218 PRACTICAL FORESTRY 
ax, as high as he can reach, the collector cuts a deep 
gash in the tree. Under this he sticks with his clay 
a small earthenware cup. On the same tree, day after 
day, he cuts many gashes and collects with care the 
quota of milk-white juice which each gash yields. 
Every day he trots from tree to tree, the quicker the 
better, and empties the contents of the cups into a 
kettle or calabash. 
The calabash is the fruit of a tree, about the size 
of a melon, with a shell so hard and yet so light that 
it forms an excellent ready-made vessel in which to 
carry liquids. 
When he reaches his hut with the milk he kindles 
a fire of wood and palm-nuts in a bottomless clay 
jug or pot. This is placed on three small stones so 
that a draft is produced, and there pours from the 
nozzle in consequence a stream of hot, white smoke. 
The milk is poured gradually upon a paddle, which is 
turned in the smoke until the gum changes its color 
and coagulates into rubber. 
This is hung to dry in the sun for a few days, is 
then sent to Para, and then to other parts of the 
world to be manufactured into bicycle and wagon 
tires, overshoes, coats, mats, belts, hose, and a host 
of extremely useful articles. 
The Brazilian rubber-tree in a suitable climate 
grows rapidly. One tree in Ceylon grew to be six 
