TREES THAT MANUFACTURE 115 



a juicy fruit known as the sapodilla pear and a 

 straight, clear timber trunk. 



Chicle-gathering natives swarm up the trees in 

 sap-flowing time and, clinging to the straight trunks 

 with their feet and with ropes encircling their 

 waists, use both hands to hack great V-shaped cuts 

 with their machetes. The sap flows down these 

 furrows to little receptacles at the bottom of each. 

 Collected in huge pots, it looks like milk at first, 

 but soon turns yellow and thickens to the con- 

 sistency of treacle. The last vestige of water is 

 driven out by boiling and kneading and the dough- 

 like mass is ready for export. At the northern fac- 

 tories the long-suffering jaw-actuator is further 

 boiled and kneaded, whirled in a centrifugal re- 

 ceiver, "fussed up" with powdered sugar and 

 flavouring matter, rolled into sheets, cut, dried, 

 wrapped, advertised, and as a last benediction sent 

 to the slot machines. 



The sapota seems to be a full-blooded creature, 

 as it stands moderate bleeding for twenty-five 

 years or more. Eight pounds of chicle to a gallon 

 of sap is a good average yield. 



We could manage to get along some way 

 without chewing-gum, but tropical rubber has be- 

 come a vital and intimate part of temperate zone 

 civilisation. If it is true that we never miss a thing 



