WE GO WITH A SERINGUEIRO ON HIS ROUND 25 



evenly distributed beneath a covering of smooth- 

 faced bark, and ceasing on the same level. More- 

 over, bad tapping makes the milk-supply poorer in 

 both quantity and quality. And when a tree is very 

 badly wounded in the wood it will very probably cease 

 to give any milk at all. 



While we have been talking about tapping in general, 

 we have been following our Brazilian friend along his 

 estrada, watching him deal with one tree after another 

 in the same way as he treated the first one on his 

 round. After a long walk, we get back to that first 

 tree. The seringueiro now makes for his hut, puts 

 away his axe, and picks up an old tin can. Once more 

 he starts off on the same round, and now, as he goes 

 from tree to tree, he unhooks the cups and pours their 

 contents into the larger collecting vessel. The milk has 

 stopped running, but the trees have yielded well this 

 morning, and by the time the " milkman " is nearing 

 home again he has to carry the can very steadily so 

 as not to spill any of the morning's supply. 



It is nearly ten o'clock when we follow our leader into 

 his hut once more, and as we have had nothing to eat 

 since we started out at four, no wonder we do full 

 justice to the meal he invites us to share with him, and 

 tell ourselves that dried beef and beans make very 

 good fare. We might think differently if we had 

 breakfasted on this, or very similar fare, every day for 

 months past, and were not likely to get anything very 

 different at any meal for months to come. 



