﻿NATURAL 
  RUBBER 
  — 
  COOK 
  365 
  

  

  The 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree 
  was 
  not 
  widely 
  utilized 
  in 
  the 
  early 
  days 
  be- 
  

   cause 
  much 
  more 
  labor 
  was 
  required 
  to 
  get 
  the 
  rubber 
  from 
  it 
  than 
  to 
  

   gather 
  the 
  rubber 
  of 
  Castilla. 
  A 
  Castilla 
  tree 
  was 
  exploited 
  in 
  Brazil 
  

   in 
  a 
  single 
  complete 
  operation 
  — 
  felling 
  the 
  tree 
  and 
  ringing 
  the 
  trunk 
  

   in 
  many 
  places, 
  thus 
  obtaining 
  several 
  pounds 
  of 
  rubber, 
  often 
  10 
  to 
  

   20 
  pounds 
  — 
  while 
  a 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree 
  had 
  to 
  be 
  punctured 
  repeatedly 
  

   through 
  weeks 
  and 
  months, 
  and 
  the 
  latex 
  collected 
  in 
  daily 
  driblets. 
  

   But 
  with 
  the 
  greater 
  demand 
  for 
  rubber 
  and 
  the 
  rapid 
  advance 
  in 
  

   prices 
  after 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  last 
  century, 
  following 
  Goodyear's 
  im- 
  

   provements 
  of 
  manufacturing 
  processes, 
  the 
  gathering 
  of 
  Para 
  rub- 
  

   ber 
  was 
  greatly 
  stimulated. 
  The 
  discovery 
  of 
  vulcanization 
  is 
  dated 
  

   from 
  1839, 
  and 
  Goodyear 
  obtained 
  his 
  patent 
  in 
  1844. 
  

  

  When 
  Kichard 
  Spruce, 
  a 
  first-rank 
  botanical 
  explorer, 
  landed 
  at 
  

   Para 
  in 
  1849, 
  he 
  found 
  that 
  the 
  tapping 
  of 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree 
  was 
  

   "limited 
  to 
  the 
  immediate 
  environs" 
  of 
  the 
  city, 
  but 
  in 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  of 
  

   rising 
  prices 
  thousands 
  of 
  people 
  turned 
  to 
  gathering 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber. 
  

  

  The 
  extraordinary 
  price 
  reached 
  by 
  rubber 
  in 
  Para 
  in 
  1853 
  at 
  length 
  woke 
  

   up 
  the 
  people 
  from 
  their 
  lethargy, 
  and 
  when 
  once 
  set 
  in 
  motion, 
  so 
  wide 
  was 
  the 
  

   impulse 
  extended 
  that 
  throughout 
  the 
  Amazon 
  and 
  its 
  principal 
  tributaries 
  the 
  

   mass 
  of 
  the 
  population 
  put 
  itself 
  in 
  motion 
  to 
  search 
  out 
  and 
  fabricate 
  rubber. 
  

   In 
  the 
  small 
  province 
  of 
  Para 
  alone 
  (which 
  includes 
  a 
  very 
  small 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  

   Amazon) 
  it 
  was 
  computed 
  that 
  25,000 
  persons 
  were 
  employed 
  in 
  that 
  branch 
  

   of 
  industry. 
  Mechanics 
  threw 
  aside 
  their 
  tools, 
  sugar-makers 
  deserted 
  their 
  

   mills, 
  and 
  Indians 
  their 
  rogas, 
  so 
  that 
  sugar, 
  rum, 
  and 
  even 
  farinha 
  were 
  not 
  

   produced 
  in 
  sufficient 
  quantity 
  for 
  the 
  consumption 
  of 
  the 
  province. 
  

  

  Spruce 
  was 
  told 
  of 
  an 
  earlier 
  period 
  when 
  the 
  rubber 
  trees 
  had 
  been 
  

   felled 
  for 
  tapping, 
  and 
  he 
  inferred 
  from 
  this 
  that 
  the 
  method 
  of 
  har- 
  

   vesting 
  had 
  been 
  changed 
  in 
  the 
  interest 
  of 
  obtaining 
  more 
  rubber 
  "by 
  

   successive 
  tappings 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  tree." 
  Since 
  felling 
  and 
  ringing 
  the 
  

   trees 
  was 
  the 
  usual 
  procedure 
  with 
  Castilla 
  in 
  South 
  America, 
  a 
  tran- 
  

   sition 
  from 
  Castilla 
  to 
  Para 
  rubber 
  is 
  indicated. 
  Some 
  of 
  the 
  up-river 
  

   tribes 
  that 
  Spruce 
  visited 
  did 
  not 
  know 
  that 
  rubber 
  was 
  being 
  gathered 
  

   from 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree. 
  

  

  WHY 
  THE 
  TWO 
  PRINCIPAL 
  RUBBER 
  TREES 
  ARE 
  CONFUSED 
  

  

  The 
  generic 
  name 
  Siphonia, 
  dating 
  from 
  1791, 
  was 
  used 
  by 
  Spruce 
  

   for 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree, 
  and 
  for 
  several 
  related 
  species 
  that 
  he 
  dis- 
  

   covered 
  in 
  Brazil, 
  such 
  as 
  Siphonia 
  lutea, 
  S. 
  pauciflora, 
  and 
  S. 
  dis- 
  

   color. 
  The 
  use 
  of 
  Hevea 
  instead 
  of 
  Siphonia 
  by 
  Mueller 
  von 
  Aargau 
  

   in 
  1865 
  was 
  a 
  mistake, 
  and 
  has 
  led 
  to 
  much 
  confusion 
  in 
  the 
  histories, 
  

   habits, 
  and 
  uses 
  of 
  the 
  two 
  principal 
  rubber 
  trees. 
  The 
  native 
  name, 
  

   heve, 
  the 
  original 
  of 
  Hevea, 
  did 
  not 
  belong 
  to 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree 
  or 
  

   even 
  to 
  the 
  Amazon 
  valley, 
  but 
  to 
  the 
  Castilla 
  tree 
  and 
  to 
  the 
  district 
  

   of 
  Esmeraldas 
  on 
  the 
  Pacific 
  coast 
  of 
  Ecuador, 
  visited 
  by 
  La 
  Conda- 
  

   mine 
  in 
  1736. 
  The 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree 
  and 
  the 
  related 
  species 
  of 
  Sipho- 
  

  

  