A PLANTATION IN A TROPICAL FOREST 115 
animal who cannot escape, be he man or insect. Everything 
makes a wild rush for the forest, off the line of march of the 
ant army. Any poor little lizzard, mouse, snake or cock- 
roach that cannot escape leaves only his whitened and 
well-picked bones to tell the tale. No depth of thatch or 
convenient corner can hide him. When one thinks that in 
this winterless land how quickly a dwelling becomes filled 
with little creatuees, one can imagine the beauty of this 
arrangement. Of course the human kind and the cats and 
dogs all flee at once, and when they come back their house 
is all clean for them. To be scriptural, I might say that 
they then take in 7,000 other pests, till possibly the last 
state of that house is not worse than the first. 
PLANTING. 
Starting a plantation in a forest is a very simple mat- 
ter. In the so-called dry season the forest is cleared. The 
Indians cut down the brush, weeds and undergrowth with 
their machetes, and fell the trees with axes. All this is 
allowed to dry out on the ground and then is set on fire. 
Of course the big logs simply lie where they fall, till con- 
sumed by the termites, but the smaller undergrowth is 
burned up. ‘Then the seed is planted simply by inserting 
it into the hole made by a sharp stick. No plowing or 
harrowing at allis done. In this way two crops of corn, or 
one crop of corn and one of cotton are raised the first year. 
The next year the weed comes and must be dealt with, but 
if one plants rubber or cacao, it is best left to grow up with 
the natural undergrowth in wild forest condition, as is its 
nature ; the sun is thus kept off the stem, and the cacao is 
totally shaded by larger growth. When the rubber trees 
are five years old they may be tapped. This is done by 
cutting through the outer layer of the bark with a knife, 
especially made for the purpose. Incisions are made, run- 
ning rather more than half way round the trunk, the incis- 
ions coming from opposite directions, pointing diagonally 
