336 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. i, 1893. 
is even more deeply indebted to the New York, 
Baltimore, or London firm which furnishes him 
with supplies and finally secures the rubber. Some- 
body makes heavy profits out of every transaction; 
but it is not the poor Indian, upon whose courage 
and powers of endurance all depends, nor yet the 
smaller traders. 
THE ANNUAL EXPORTATION OF INUIA-HUBBEB 
from Para is said to be upward of 20,fX>0,000 pounds, 
worth from 6,000,00U to 9,000,00(1 dollars. The 
rubber tree of Brazil {siphomia elantca, a near relative 
of the ficu« clastica of the East Indies, and the 
nrciiola clastica of Asia) is really a giant species of 
milk weed. It begins to yie'd when about fifteen 
years old, and the Government has repeatedly bug- 
gested plans for cultivating it by planting large 
areas with trees and conducting the business like 
that of coffee and sugar plantations. But Brazilians 
seem to be peculiarly devoid of the power to take 
" a long look ahead," and, so far, nobody has been 
found willing to wait fifteen years for the first returns 
on an investment. 
ON THE HUNT. 
Hereabouts the rubber hunters are called striu- 
guerios, as in Central America they are known as 
yularoes. They usually go out in small parties, 
having chosen one of their own number as "cap- 
tain," and as soon as the rubber swamps are reached 
they select a suitable spot for the base of operations 
and proceed to construct a rude camp, which serves 
as a general rendezvous. They then wander off, 
singly and in couples, searching all day for the 
new .trees, and returning to headquarters at 
nightfall. The " camp " consists of a central hut. 
built upon stilt-like supports to elevate it above 
the malaria-haunted morass, in which rubber trees 
most abound, with palm- thatched roof projecting 
all around like that of a Swiss chalet. There are 
neither windows nor door to this rude home, nor 
any interior furnishings except hooks upon which 
hammocks may be suspended when rains drive their 
owners inside. Ordinarily all out doors " serves 
well for a kitchen, and the men prefer to suspend 
their sleeping paraphernalia from the trees around 
the central fire, built for the triple purpose of 
frightening away prowling beasts, counteracting the 
effects o£ deadly dews and miasmas and keeping 
off those troublesome pests, mosquitoes, gnats, xin- 
xins and garripotas. AH around the little camp is 
boundless forest, so dense that it is impossible to 
penetrate it the distauce of a rod beyond the hut, 
except in those paths which the hunters have 
partially cleared with infinite toil. But I can assure 
you that a visitor feels no "call" to walk abroad 
in the spongy marshes, where every step sinks him 
in above the shoe tops, and poisonous water snakes 
are known to lurk and jaguars prowl in search 
of prey. 
A DAN&EEOUS LIFE. 
As may be imagined, the hunter's life is little 
above that of the wild beasts whose prowlings make 
night hideous around him, and he is constantly 
exposed to a thousand dangers, seen and unseen. 
Not only do hungry pumas, wild boars and other 
powerful animals abound, but deadly reptiles no 
longer than your finger and tiny insects whose sting 
is fatal. There are wee lizards, the exact colour 
of the leaves under which they hide, and innumer- 
able creeping and crawling things more dangerous 
than the dreaded rattler of our northern wilds, which 
at least gives some warning of his intention to strike ; 
while even more to be feared than the monstrous 
crocodiles of the lagoons and serpents of hugging 
proclivities, are the fevers that float upon the noxious 
vapours of the tierra caliente. 
MARKING THE TREES. 
