India Rubber and Gutta Percha. 71 
at early morn. I do not attach importance to this state- 
ment, but I have recorded it. Another and more proba- 
ble reason is that, as rain often falls about two o' clock 
in the afternoon, the tapping must be done early, as in 
the event of a shower the milk would be spattered about 
and lost. The collector first of all, at the beginning of 
the dry season, goes round and lays down at the base 
of each tree a certain number of small cups of burnt 
clay. At the small trees only three or four are put, but 
at the larger ones from eight to twelve are deposited. 
The footpaths leading from tree to tree are likewise 
cleared of sapling growths, and bridges over the 
gap os, natural ditches, formed at each place by the trunk 
of a tree. On proceeding to his work, the collector takes 
with him a small axe for tapping, and a wicker basket 
containing a good sized ball of well-wrought clay. He 
usually has likewise a bag for the waste rubber and for 
what may adhere to the bottom of the cup. 
These promiscuous gatherings form the negro head 
of the English market. The cups, as already 
stated, are of burnt clay and are sometimes round, but 
more frequently flat or slightly concave on one side, 
so as to fit closely when pressed against the 
trunk of the tree. The contents of fifteen cups 
make an English Imperial pint. Arrived at a 
tree, the collector takes the axe in his right hand and, 
striking in an upward direction as high as he can reach, 
makes a deep upward sloping cut across the trunk, 
which always goes through the bark and penetrates 
an inch or more into the wood. The cut is an 
inch in breadth. Frequently a small portion of 
