34 RUBBER 



Castilloa, and Mexico has large areas of a rubber-giving 

 shrub called " Guayule." 



Now that you have seen how caucho is collected in 

 South America, you will, I feel sure, be all the more 

 interested to get a peep at some caucho-gatherers in 

 Central America, who work in a different way. So let 

 us go to Nicaragua. 



Once more we are standing in the maze of a tropical 

 forest. Just in front of us is a tree, which has big 

 leaves hanging independently of each other from either 

 side of the branches. By the shape and arrangement 

 of its foliage we recognize it as a Castilloa. Under this 

 tree stands a semi-clad, brown figure. What a dwarf 

 he looks ! No wonder ; the tree with whose height 

 you are unconsciously comparing his stature is a giant, 

 whose top-to-root measure is well over 100 feet. 



The native is going to collect caucho-milk. He does 

 not cut down the tree, but taps it as it stands. With a 

 big knife he makes V-shaped cuts in the trunk, operat- 

 ing on the lower part from the ground, and on the upper 

 part from a hanging ladder. This rough-looking 

 climbing apparatus he has made for himself out of 

 bush-rope. You can see for yourself that it is easy 

 enough for him to find bush-rope in this forest ; from 

 the branches of numbers of the trees around hang 

 lengths of naturallj^-corded fibre, some of it string- 

 like, much of it thicker than any rope that is ever made 

 in a factory. 



The caucho-milk runs out from the cuts and trickles 

 down the trunk into a calabash. When the collector 

 has tapped several trees, he puts all the milk into an 

 old pan, and adds to it some watery juice which he has 

 obtained from a particular variety of creeper. He 



