16? 
kindred  subjects,  to  whom  I submitted  a copy  of  this  translation, 
has  written  to  me  a letter  in  which  occurs  the  following  criticism, 
viz: 
“ Many  thanks  for  the  Agricultural  Bulletin,  which  I was  glad  to 
“have.  Mr.  RodriguES  is  evidently  a sound  historical  botanist, 
“but  he  makes  a fearful  hash  of  the  ethnological  side  of  the  rubber 
“question.  The  Naiihas  as  he  spells  the  name,  are  the  Nahiias 
“ {Nahua,  plural  of  Nahuati)  general  name  of  the  Nakiiatlan 
“ family,  of  which  the  Aztecs  are  a branch.  But  none  of  these  ever 
“ reached  South  America  at  all,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  the 
“southernmost  Aztec  colonists  w'ere  the  now  e.xtinct  Seguas 
“ {Siguas  or  Sivas)  of  the  Chiriqui  Lagoon,  where  they  w'ere  met  by 
“the  first  Spanish  invaders  of  the  present  Costa  Rica  district. 
“ Segua  meaning  Outlanders  “ Aliens  ”,  was  not  their  real  name, 
“but  that  given  to  them  by  the  Chiriqui  natives,  who  of  course 
“ looked  on  them  as  intruders.  They  probably  called  themselves 
Pipil  (plural  of  Pilli)  “ Masters Superior  persons  “ as  did  all 
“ the  Aztec  settlers  of  Nicaragua  and  other  parts  of  Central  America. 
“ With  them  the  Omaguas  had  nothing  whatever  to  do,  though  he 
“ is  right  in  saying  that  these  were  called  Cambebas  (or  Cavpewas) 
“ “flatheads”  in  the  Tupi  language,  the  lingua  geral  of  Brazil 
“ since  its  adoption  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries.  But  his  derivation 
“is  wrong;  it  conges  not  from  nkong  head  and  pena  flat,  which  are 
“ no  words,  but  from  akanga  head  and  pewa  flat,  which  are  good 
“Tupi.  The  Omaguas  themselves  were  a distant  branch  of  the 
“ great  Tupi-Guarani  stock,  and  had  penetrated  up  the  .Amazons 
“to  the  Peruvian  Montana  (its  upper  reaches,  Solim5es  and  Mara- 
“ non)  before  the  advent  of  the  w'hites.  He  should  consult  on  all 
“these  matters  J.  C.  R.  Milliet  de  .Saint  Adolphe  or  rather  the 
“ Portuguese  translation  (“  Diccionario  Geographico  Historico  e des- 
“criptivo  do  Imperio  do  Brazil  “ &c.  &c.  Pans  1863)  from  Milliet’s 
“ French  ms.  which  I believe  was  never  published.  * * * * 
“You  are  quite  welcome  to  put  the  above  corrigenda,  into  the 
“ next  Bulletin,  if  so  disposed. 
A.  D.  M. 
Journey  to  a Rubber  Plantation  on  the  Isthmus 
of  Columbia. 
By  C.  O.  Weber,  Ph.  D.* 
{Concluded  from  page  j/i.) 
The  Latex. — I have  already  stated  that  the  latex  obtained  from 
Castilloa  elastica  at  Las  Cascadas  does  not  flow  like  milk,  but 
issues  from  the  cuts  in  the  form  of  a thick  cream  containing  a very 
high  percentage  of  india-rubber.  This  is  certainly  curious  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  same  tree  in  other  districts  produces  a fairly 
thin  milk,  although  I have  been  told  that  the  Castilloa  trees  in 
certain  districts  of  Guatemala  and  Venezuela  exhibit  the  same  pecu- 
* From  the  India  Rtibber  and  Gutta-Percha  Trades  Journal,  Sept.  29.  1902. 
