2l6 
EXPLORING FOR CASTILLO A RUBBER 
ing that he had two thousand dollars for it. The Pioneer offered to 
do it for that sum, but the next morning, when the papers were to be 
drawn, there remained only fifteen hundred dollars. Then the trustee 
proposed that a seven hundred and fifty dollar bridge be built, and 
that he and the Pioneer divide seven hundred and fifty dollars. It took 
some trading to arrange that, and before it was finished there was left 
but six hundred dollars. Then apparently all of the officials got a slice, 
for two days later there was but ten dollars left. Nor has the bridge 
ever been built, but there is still an excellent ford, which appears to 
suit the people just as well. Thus it will be seen that they equal us in 
the distribution of government appropriations, and outclass us in some 
forms of piety . One of our rubber cutters, for example, bore the name 
of Jesus Maria Dios — but he did not look the part. 
During the forenoon I looked over the grove of Castilloas that 
fronted the house, and found that most of them had been tapped that 
season. Indeed, one of our mosos said that they had been tapped twice. 
The process of tapping here is quite different from that pictured by 
most who tell of the gathering of Panama rubber. They usually describe 
a series of zigzag cuts, running one into another from the base of the tree 
far up the trunk. Here each cut was individual, and made with two 
strokes, one horizontal, and the other slightly downward and joining 
the first so that a small slice of bark was taken out. In the lower part 
of the cut the thick latex gathers and is scraped into a calabash with the 
fingers. The trees, as a rule, were tapped as high as the native could 
reach, and frequently a rustic ladder or a rough staging enabled the 
gatherers to get higher up on the tree. 
It seems that the plot of trees at Rio Negro were not self sown, 
but were planted by the Indian in his rice field after the crop was gath- 
ered. There were one hundred and five trees on about an eighth of an 
acre of land, said to be four years old. The rest of the clearing had 
grown up to jungle, but where the rubber trees were it was quite clear 
and the trees big and lusty. Their condition made me wonder if the 
cleaning that is carried on by up-to-date planters is after all so much of 
a necessity as they believe. 
Although it was Sunday, all went in swimming in the swift Rio 
Negro, and all also went fishing (with a stick of dynamite) but only 
got one. The swimming was not prolonged, however, because of the 
rodadors, that were quite troublesome. While in the water a band of 
brown faced monkeys expressed their disapproval of our Sabbath break- 
ing by throwing sticks and branches at us from the tops of the lofty 
