article varies greatly in the 
regions that produce it, being determined by the quality of the merchandise, the 
size of the pieces, and the quantity brought to market. The commission sent 
by several German princes to examine the region of the Mosquito coast bought 
fifteen pounds of caoutchouce for five pence, (English.) Other natural products, 
like sarsaparilla, the collecting of which requires less labor, offer more gain, and 
thus the Indians, whose wants are easily satisfied, attach little value to elastic 
gum. But for this circumstance the exports from America would be considerably 
larger; a single man can collect sixteen pounds a day; however, more than 
