100 



o'clock in the afternoon the tapping must be done early, as in the event 

 of a shower the milk would be spattered about and lost. The collector, 

 first of all, at the beginning of the dry season, goes round and lays down 

 at the base of each tree a certain number of small cups of burnt clay. 

 At the lesser trees only three or four are put, but at the larger ones 

 from eight to twelve are deposited. The footpaths leading from tree to 

 tree are likewise cleared of sapling growths, and the bridges over the 

 gapos (natural ditches) formed at each place by the trunk of a tree are, 

 where necessary, replaced. On proceeding to his work the collector 

 takes with him a small axe for tapping and a wicker basket containing 

 a good-sized ball of well-wrought clay. He usually has likewise a bag 

 for the waste droppings of rubber, and for what may adhere to the 

 bottoms of the cups. These promiscuous gatherings are termed ser- 

 namby, and form the 'negrohead' of the English market. The cups, as 

 already stated, are of burnt clay, and are sometimes round but more 

 frequently flat or slightly concave on one side, so as to stick easily when 

 with a small portion of clay they are pressed against the trunk of the 

 tree. The contents of fifteen cups make one English imperial pint. 

 Arriving at a tree, the collector takes the axe in his right hand, and, 

 striking in an upward direction as high as he can reach, makes a deep 

 upward sloping cut across the trunk which always goes through the bark 

 and penetrates an inch or more into the wood. * The cut is an inch in 

 breadth. Frequently a small port on of the bark breaks off from the 

 upper side, and occasionally a thin splinter of wood is also raised. 

 Quickly stooping down he takes a cup, and pasting on a small quantity 

 of clay on the flat side, presses it to the trunk close beneath the cut. By 

 this time the milk, which is of dazzling whiteness, is beginning to 

 exude, so that if requisite he so smooths the clay that it may trickle 

 directly into the cup. At a distance of four or five inches, at the same 

 height another cup is luted on, and so the process is continued until a 

 row of cups encircle the tree at a height of about six feet from the 

 ground Tree after tree is treated in like manner, until the tapping 

 required for the day is finished. This work should be concluded by 

 nine or ten o'clock in the morning, because the milk continues to exude 

 slowly from the cuts for three hours or perhaps longer. I may state 

 that there is a great difference among collectors in the performance of 

 these duties. Some take care to get good clay previously and in- 

 corporate it well, so that a very small portion is needed to lute the cups 

 to the trunks, they also work with great neatness and intel igence, and 

 invariably collect a good quantity of milk. Others, again, do not take 

 the trouble to prepare clay beforehand, but merely scrape up a handful 

 when they require it at the side of a gapo, which is often of little con- 

 sistence, so that a large quantity is required to fasten the cups. This 

 class of collectors have often many fragments of clay or other impurities 

 in their milk, the result of not following a proper method of working 

 the quantity of milk that flows from each cut varies, but if the tre'e is 

 large and has not been much tapped, the majority of the cups will 

 be more than half full, and occasionally a few may be filled to the brim. 



* Collins says : — A. long perpendicular incision is made from near the base and extend- 

 ing high up the trunk. On each side of this line and meeting it are numerous small 

 Oblique cuts. Sometimes a basal cut is made extending some distance round the trunk 

 on each side of the vertical cut." 



