I/O 



This rubber is pale yellow in colour, and when held up to the 

 light it is quite transparent, which proves its purity, and accounts 

 for the very high price obtainable for this grade — viz., at present 

 about lOs. 3d. per lb. 



The so-called " sheet " rubber is similar to crepe, but slightly 

 thicker and not so transparent. It is prepared in a different manner 

 and, unlike crepe, must be put through the washing mills by the 

 manufacturer before it can be used. 



Hard cure fine Para is prepared by the native labourers on the 

 Amazon by dipping a socalled " paddle " in the rubber, and 

 then holding it in the smoke of a fire, which hardens the coating of 

 milk on the paddle. The paddle is then dipped again for a second 

 coating, and again smoked, and so on until quite a large " biscuit " — 

 generally weighing about ^cwt. — has been built up. The labourer 

 then takes his knife and slits the biscuit down one side, in order to 

 remove his paddle, when he proceeds to make his next biscuit. 

 Rubber thus prepared contains a large proportion of moisture, 

 but is stronger than any of the plantation rubber, and is worth 

 to-dav about lOs. per lb. 



AFRICAN PRODUCTS 



From the Congo we get large supplies of clean solid black 

 rubber, coagulated originally in large blocks and then cut up into 

 small cubes in order to allow it to dry and ripen. Wc also get 

 from the Congo rubber in reddish sausages, collected directly from 

 the tree, the reddish appearance being caused by small portions 

 of the bark adhering. The value of this Congo rubber varies to-day 

 from 5s. 6d. to 6s. gd. per lb. 



From the Gold Coast we get rubber prepared by the natives' 

 merely digging a trough in the earth and running in the latex, 

 which in time coagulates froip the outside and forms a hard skin 

 and finally a fairly hard lump throughout ; but this grade holds 

 all the moisture which was originally in the latex, and as a result, 

 when cut across, such lumps are found to contain 50 per cent, of 

 their own weight in water. Notwithstanding this, however, such 

 rubber is to-day worth about 3s. id. per lb. This is the so-called 

 *' Gold Coast lump." 



On the Ivory Coast, the French Sudan, and in the Sierra 

 Leone neighbourhood the natives collect rubber from the same 

 trees, but give much more pains to the preparation of it, the 

 resulting produce being known as "Sierra Leone Niggers" or 

 "Conakry." This rubber is in large balls, consisting of strips care- 

 fully wound together, varying in size from that of a good sized orange 

 to that of a man's head. This rolling process is carried out when 

 the strips of rubber are quite fresh, so that they become one com- 

 pact solid ball. Rubber treated in this way is of a reddish colour, 

 for which reason these balls are often known as " Red Niggers " ; 

 they are worth to-day approximately 6s. per lb. 



