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as a man can reach, and making in this space two or three turns. 

 This sipo supports a narrow channel made of clay, down which the 

 milk flows as it issues from the wounded trunk, and is received into a 

 small cuya deposited at the base. Early in the morning a man goes 

 into the forest and visits in succession every tree, taking with him a 

 ter^ado and a large cuya (called cuyamhoca) suspended by a handle 

 so as to form a sort of pail. With his ter9ado he makes sundry slight 

 gashes in the bark of each tree, and returning to the same in the space 

 of about an hour, he finds a quantity of milk in the cuya at the base, 

 which he transfers to his cuyamboca. The milk being collected and 

 placed in a large shallow earthenware pan, several large caraipe-pots 

 with narrow mouths are nearly filled with the fruit of the Urucuri and 

 placed on brisk fires. The smoke arising from the heated Urucuri is 

 very dense, and as each successive coat is applied to the mould (which 

 is done by pouring the milk over it, and not by dipping it into the 

 milk), the operator holds it in the smoke, which hardens the milk in 

 a few moments. The moulds now used are all of wood, and not of 

 clay as formerly, and the one generally preferred is in the form of the 

 battledores which English housewives use for folding linen, only thin- 

 ner and flat on both sides, and the milk is applied only as far as to 

 the insertion of the handle, the latter being held by the operator. 

 When the requisite number of coatings have been applied and time 

 has been allowed for the whole to stiffen, the Serinque is withdrawn 

 from the mould by slitting it along one side and end. In this state 

 it is known in the Para market as * Serinque em couro,' or hides of 

 India rubber, and it is preferred to the bottle rubber by purchasers. 

 I send you one such ' hide,' from which you will see that Capita© 

 Pedro's manufacture is not despicable. If the bottle-moulds are used, 

 or if a shoe is to be moulded on a last, a stick of two feet long is 

 always inserted into the mould to guarantee the operator's hand from 

 the milk and smoke. Some shoes we saw here had thirty coatings 

 apiece of Serinque. The Capitao was getting about six milreis an 

 arroba (32 tbs) for his Serinque, but in Para it sells for as much as 

 ten milreis. November is the season of ripe fruit of the Serinque, but 

 the trees on the Ramos had been completely stripped by the Araras, 

 a sort of long-tailed parrot." 



E. NEWMAN, PBINTER, 9, DEVONSHIKE STREET, BISHOPSGATE, LONDON. 



