410 



[November, 1908. 



GUMS, RESINS, SAPS AND EXUDATIONS. 



THE COLLECTION OF PARA 

 RUBBER ON THE AMAZON, AND 

 ITS FUTURE. 



(By D. Sandmann, in Der Tropenflan- 

 ser, September, 1908.) 

 Abstracted by J. C. Willis. 



Herr Sandmaun visited Ceylon aud the 

 East, upon an agricultural expedition, 

 in 1906, aud has now been to Brazil, 

 where he devoted special attention, 

 to rubber, it being evident that upon 

 the future of South American rubber 

 would largely depend that of many rub- 

 ber plantations now established, and 

 espically those of the valuable kinds of 

 caoutchouc, such as Funtumia, &c. 



Most of the land in the Amazon 

 valley, except to a distance of a few 

 miles from the navigable streams, is 

 still Government property, but much of 

 it is Avorkedfor rubber, tfcc, without airy 

 title, aud of course in such cases oper- 

 ations are liable to come to a sudden end. 



When a rubber-wood, or seringal is 

 opened, a good deal of labour is required, 

 and has often to be got from great dis- 

 tances, especially the States of Ceara or 

 Maranhao, under heavy advances. An 

 opened seringal of one hundred Estra- 

 das or paths will require about fifty 

 men, but to allow for sickness and losses 

 in other ways, eighty must be kept. 

 These Avill require advances of at least 

 500 milreis each at the start, and pro- 

 bably more later, so that a seringal 

 of 400 or 500 estradas may represent 

 advances of 400,000 or E00.000 milreis 

 (£40,000-50,000). 



In laying out a seringal, huts of tim- 

 ber and cad.iau are first built along the 

 streams at likely spots tor boats to 

 call. One forms a kind of store and 

 shop, the others dwellings. Paths 

 (estradas) are then cut through the 

 pmgle, passiug by all the Hevea trees. 

 These are often over 100 yards apart, 

 but sometimes stand in little clumps of 

 two to four. Afterwards more perma- 

 nent buildings, orbarracons, are erected 

 by the waterside. 



Most large seringals are not managed 

 by the owners, but by their represent- 

 atives or lessees. Besides the actual 

 workers at rubber collection, there are 

 other servants, hunters, fishers, &c. The 

 last named get 3,000 milreis (£300) a 

 year in wages. 



The home of the Hevea is mainly in 

 the country subject to floods. Over 

 twenty varieties have been described, 

 but the best is H. brasiliensis, Mull- 

 Arg., locally known as Seringa. 



Each estrada runs round by about 

 l'X) or 150 trees, and returns to its start- 

 ing point. 40 to 800 estradas form a 

 seringa], which may therefore have 

 from 4,000 to 100,000 trees. The laigest 

 is consequently not so large (in number 

 of trees) as a big rubber estate. 



The seringuero. or rubber-collector, 

 begins his work at 6 a.m., equipped 

 with a small axe (machadinha) and a 

 wood knife (few-ado). The tin cups for 

 collection of the milk (tigelinhas) are left 

 in the forest hanging on twigs near the 

 trees. The tapping season begins with 

 the disappearance of the floodwater, 

 and the estrada is cleared of over- 

 growth. On the first tour of the 

 estrada, every tree is struck with a 

 long-handled machadinha at about 12 

 feet from the ground. The wound thus 

 given stimulates the flow of milk from 

 the roots and favours tapping.* The 

 milk that exudes is allowed to run down 

 aud dry upon the bark. Two days later 

 the regular tapping is begun, the macha- 

 dinha now used being about 1£ inch 

 wide, on a 20 inch handle, and made of 

 not too hard iron, so that it will not 

 penetrate too deeply. Sometimes larger 

 tools are used, but against the wish 

 of the owner, for much damage may be 

 done with them. 



The tapping is begun at about 6'6 |[ 

 above the ground, cuts being made in 

 the bark at an angle of 25°. Every second 

 day new ones are made at 2-3 inches 

 below, until after thitty-five tappings the 

 ground is reached, the row of tappings 

 being termed an arrag&o- A second 

 arraoao is then begun at the top two spans 

 distant from the first. The machadinha 

 is struck iu downwards, and then slight- 

 ly bent outwards to open the wound. 

 The blow is supposed not to penetrate 

 the cambium, but is usually struck too 

 hard and enters the wood, so that heal- 

 ing, instead of being smooth, is warty, 

 as has often been noticed in Ceylon. 

 Old trees are frequently so knotty that 

 large round pieces come out at the blow 

 of the machadinha. 



At the lower end of the wound a tige- 

 linha is at once fixed, the sharp edge of 

 the cup being pressed into the bark. 



* We have uo evideaee that there is any flow 

 from the loots, but it is worth trying this method, 

 as is bein done at Ec^aratguda.— Ei>; 