The hunter, as he goes his daily rounds, makes a 
number of fresh cuts around the trunk of each tree 
which he has previously marked as his own special 
property, pro tern, and sets his little clay cups to 
catch the valuabe sap that will ooze from the inci- 
sion. Later in the day he repeats the round, carry- 
ing a queer sort of bucket made from a big gourd 
inrhioh has a cover and handle of braided palm fibre 
and into it he empties the collected contents of all 
the little cups. When he gets back to camp he ponrs 
the juice from the calabash pail into the mammoth 
shell of a torturuga or Amazon turtle. In that stage 
the yellowish white fluid resembles good rich Jersey 
cream more nearly than anything else to which I 
can compare it. Different ways of eoigulating it into 
the article known to commerce, are practised in 
Tarious parts of the world. Here it is held on a wood- 
en jiaddlc over a fire of palm nute which has been 
built under a clay pot shaped like a liage lamp chim- 
ney. The dense white smoke issuing from the 
top of the pot hardens it into a heathery sub- 
stance, and at the same time changes its colour 
from pale yellow to bla<:k. As fast as it hardens 
more sap is poured on. until the mass of rubber on 
the paddle is as heavy as a man can b&ndle. when 
it is sliced off with a hiige knife. 
IN CENTUAL AMEBICA 
the fluid is coagulated with the sap of a wild vine, 
somewhat resembling the grape, which overgrows all 
those tangled forests and acts the part of rennet to 
cheese curd or " mother "-pulque to crude maguey 
juice, for after its addition the milk soon hardens 
into hard cakes of India-rubber, all ready for trans- 
portation. In other places it is solidified by evapo- 
ration of the liquid part in the sun, and is then 
completely diied m kettles suspended over a wood fire. 
In tne great warehouses of Mauaos and Para, you 
may see enormous masses of dried caoutchouc sap, 
resembling cheeses, awaiting shipment. By the way 
the native word for India-rubber (caoutchouc) soundi 
much like a sneeze, and is pronounced as if spelled 
keechook, with the accent strong on the first syl- 
lable. The milky juice which now plays so impor- 
tant a part among the world's productions was first 
made use by the Indians of Costa Kica, and by thein 
made known to their conquerors. Early as I,. '>13 the 
Spaniards in Mexico bad learned to make it into 
shoes, and also to use it for waxing their cloaks in 
order to render them waterproof; and no doubt that 
was the origin of the idea of its manufacture into 
waterproof cloth and the modem mackintosh. — India- 
rubber and Guttapercha Journal. 
(JiNCHONA BaBK and QuININE IN THE UNITED 
States. — iho American Grocer bss the following : — 
Btrariug oit tlid general qaealioa of the present 
supply ami position of bark we give the fullowing 
imports iut3 the Uui ea States lor Scsveral fiscal years 
ending June 30'.h from which ii, will bb perceived 
that tbe receipts, as a rulp, uro slowly dimioisbing 
year after yenr: 1887, 4,787,311 pouods; 1683, 2,801,457 
pounJs ; 18S9, 2,878,184 pjunds ; ISyO, 2,833,306 pouuds 
1891, 2,(i72,36l poauds ; 1892, 3,434,375 pound*, and 
1893, 2,379,395 pounds. DuriuK the same petioil wi 
imporced quiuine to the fuilo«i< g tzlent : 1887, 
2,180,157 ouiice~ ; 1833, l,603,93(j ouocea : 1839. 
2,825,008 ounces ; 189!), 293 i,23J ounjcs; 1891, 3 079,OuO 
ounces ; and 1892, 2,'33G,077 onucee. For the last 
fisctl ytar, t'je teparu.e fi^urus f jr quinine are not 
yet ava IioIp, but the report on tbai artic'e inclu'les 
all alkaloids ot silts of cincboua birk and amount to 
3,443,907 onncef. 
A Rival to Oak —The representative of a well- 
known firm of builders informs me (saya the 
London correspondent of the Manchester Courier) 
that he believes himself to have bit apon a dis- 
covery in a Borneo K-ood cilled " bilian." It has 
a very close graia, and in appearance is Dot un- 
like ebony, more especially after exposure to the 
air. Its main virtue, however, consist in its break- 
ing strain, which is greater even than thst of 
English oak. Moreover, "bilian" is not a parti- 
cularly heavy wood, since it only weighs 60 lb 
per cubic foot against the 80 lb. of bux- 
wooJ. Further, it seems remarkably free 
from tbe propensity to swell in water, and eo 
would be extremely useful for subaqueous piles, 
besides being most suitable for beams and aprigbcs 
in domestic arohiteoture.— Pufcitc Opinion. 
