AND THE MALAY STATES 



53 



visited other parts of the plantation, and saw a great deal of fine rubber. 

 At present there is an excellent market for the seed, as so many new 

 plantations are going in. As a better preparation, however, against the 

 time when the seed will be a drug in the market, my host was experi- 

 menting with an oil made from the seeds. With a rude native mill he 

 turned out an oil which the native women eagerly purchased to burn 

 before their gods, while the pressed cake made an excellent food for 

 cattle. During the forenoon I saw a large Ceara rubber tree cut down 

 and it seemed to have no latex in it at alL I also saw a Para rubber tree, 



SCENE IN KELANI VALLEY, CEYLON. 



self sown, growing out of a cleft in the rock where there was apparently 

 no soil, the trunk being ten inches in diameter and apparently very 

 thrifty. 



One of the most interesting features of this plantation was the 

 rubber curing house, where the milk is coagulated and the rubber pre- 

 pared for market. This is a one-story, brick building, 30X80 feet, 

 smelling for all the world like a dairy, as one steps within its doors. At 

 one end of the room is a long table upon which are hundreds of enamelled 

 iron pans, capable of holding about a quart each. Into these pans the 

 milk is poured through a cheese cloth strainer, after having been previ- 

 ously strained in the field. To it is often added a very little acetic acid 

 a few drops only. This is allowed to stand over night, and in the 

 morning there is to be found in each pan a pure white pancake of rubber, 

 soft, spongy, and full of water. Each cake is rolled on a zinc-covered 



