402 
THE TROHCAIi AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. 1, 1902. 
resinous matter present should turn to be so small 
that its presence in the rubber could be tolerated 
there would still be the question of the nature of 
the tissues of the bark which has to be separated 
from the rubber. Under favourable circumstances, 
it is quite conceivable that this might simply be 
dissolved away by a careful alkaline treatment, in 
which case a very pure rubber indeed might be 
obtained. But it is impossible to devise an 
efKcient treament of this kind without a very 
complete knowledge of the bark to be operated 
upon. 
The first step towards the desired end is there- 
fore obviously a thorough chemical examination 
of the bark referred to in the enquiry, — [Reply to 
Messrs C, & ("!o. — Jndia-Btibber Trades' Journal, 
September 29. 
INDIARUBBER, GUTTAPERCHA, AND 
BALLATA : 
TREES SUITABLE FOR NATAL. 
BY M, SEHOF. 
Most people are under the impression that Inaia 
rubber and gutta percha are the same product. This 
is not the case, as they come from different plants, 
and are used for difierent purposes. The Latin names 
show at once the difference — Gummi elaatioum and 
(&ammi plasticum — the former being the India rubber 
and the latter the gatta percha tree. 
I onoe undertook a trading trip from Manaos, at 
the mouth of the Amazon, up the river in company 
with au old Spanish ' ragataos,' or trader, to supply 
the India rubber gatherers with foodstuff-), cotton 
prints, tools, etc. We bought our goods at the ' avia- 
dore,' or merchant, consistiug maiuly of Parinha 
Maniok, game secca (dried beef), salt, and also 
a, good supply of cheap wine ' vino tinto ' (red 
wine), and a few other things necessary 
to the seringuerios, or India rubber gatherers. 
It would take too long to give fuller details of this 
journey, which lasted close on nine months 
I may also say that though I spoke Spanish fairly well 
1 had no knowledge of Portuguese, and yet my partner 
'never once tried to take advantage of my ignorance of 
the language spoken in those parts. Besides ourselves 
we had four boys in the boat and about two tons of 
goods. "Wi'hout many stoppages, we rowed and sailed 
till we reached the Tapajos, a southern tributary of 
the Amazon, and here I saw for the first time 
how India rubber is collected. Bach seringneiro, also 
called cauchero, hashisestrada, or district of about 100 
to 150 trees. 
The true and best India rubber tree is the Hevea 
brazilienais, called by the natives Xerringa, There 
are of course, many other kinds of rubber -producing 
trees and plants — Hevea guyanensis, Syphonia 
elastica. Manihot, etc. It is of the Hevea brasiliensis 
and the Manihot glazowii I wish to write, as of these 
two in particular I have personal knowledge. 
The Hevea braziliensis is a large tree. I 
have seen some over 60 ft. high ; it has 
pretty yellow whitish flowers, hanging in 
long bunches. The husk of the seed has a peculiar 
way of bursting open with a loud noise and ejecting 
the seed with considerable force. The leaves are 
large, and set in three on one stem. The cauchero 
goes out to work either very early or late in the after- 
noon, to tap his trees. When he is working in a part 
of virgin forest he very often has to cut his way 
through the vegetation to get to the tree he wants to 
bleed, and when there, his first care is to clean the 
tree and sweep round about. He then cuts with a 
single tap of his short-handled "machado," or hatchet 
the bark but never the wood. According to the size 
o( the tree, from 12 to 30 cuts are thus made. He 
starts as kigh as he cau reach, and comes down 
pretty low to the ground, and after each 
out he fastens his little tin cup, or ' tigelinhas,' with a 
little mud under each of the cuts, into which the latex 
will drop, not flow, from one to three hours. If a slight 
rain happens to fall it will spoil the rubber very much' 
and this is one of the reasons why many oauoheroa 
prefer to tap in the evenings as it very seldom rains i« 
the evenings. An estrada of 150 trees gives about 35 
to 40kg. of rubber in one tapping. Of course, this 
varies greatly according to the size of the tree, and 
whether newly tapped or whether they have already 
been tapped for years. In one year each estrada will 
be tappad about 20 times, and can thus give nearly 
7.50kg. of raw rubber. The trees are tapped about every 
two or three days. Having fastened all his cups, he 
starts again at those he fastened first, and taking them 
down empties the contents into a tin bucket or gourd ; 
never into iron, as this spoils the colour of the rubber. 
If he has far to go to his huts he puts a little ammonia 
into each bucket to prevent the latex thickening, and 
if his huts are close at hand, the buckets are emptied 
into large flat earthenware pans. After the whole 
harvest is over, the real work of preparing the rubber 
for the market begins and there are many different 
ways of doing this. I have personally only noticed 
two ways. 
A large earthenware pot with a narrow hole is filled 
with wood or with nuts of the uauassu |or TJrucury 
palm which are plentiful Jon the Lower Amazon, 
Having lighted his fnmeiro, the ground 'is carefully 
swept, and he puts his pans containing the latex close 
at hand to the fumeiro. As soon as he considars the 
smoke thick enough, the cauchero takes a wooden 
spoon, from four to six feet long (Uke a baker's peel); 
the broad flat end of this is first held in the smoke 
and then dipped in the latex. He allows a moment 
for any drippings to fall back in the vessel, and then 
quickly returns it to the smoke. The thin layer of 
latex sticking to the spoon dries almost immediately 
the water has evaporated, and the first thin sheet of 
India rubber is ready. The cauchero proceeds in this 
way, dipping his paletta, or spoon, in and out till 
he has a lump of rubber about 5 to 71b weight ; he 
then takes it off. It comes off very easily, and 
he starts again. These lumps are then dried in the 
sun for several days, as it is most[ important to get 
them perfectly dry. * 
The other method of smoking is to hold a long stick, 
which is flattened in the middle, over the smoke and is 
kept lurning round, while the assistants pour the latex 
very slowly over the middle of the stick till a large roll 
ef rubber is formed. These biscuits or loaves, as they 
are termed, as soon as they are perfectly dry, are 
carried on poles to the river stations to be exchanged 
for goods or money. India rubber of the Hevea brazi- 
liensis collected and prepared in this way, commands 
the highest price of all rubbers in the market. The 
price varies, according to the quality, at between 42; 
to 63. per ib. in the European market. 
There are two other trees which I wish to mention, 
because I firmly believe that both would be snitable 
for Natal. With one of these trees, the Manihot 
glazowii (Portuguese ' Manisoba Leitera '), I have had 
personal experience. At Sylva, which was then the 
terminus of the railway from Monte Video, Uruguay, 
the railway manager there gave me 1,500 two year old 
plants which had come by steamer from Ceara, Brazil, 
to plant out. The climate of Sylva is considerably 
cooler and certainly not wetter than that of Maritz- 
burg, and yet these trees thrived well, although the soil 
was very poor, sandy, and rocky. Out of 1,500 1,200 
grew into fine strong trees. They were about 8 ft when 
planted and in thirteen months stood from 12 to 13 ft 
high. I had also some seed which were very hard ; I 
soaked them in w»ter for five days, but three months 
passed before they sprouted. These seedlings in 8 
months after sprouting were 4 to 5 ft high. 
The Manihot, or Leitera, bears flowers and fruit. 
The fruit is something like a walnut, but very hard. 
It is tapped in Its third year twice, allowing three 
days between each tapping. The rubber comes unc|er 
