ON  THE  COLLECTION  AND  PREPARATION  OP  CAOUTCHOUC  257 
This  difference,  however,  was  stated  to  be  clearly  the  result  of  the 
rootlets  having  been  removed  by  some  mechanical  means  or  other, 
before  the  article  reaches  the  market.  The  condition  indicated 
by  the  chief  pharmacological  distinction  into  6  mealy  '  and  <  non- 
mealy'  samples,  he  believes  to  depend  on  the  age  of  the  roots, 
and  on  the  locality  in  which  they  are  collected.  While,  however, 
the  botanical  source  of  the  various  Sarsaparillas  was  thus  held 
to  be  identical,  the  value  of  the  commercial  distinctions,  as  such, 
was  admitted  ;  for  <  as  long  as  the  Brazilian  collectors  continue 
to  strip  the  roots  of  their  beard  and  put  them  up  in  long  bundles, 
there  will  always  be  Lisbon  Sarsaparilla  ;  as  long  as  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Spanish  Main  continue  to  preserve  the  rootlets  we 
shall  have  Jamaica  Sarsaparilla ;  and  as  long  as  the  climate  and 
other  physical  conditions  of  Guatemala  remain  unchanged,  we 
shall  continue  to  receive  from  that  locality  Sarsaparilla  distin- 
guished by  its  abundance  of  starchy  matter." — Lond.  Pharm. 
Jour.,  Feb.  1854. 
ON  THE  COLLECTION  AND  PREPARATION  OF  CAOUTCHOUC 
IN  BRAZIL. 
The  following  account  of  the  collection  of  Caoutchouc,  which 
is  called  Seringa,  and  the  collectors  of  it  Seringeros,  is  taken 
from  Herndon's  Exploration  of  the  Amazon. 
»  The  owner  of  the  house  told  me  that  the  season  for  gathering 
the  rubber  or  Seringa,  as  it  is  called  here,  was  from  July  to 
January,  The  tree  gives  equally  well  at  all  times ;  but  the  work 
cannot  be  prosecuted  when  the  river  is  full,  as  the  whole  country 
is  then  under  water.  Some,  however,  is  made  at  this  time,  for  I 
saw  a  quantity  of  it  in  this  man's  house,  which  was  evidently 
freshly  made. 
The  process  of  making  it  is  as  follows  :  a  longitudinal  gash  is 
made  in  the  bark  of  the  tree  with  a  very  narrow  hatchet  or  toma- 
hawk ;  a  wedge  of  wood  is  inserted  to  keep  the  gash  open,  and  a 
small  clay  cup  is  stuck  to  the  tree  beneath  the  gash.  The  cups 
may  be  stuck  as  close  together  as  possible  around  the  tree.  In 
four  or  five  hours  the  milk  has  ceased  to  run,  and  each  wound 
has  given  from  three  to  five  tablespoonfuls.  The  gatherer  then 
collects  it  from  the  cups,  takes  it  to  his  rancho,  pours  it  into  an 
earthen  vessel,  and  commences  the  operation  of  forming  it  into 
17 
