232 In the Heart of Africa 



placed to the credit of the Congo State. Irumu, however, has 

 to be content with an inferior position as regards the yield in 

 rubber, on account of its distance from the forest's edge. The 

 monthly harvest amounts to only some 500 kilograms. This is 

 an insignificant quantity when compared with that obtained in 

 the main rubber centres — the Aruwimi and Uelle basins, Nepoko, 

 Avakubi, Bomili, etc. There, during the best years, 7,000, 

 10,000, and even 14,000 kilograms are produced monthly. Yet 

 the rubber-tree plantations are exposed to special peril, as 

 refractory natives lop and pull down the biggest and most 

 valuable trunks of the Funtiimia elastica and the gum-yielding 

 liane. The insubordination of the population in the districts 

 lying between the Aruwimi and the Uelle assumed previously 

 such a threatening character that a punitive military force was 

 despatched there. The Chef de zone, resolute and trustworthy 

 Commandant Engh, a Norwegian by birth, had to proceed to 

 the scene to restore order ; and through his own wariness and 

 discretion, as well as that of his officials, this was eventually 

 accomplished. 



Rightly recognising the danger that threatened the rubber 

 industry in consequence of the hostile attitude of the natives, 

 the Congo State has for some years established great rubber 

 plantations ; in fact, we came across them at all the more import- 

 ant European stations. The plantations, however, being only of 

 recent growth, it has so far not been possible to determine 

 decisively which sorts are most suitable for cultivation. 



The nature of the ground has been taken into account 

 generally, and those varieties selected which flourish best under 

 similar conditions in the virgin forest. Commonly, the Funiumia 

 elastica is given the preference, as it grows much more rapidly 

 than the rubber vine. Whilst the tree can be tapped, without 

 injury to its growth, after a period of six or seven years, the vine 

 can only be turned to account after twenty years. The cultivation 

 of the liane, therefore, is on the decline, and they are only grown 

 where the funtumia will not flourish. 



At all European stations one plant must be put in the ground 



