TlMEHRI. 
collector's forefinger round the inside. After a little 
use, however, they become so coated with dry balata, 
that an odd day at the settlement is now and then taken 
to soak them in water, when it peels off freely leaving 
them perfectly clean again. This is saved, as are the 
cleanings from the vessels used in drying, and sent to 
market with the sheets in which the balata is now always 
dried. The yield of a tree depends on several circum- 
stances, — the size, individual character, for they vary 
much in that, season of the year, weather, &c. Under 
favourable circumstances a tree fifteen to twenty inches 
in diameter, bled eight feet high, will yield three pints 
of milk ; if bled with a ladder the yield will be twice as 
much. As I have said, an active man will collect from 
two to five gallons in a day ; an expert has been known 
to collect eight. The larger quantities are only obtained 
when the trees are near together, and the collectors can 
pass quickly from one to another, and no time is lost in 
searching the forest for them. 
By the method of felling, all the operations on a tree 
are more extensive, and take longer, but the individual 
yield is several times greater. Here again the time 
occupied and the yield depend on the size of the tree. 
A tree that will square eighteen or twenty inches, takes 
about twenty minutes or half an hour to fell, and larger 
ones in proportion to their size. They are cut about 
three feet from the ground. Often a good deal of trou- 
ble is experienced by the leaves that entangle its head 
which, when the tree falls prevent its reaching the 
ground. It is difficult to cut them away, as they are 
suspended from the tops of other trees, but the trunk 
cannot be tapped till it is lying flat upon the ground. 
