12 
BULLETIN" 1422, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
waterproof. This bag is tied with a strong rubber band, put into a 
wicker supporting frame, and carried on the seringueiro's back while 
the balde is refilled. Each cup as it is emptied is roughly wiped out 
with the fingers and hung upside down on a convenient twig, to 
prevent its being filled with water by the rains. Figure 2 shows a 
seringueiro with his collecting outfit. 
When he returns with his latex the seringueiro rests for a time and 
eats his midday meal. Then he builds a fire in the palm-thatched hut 
used for smoking rubber. Usually the fire is built in a little pit 
Fig. 3. — An estrada of virgin trees on the Rio Ouro Preto, Matto Grosso, Brazil. (Drawn by 
Avellino Olivera, of the Brazilian Commission) 
under a dome or cone of baked clay which has an opening at its apex 
through which the smoke pours in a dense cloud. Sometimes the fire 
is built on the surface of the ground, and a cone of tin is inverted 
over it. The fruits of Attalea excelsa are much used for making the 
smoke to cure rubber, and for a long time the superior qualities of the 
fine hard Para rubber were supposed to be due to the use of this smoke. 
On this account the export oi seeds of this tree from Brazil was for- 
bidden by law. It is now known that other substances serve very 
well for smoking the rubber; fruits of the babuassu palm are used 
and also various types of wood. 
