46 GOODYEAR ON GUM-ELASTIC. 



scale by individuals in the neighborhood of the city of Para, 

 and is carried on more extensively at a greater distance, within 

 a circuit of about fifty miles. 



The gum is obtained from the tree on the slightest incision, at 

 all seasons of the year ; but it flows most freely, and the gum is 

 most easily collected, during the dry season ; very little, com- 

 paratively, is collected during the rainy months. The business 

 is most attended to during the months of May, June, July, and 

 August. The gum gathered at this time is considered the best. 

 Camps or orchards are selected where the trees are most abun- 

 dant, which is commonly in swampy or low grounds. 



" The method of collecting and manufacturing the gum, is as 

 follows : The trees are tapped early in the morning, by a blow 

 of a hatchet, about an inch in width, and a clay cup, resembling 

 the mud swallow's nest, made by the hands of the workmen, is 

 attached to the tree immediately under the incision. One person, 

 with his hatchet, takes his beat, of a mile, perhaps, in extent, taps 

 his seventy or eighty trees, which are as many as an active fel- 

 low can attend to, commencing at five and finishing at seven 

 o'clock in the morning. The sun, be it understood, always 

 rising at six o'clock. Having now tapped his number of trees, 

 and attached about six cups to each of them, he returns to his 

 starting place, and with his calabash goes the same round, and 

 collects the small table spoonful of milk, or sap, which he finds in 

 each clay cup. As the man goes his circuit, he empties the sap 

 into his calabash. The cups are fitted into each other, and 

 covered with leaves at the foot of each tree to keep them moist, 

 for the next tapping of the same tree in another place. In this 

 manner he has obtained from one to two gallons, according to 

 the season or other circumstances. The milk by this time has 

 ceased to flow, and the incision through the bark already be- 

 comes clogged. 



The milk, after being collected, is taken home, where imme- 

 diate preparations are made for the smoking process, which must 

 all be finished before two o'clock, otherwise the milk will coagu- 

 late and be lost. This service of manufacturing the gum into 



