2l6 TlMEHRI. 
bice, which have been bled now for nearly a quarter 
of a century, is required, and would, I have no doubt, 
yield valuable and instructive information for countries 
possessing, and others cultivating india-rubber and gutta- 
percha trees. 
In describing the extent of the bullet tree iorest. I 
have pointed out that circumstances allow the balata 
collectors at present only to penetrate the distance that 
is within reach for drying purposes of the banks of the 
rivers and creeks. To this depth the forest generally 
has been collected over. Only an infinitesimal part of 
it, however, is let out in grants ; so that the robbery of 
Crown lands is co-extensive, with the above limitation, 
with the district over which the tree extends. In jour- 
neying along the river, I took the opportunity to plunge 
here and there into the forest to ascertain its state. In 
almost every place, I found trees the collectors had 
tapped standing or felled, or other traces of their illicit 
trade. Here and there, on the banks beyond the in- 
habited region, benabs are found, partly concealed by 
the trees, which they have erected for temporary shelter 
while collecting. By the facilities which the river affords 
for the conveyance of food and all the appliances re- 
quired in the trade, they are enabled to make prolonged 
journeys from home in this out-lying district, but the 
bullet-tree is less plentiful here than lower down the 
river. The milk itself will keep an indefinite time if 
allowed vent for fermentation. If trees were not found 
felled and bled in the neighbourhood of the huts, the na- 
ture of the pursuit, carried on further aback, of the occu- 
pants was disclosed by some trace or other of the trade. 
Broken calabashes, goobees or bottles soiled with balata 
