THE COW-TREE. 579 



moulds, pans in which to collect it, and axes for cutting the 

 wood for their fires. They build their huts in the neighbour- 

 hood of the trees. 



The first business is to make gashes in the bark, keeping 

 them open by pegs, under which they place little clay cups, 

 or shells. Each person has a certain number of trees under 

 his charge. Every morning he goes round, and pours what 

 has collected in the cups into a large bowl. The sap is at 

 first of the consistency of cream, but it soon thickens. The 

 moulds, which are generally in the form of bottles, are then 

 dipped into the liquid. As soon as the coating is dried, the 

 mould is again dipped in, and the same process is gone 

 through for several days. The substance is at this time 

 hard and white. Meantime fires are made with the nuts of 

 several species of palms — the inaja and others. These pro- 

 duce a thick black smoke. The india-rubber is then passed 

 several times through it. By this means a dark colour and 

 the proper consistency are obtained. The moulds being 

 broken, the clay is poured out, and the material is ready for 

 the market. 



Sometimes it is formed in large flat pieces ; and of late 

 \ r ears it has been preserved in a liquid state in hermetically 

 closed vessels. 



The seringa-tree differs greatly from the group of plants 

 which furnish the caoutchouc of Africa and the West Indies; 

 the latter being the product of certain species of ficus of a 

 climbing character, and inferior to the india-rubber of South 

 America. 



THE COW-TREE. 



Among the noblest of the forest monarchs appears a tree 

 with deeply-scored reddish and ragged bark. Who would 



