The Rubber-Tkee and Trade. 529 



India-rubber — called on the River "Borracha" (from 

 the bottle form in which it is exported), " Seringa " (be- 

 cause it was formerly made by the natives into syringes 

 for injections, a popular treatment of diseases), " Gomma- 

 elastica," " Jebe,"and " Caucho" — is the product of sever- 

 al Amazonian trees, but especially of Syphonia cahucha^ 

 known by the collectors as the " Seringueira " or "Chirin- 



Branch of the ludia-rubber-tree. 



ga." This tree, having the bark and foliage of the Euro- 

 pean ash, and a trunk with the maximum diameter of four 

 feet, and branchless for a hundred feet, grows on the wild 

 lowlands {ygwpos) of all the tributaries, but is tapped main- 

 ly in the regions of the Madeira, Xingii, Puriis, Jurua, 

 and Tapajos. The rubber is collected in the dry season 

 (between July and January), one man collecting on the 



* This name, and S. elastica and Hevea Brasiliensis, may possibly ex- 

 press distinct species. 



2L 



