20 RUBBER 



rough lot, but that is not surprising, seeing what a 

 hard life they lead — and there are many rough 

 diamonds among them. You will feel more in S3an- 

 pathy with them when you have lived but a day in 

 their midst, and been with one of them on his round. 

 But already you must have been thinking that they 

 have not much comfort to look forward to when their 

 work is done, for you can see at a glance that their 

 houses are mere shelters. 



Here is the picture you will take away in your mind's 

 eye of a rubber-gatherer's home on the shores of the 

 Amazon : A framework of poles, uprights and cross- 

 bars, carries a thatched roof. The building is open on 

 all sides — indeed, the only other detail which entitles 

 it to the name of building is one floor, raised well 

 above the ground, so that the inmates of the house can 

 keep a little distance out of damp's way. The un- 

 partitioned space between floor and roof serves as 

 common day-room and night-room. Hammocks pro- 

 vide sleeping accommodation ; old boxes take the 

 place of tables and chairs ; pots and pans pretend to 

 be ornaments ; every corner is a makeshift cupboard 

 for tinned foods, bottles, oil-cans, tools, and such- 

 like oddments ; and the framework of poles does duty 

 as wardrobe on week-days and as linen-line for the 

 washing on Sundays. 



In seringal life a married man and his family generally 

 occupy a private hut. The unmarried men, and their 

 married comrades who have not brought wife and 

 children into the forest, live together in batches, 

 several of them sharing one house on the " chummery " 

 system. 



