96 



THE TOCANTINS 



trickles from gashes made in the bark on the preceding 

 evening, and which is received in Httle clay cups, or in 

 ampullaria shells stuck beneath the wounds. The sap, 

 which at first is of the consistence of cream, soon thickens ; 

 the collectors are provided with a great number of wooden 

 moulds of the shape in which the rubber is wanted, and 

 when they return to the camp they dip them into the 

 liquid, laying on, in the course of several days, one coat 

 after another. When this is done the substance is white 

 and hard ; the proper colour and consistency are given 

 by passing it repeatedly through a thick black smoke 

 obtained by burning the nuts of certain palm trees ^, 

 after which process the article is ready for sale. India- 

 rubber is known throughout the province only by the 

 name of seringa, the Portuguese word for syringe ; it 

 owes this appellation to the circumstance that it was in 

 this form only that the first Portuguese settlers noticed 

 it to be employed by the aborigines. It is said that 

 the Indians were first taught to make syringes of rubber 

 by seeing natural tubes formed by it when the spon- 

 taneously-flowing sap gathered round projecting twigs. 

 Brazilians of all classes still use it extensively in the 

 form of syringes, for injections form a great feature in 

 the popular system of cures ; the rubber for this purpose 

 is made into a pear-shaped bottle, and a quill fixed in 

 the long neck 2. 



September 24th. — Opposite Cameta the islands are all 

 planted with cacao, the tree which yields the chocolate 

 nut. The forest is not cleared for the purpose, but the 

 cacao plants are stuck in here and there almost at random 

 amongst the trees. There are many houses on the banks 

 of the river, all elevated above the swampy soil on wooden 

 piles, and furnished with broad ladders by which to 

 mount to the ground floor. As we passed by in our 

 canoe we could see the people at their occupations in the 



1 The species I have seen used for this purpose are Maxi- 

 miliana regia ; Attalea excelsa ; and Astrocaryum murumurum. 



^ India-rubber is now one of the chief articles of export 

 from Para, and the government derives a considerable revenue 

 from it. In value it amounts to one-third the total sum of 

 exports. Thus in 1857 the amount was 139,000, the total 

 exports being ;^45o,720. In 1858, the rubber exported amounted 

 to ^£'123, 000 and the total exports to ;^"356,ooo. 



