36 
About 1892 an immense development of the rubber-trade took 
place in Southern Madagascar. The following account is borrowed 
from the Zndia-rubber and ı Gutta Percha and Electrical Trades 
Journal (Nov. 3, 1893, p. 107) :— 
The French Vice-Resident, writin’ from Nossi Vé (not to be 
confounded with Nossi Pol, s TB report elu in the Moniteur 
Officiel du Commerce of November 2nd —says :—‘* Caoutchouc has 
only been exploited in the southern fomir since the first months 
of 1892, and the first operations, conducted with discretion, have 
abroad ; a veritable caoutchouc fever has raged with everyone, 
especially the natives. Everything has been neglected for the 
rich product, leading to great modifications in wages, in the 
recruitment of workers, and in the prices of food and goods, &c. 
But the exploitation of caoutchouc has been carried out with 
veritable vandalism ; the trees and shrubs producing it have been 
savagely destroyed ; hence the diminution in the yield, as well as 
in the quality, because the natives have mixed other substances 
with the caoutchouc to increase the size and weight of the balls." 
Some further information which has attracted a good deal of 
— appeared in a letter from Mr. Abraham Kingdon which 
ten in the Standard of Dec. 22, 1896 
call your attention to the arid district of St. Mary's, the 
NU part of Madagascar, from which district an enormous 
amount of india-rubber has been procured during the last few 
years. 
The india-rubber is procured from an almost leafless shrub with 
a large bulbous root. The discovery that this shrub produced 
india-rubber was made by a “fluke.” Up to the time of the 
discovery, india-rubber had only been ee from Landolphia, 
which grows freely in all the low-lying parts of Madagascar, 
north of the arid district of St. Mary's. One day, however, a 
young native (who did not believe that india-rubber could be 
procured from a thing but the Landolphia) brought two balls 
of india-rubber to Mr. Mare hal, of Fort Dauphin. He said, 
“] have brought you two balls of something which looks like 
india-rubber ; but I do not think it can be india-rubber, because 
it was not procured from the vahy ( Landolphia ); but if you wil = 
buy some of it I will bring it to you." He added, “I saw some  —— 
boys playing with these balls. They were made from the juice 
of a shrub, which coagulates as soon as it is exposed to the air.’ 
Mr. Marchal said that he was not a chemist, and em he did not 
know whether it would turn out right in the process of manu- — 
facture he did not care to risk much. The natives ege to sell 
ce Av dollars one Bound) per hundred lbs, and Mr. Marchal 
n credit. He e was able to load a mah ifs er took he cargo 
(four pounds) pe Ibs. For ry eleven months 
Mr. Marchal i ae een, and during this period he cleared 
