216 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER 



ing that he had two thousand dollars for it. The Pioneer offered to 

 do it for that sum, but the next morning, when the papers were to he 

 drawn, there remained only fifteen hundred dollars. Then the trustee 

 proposed that a seven hundred and fifty dollar bridge be built, and 

 that he and the Pioneer divide seven hundred and fifty dollars. It took 

 some trading to arrange that, and before it was finished there was left 

 but six hundred dollars. Then apparently all of the officials got a slice, 

 for two days later there was but ten dollars left. Nor has the bridge 

 ever been built, but there is still an excellent ford, which appears to 

 suit the people just as well. Thus it \vill be seen that they equal us in 

 the distribution of government appropriations, and outclass us in some 

 forms of piety. One of our rubber cutters, for example, bore the name 

 of Jesus Maria Dios but he did not look the part. 



During the forenoon I looked over the grove of Castilloas that 

 fronted the house, and found that most of them had been tapped that 

 season. Indeed, one of our mozos said that they had been tapped twice. 

 The process of tapping here is quite different from that pictured by 

 most who tell of the gathering of Panama rubber. They usually describe 

 a series of zigzag cuts, running one into another from the base of the tree 

 far up the trunk. Here each cut was individual, and made with two 

 strokes, one horizontal, and the other slightly downward and joining 

 the first so that a small slice of bark was taken out. In the lower part 

 of the cut the thick latex gathers and is scraped into a calabash with the 

 fingers. The trees, as a rule, were tapped as high as the native could 

 reach, and frequently a rustic ladder or a rough staging enabled the 

 gatherers to get higher up on the tree. 



It seems that the plot of trees at Rio Negro were not self sown, 

 but were planted by the Indian in his rice field after the crop was gath- 

 ered. There were one hundred and five trees on about an eighth of an 

 acre of land, said to be four years old. The rest of the clearing had 

 grown up to jungle, but where the rubber trees were it was quite clear 

 and the trees big and lusty. Their condition made me wonder if the 

 cleaning that is carried on by up-to-date planters is after all so much of 

 a necessity as they believe. 



Although it was Sunday, all went in swimming in the swift Rio 

 Negro, and all also went fishing (with a stick of dynamite) but only 

 got one. The swimming was not prolonged, however, because of the 

 rodadors, that were- quite troublesome. While in the water a band of 

 brown faced monkeys expressed their disapproval of our Sabbath break- 

 ing by throwing sticks and branches at us from the tops of the lofty 



