however, the curds still deposited in the basin, are incorporated 
with it, the quality becomes damaged, being then quoted as 
medium fine. The portion of milk which remains adhering to 
the receptacle or which surrounds the boiao and which thickens 
freely, is reunited into one single skin, and constitutes the 
“sernamby.” ; 
On the following day the work recommences, the seringueiro 
making new incisions about 7 centimetres below the first, and 
continuing thus until he reaches the ground. 
To that series of blows in the vertical sense, 35 on the 
average, is given the name arreacéo. In each seringueira 2 
of these arreagdes can be made per year. 
That process which with small variations is employed in all 
Amazonia, produces, as is known, the best rubber in the world. 
A seringal may contain in accordance with its size from 40 
to 800 roads. Each seringueiro exploits 2 roads; in which he 
works alternatively. The daily gathering varies between 2 
and 8 litres of milk, but an average of 5 litres can-be taken 
for a road which contains 120 seringueiras of 35 centimetres 
diametre. As each arreagdo has 35 incisions and the seringueiras 
supporting 2 “arreacgdes,” we have thus for each road 70 days or 
140 days for the 2 roads; 700 litres of milk produce 400 kilos 
or in other words 1.666 grammes per tree. 
There are “seringaes,” however, in which that average is 
considerably greater, a medium of 3 kilos per. tree not being an 
exaggeration in some rivers. 
Contrary to the almost sedentary life of the seringueiros, the 
extractors of the caucho (known as caucheiros) are of nomadic 
habits, and this is so by reason of the barbarous process em- 
ployed in the exploitation of those trees which is a ruinous one. 
The extraction of the latex of the “‘castill6a” can be done in 
the same way as that of the latex of the heveas; the caucheiros 
allege, however, that the cupim introducing itself into the 
wounds made by the incisions soon causes the death of the 
plant. Thus they argue that if the tree is condemned, the best 
way is to cut it down so as to obtain the greatest benefit possible 
out of it, by the complete utilization of the latex which each 
tree contains. That reasoning, however, has no foundation 
in fact 
The exploitation of the castilléa is done in the following 
manner: the “caucheiro” penetrates into the forest and marks 
each castillda tree that he finds, with a cut from his knife, which 
incisions correspond to a sign of possession for extraction later 
on. Once he has discovered a certain number of these trees, he 
constructs a temporary wooden hut for himself and then begins 
el 
