168 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HKR 



to the green-house, and even one or two are put 

 out of doors. As we drove home, I asked my 

 uncle at what time caoutchouc, or Indian rubber, 

 was brought to this country. 



" It appears," said he, " to have been first 

 introduced into Europe, about the middle of the 

 last century; and is, I am sure you. know, pro- 

 cured from two other South American plants, as 

 well as from the ficus ; I mean the hcevea and 

 the jatropha. The juice, which is obtained by 

 an incision in the bark, is made to spread itself 

 in successive layers, over clay moulded into the 

 form of a bottle, and when sufficiently thick, it is 

 hung over the smoke of burning wood, which 

 hardens, and gives it a dark colour : the clay is 

 afterwards crumbled and thrown out. It is 

 fabricated, by the inhabitants of its native coun- 

 try, into vessels to contain water and other li- 

 quids ; and it is in some places used by the fish- 

 ermen for torches. 



" Caoutchouc is also procured from a climbing 

 plant, urceola, a native of Sumatra. If one 

 of its thick old stems be cut, a white juice, like 

 cream, oozes out ; by exposure to the air, a de- 

 composition takes place, and while part of it 

 concretes, a thin whitish juice is separated. 

 Cloth well covered with this juice, becomes im- 

 pervious to water; and the pieces so prepared 

 are easily joined together by applying fresh juice 

 to the edges." 



