his work. In the first place he clears the brush-wood around 
each tree and cleans away the undergrowth from the ground, he 
then opens small cavities in the lower part of the trunk into 
which he fixes the “porringers,” small vessels made of tin, which 
are to receive the latex. This done he strikes the tree with 
oblique “entalhas” of from 1 to 1% metres. in length, canalizing 
the latex which commences to run from the extensive wounds, by 
means of mud gutters. At the end of 24 hours the little tin 
vessels are full and their contents are then all poured into a pail, 
the ‘“caucheiro” commencing thereafter to cut down the tree, 
so as to get the full benefit of the latex, existing in the superior 
part of its trunk. The tree as a general rule is cut at a point 
above that where the incisions were made, the tree thus re- 
maining suspended above the ground at one end by the lower 
part of the trunk, where it remains fixed and at the other 
by its own branches. Along the whole length of the trunk at 
about a distance of an arm’s length from each other, new cir- 
cular incisions are made and in corresponding cavities on the 
ground are placed the receiving cups. The latex thus gathered 
is collected into a pail. 
The thickening is done with a solution of common soap 
about 125 grammes to a pail of water, two pailfulls of that solu- 
tion being necessary to thicken 30 litres of latex. They also 
employ the juice of a liane called vetilla which by the description 
given seems to belong to the convolvulas family—the Ipomea 
patatas. 
The thickening process takes place in rectangular holes of 
1 metre long and half a metre broad, whose clayey sides are 
well paved and into them the latex is poured, care being taken 
that it is then covered up with palm leaves to prevent the entry 
of rain water. They thus obtain the caucho planks (rubber in 
cakes), which arrive in the market full of impurities, that de- 
preciate its value very much and it is not at all a rare thing 
that water exists in cavities in the interior of it, thereby in- 
creasing the weight and making the transport dearer. 
The portions of the latex which flow out along the length 
of the trunk or fall into the cavities after that the cups have 
been taken away, thicken itself freely and form the “sernamby” 
of caucho, to-day much appreciated in the rubber markets, be- 
cause of its being purer and not offering errors in weight. 
Each adult tree furnishes on the average-from 50 to 56 litres 
of latex or in other words nearly 30’kilos of rubber. Each cake 
of the size above mentioned weighs nearly 60 kilos; it is thus 
necessary to cut down three trees so as to obtain one cake. 
The trees cut down sprout and commence to grow again, but 
22 
