184 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



for me during the twent3^-one days we remained on the 

 island. As I was far too unwell to look after anything, 

 Longacre took my place and superintended the work 

 of exploration of that part of the rubber region on the 

 Nichare discovered and opened up by Kichard in 1897 

 and 1898. The object of our expedition was, in the first 

 place, to find out whether the rubber-producing trees 

 existed in sufficient numbers to warrant the investment 

 of capital in their exploitation ; in the second, to ascertain 

 what quality of rubber they produced and in what 

 quantity. 



In our experiments the system employed for obtain- 

 ing the latex or milk is the one in vogue amongst 

 the seringueiros of the Amazon. The seringiieiros, or 

 caiicheros as they are called, usually work in families or 

 parties of several individuals. Their first care when they 

 discover some locality possessing within its radius a suffi- 

 cient number of trees to render a remunerative return, is 

 to cut tracks from tree to tree, so that each tree may 

 be visited daily without difficulty. They then clear away 

 the creepers and undergrowth surrounding the trunks of 

 the trees, after which they clean the bark thoroughly by 

 rubbing it with leaves. Everything is now ready for the 

 process of tapping. This is done by torchlight before 

 daybreak or with the first streaks of dawn, for it is at 

 this time that the flow of latex is most abundant. The 

 seringueiro goes from tree to tree armed with a tiny 

 hatchet and carrying on his back a basket full of small 

 tin cups with a tack-like protuberance on one side which 

 is flat. He makes several incisions with his little hatchet 

 in the bark of the tree, and he pins a cup under each 

 so that the escaping sap may run into it. A novice at 

 tapping obtains but a poor result. The old hand, on the 



