123 



CHAPTER XIII. 



INDIARUBBER, GUTTAPERCHA, AND CAMPHOR. 



Indiarubber. This is one of the indispensables of modern 

 times, and there is now an enormous trade in it, some 65,000 tons 

 being annually consumed. The supply is entirely from the 

 tropics, and the demand is constantly increasing. The com- 

 mercial article of crude rubber is the dried or coagulated latex 

 or milk of many different species of trees, belonging especially 

 to the families of the Euphorbiaceae, Urticaceae or Moraceae, 

 and Apocynaceae. Para rubber, for instance, is the dried latex 

 (obtained by tapping or bleeding the stem) of Hevea brasili- 

 ensis and other species of Hevea, Mexican rubber of Castilloa 

 elastica, African rubber of species of Landolphia, Lagos rubber 

 of Funtumia elastica, Indian rubber of Ficus elastica, Ceara or 

 Mani9oba rubber of Manihot Glaziovii, piauhyensis, dichotoma, 

 etc., and so on. 



For a very long time these trees, occurring wild in the 

 forests, have been simply exploited for rubber, often by wild 

 or semi- wild tribes, without any care being taken to preserve 

 the trees. The natural result is that they are becoming more 

 and more scarce, and the trade in wild rubber from India, from 

 much of Africa, and elsewhere, has very largely decreased. 

 Even in Brazil, where the best rubber of all is obtained, the 

 collectors have now to go to a much greater distance up 

 the Amazon river, and inland from the stream, to get their 

 supplies. 



As it therefore appeared evident that the history of Cinchona 



