THE HEVEA RUBBER TREE IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 
13 
If a ball of rubber has been started on preceding days and not yet 
finished the seringueiro adds to this. This ball is formed on a pole 
about 6 feet long, which is laid across two other poles supported at 
either end by posts set on either side of the smoking cone. This 
enables the pole bearing the rubber ball to be rolled back and forth, 
into the smoke, then out of it. 
The latex is poured into a pan set just back of the smoking cone. 
With one hand the ball of rubber is now rolled over the basin, and with 
the other the seringueiro dips up latex from the pan in a calabash 
and pours it over the ball. As soon as the latex ceases to drip the ball 
is rolled into the cloud of smoke and turned slowly, so that the smoke 
covers the whole surface of the fresh latex arid coagulates the rubber 
in a thin film. Then the ball is again rolled over the pan, coated 
Fig. 4. — A seringueiro rolling a ball of freshly coagulated rubber to shape it and press out the 
bubbles of air and vesicles of serum. At his right is a finished ball of fine hard Para rubber. 
Behind the seringueiro is the smoking shed. The rubber shoes in the foreground were made by 
coagulating latex over the wooden mold. The man at the right holds a cloth bag which has 
just been given a coating of latex 
with latex, and returned to the smoke. So the process goes on until 
the whole of the day's collection of latex has been turned into rubber. 
The ball is then removed from the pole and rolled on a slab of wood to 
shape it and to squeeze out any liquid which has formed in it. 
(Fig. 4.) If the ball is large enough, about 65 kilos, it is set aside to 
cure ; if not, it is added to on successive days until it has reached the 
desired size. (Fig. 5.) 
A new ball is usually begun by allowing a little latex to stand in the 
pan over night so that it undergoes natural coagulation. The 
coagulum thus formed is rolled aroimd the pole, and over this latex 
is poured and smoked in the manner described. This method has the 
advantage of quickly bringing the ball to a size such as to hold 
considerable latex on its surface at each pouring, but it has the dis- 
advantage that the center of each ball is made of naturally coagulated 
