ic8 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
ana regia) or similar oily palm nuts, he is ready to commence op- 
erations on the first fine day. There is some diversity in the man- 
ner of taking the rubber latex in the Amazon valley. In some 
districts they prepare long strips from the inner pith of the foot- 
stalk of the leaf of the inaja or of the hacaba palm. These are 
lacked obliquely round the stem of the trees, with sharpened 
l)icces split out of hard covering of the same leaf stalks. These 
strips, being smeared on the inside with wet clay, form a channel 
for collecting and conducting the latex milk into the cup placed to 
receive it. In the other method, which I consider the better, the 
cups are put on in a ring round the trunk, usually a span apart. 
Three cuts about i 1-2 ins. long are made in the bark with a small 
axe. In this way the number of cups is proportioned to the size 
of the tree. Tin cups are used. They are made slightly concave 
on one side in order to fit the convexity of the tree trunks. They 
are attached to the tree by the use of a piece of the ball of kneaded 
clay, which each collector carries in his bag. The tapping always 
begins as soon as there., is light enough in the forest path to see by, 
One man is usually apportioned to each path, containing, say, 100 
trees. When he has tapped his trees, he sits down at the end of 
the path for half an hour. or so, but as soon as he sees that the 
tree last tapped has ceased to drip. the milk, he starts at a trot on 
the back track, detaching and emptying the cups into his calabash 
as quickly as possible. Speed throughout is a great object, as the 
milk Jaicx speedily coagulates, and then can only be sold on the 
m.arket for an inferior price, as serivamhi, as compared to that ob- 
tained for that which has been smoke-cured. When the men ar- 
rive at the central hut from their different converging paths they 
each empty their quantum of the latex taken for the morning's 
work into one of the large Indian native earthenware pans, usually 
used as a receptacle. Care is taken to squeeze out with the hands 
all of the already coagulated curd-like masses. These are thrown 
on one side to be made up into balls. Earthen pots in form of 
miniature kilns are placed over small fires, and the "siringero" sits 
down to the really tedious part of his business. He drops a hand- 
ful or so of the oily palm nuts down the narrow neck of the kiln, 
and forthwith arises a dense smoke. Taking a wooden mould— 
