RUBBER 9 



balls owing to the fallen latex being added to the 

 rest. 



In addition to the inhabitants themselves collecting 

 rubber, natives belonging to a tribe from Portuguese 

 Guinea, called " Manjagos," travel through the country 

 for the purpose ; the rubber which =they obtain being 

 sold in the French Colony to the south of the Gambia. 

 The " Manjagos " are said to make a semicircular cut 

 upon the thick vine-stems just above the ground, to 

 induce the better flow of latex. This, they maintain, 

 is not a destructive method, and that, as the root 

 stock is uninjured, the plant continues to yield latex 

 for a long time. At one time the rubber vine must 

 have been plentiful, but the rush for it which occurred 

 at the beginning of the present century has had the 

 effect of exterminating it, except in the more inaccess- 

 ible places. The export has declined and is now in- 

 significant. The plant is known to the Mandingoes as 

 " Folio." An illustration is given showing this plant at 

 Kotoo (Fig. 4). 



Landolphia florida, Benth., is common in places similar 

 to those where the last-mentioned vine occurs, but the 

 latex is not used in any way to adulterate the good 

 rubber, nor is inferior " paste " rubber made from it, 

 as in other places in West Africa. Ficus Vogelii, known 

 as " Kobbo " (Mandingo), has recently been used for 

 extracting an inferior rubber, which has been shipped 

 in small quantities. This tree is found growing in 

 Bathurst as well as in many of the large towns, where 

 it often attains a large size, and affords an excellent 

 shade for native markets, etc. A view of a tree in 

 Bathurst is shown (Fig. 3). Information regarding the 

 composition and value of the rubber of Ficus Vogelii 

 is given in the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, vol. vii. 

 (1909), p. 260. 



Some of the South American species of rubber trees 

 have been planted at different places, but for the most 

 part the climatic conditions have proved unsuitable 

 for their establishment. An exception to this is the 

 Ceara rubber (Manihot Glaziovii), large trees of which 

 were to be seen in Bathurst and at Bakau, but in the 

 latter locality appear to have been cut down during 

 recent years. It is generally acknowledged that Ceara 



