564 
Balata  Industry  in  Guiana. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.. 
1       Nov.,  1885. 
instaDces  beautiful  in  an  exceptional  kind  of  way,  to  give  color  to  the 
ground ;  they  are  partly  concealed,  too,  by  the  rather  long  grass,  yet 
it  would  be  difficult  to  gather  anywhere  a  more  charming  bunch  of 
wild  flowers  than  this  savannah  aflbrded  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 
Much  of  the  novel  effect  is  due,  I  have  no  doubt,  to  the  exquisite 
shades  of  color  above  alluded  to,  combined  with  unusual  and  unique 
or  quaint  forms.''  A  list  of  the  plants  seen  follows  this  description. 
Some  of  the  discomforts  of  the  savannah  are  stated  to  be  small  flies^ 
one  of  which  swarms  about  the  face  and  creeps  into  the  eyes,  and  the 
other  ^'  stings  and  leaves  a  durable  extravasated  red  speck."  After  a 
few  notes  on  the  population  and  their  mode  of  living,  a  very  careful 
description  is  given  of  the  balata  tree  and  its  distribution.  From  the 
east  bank  of  the  Berbice  river  to  the  Corentyne  is  the  region  of  its 
greatest  plentifulness  in  the  colony,  but  its  distribution  extends  still 
eastward  beyond  the  Corentyne  into  Dutch  Guiana,  where  a  grant  of 
several  hundred  thousand  acres  has  recently  been  acquired  by  an 
American  firm  for  collecting  balata.  The  trees  are  more  plentiful  in 
this  region,  in  the  depths  of  the  forest,  than  near  the  rivers,  hence  the 
creeks  form  arteries  to  the  balata  grounds.  Several  of  the  creeks  on 
both  banks  of  the  Cauje  are  instances  of  this.  The  woodcutters  of 
this  district  regard  the  balata  tree  as  inexhaustible  ;  in  the  interior  of 
the  forest  it  exists  in  profusion,  and  abundance  lies  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  balata  collectors  as  they  at  present  conduct  their  operations. 
As  the  trees  near  at  hand  become  exhausted  they  will  no  doubt  alter 
their  habits  and  make  clearings  as  drying  places  in  the  heart  of  the 
forest,  but  now  they  are  under  the  obligation  of  returning  to  the  set- 
tlements on  the  creeks  with  the  milk  they  have  collected  to  dry.  Un- 
der this  necessity  they  can  at  most  only  penetrate  about  two  days'  jour- 
ney, but  so  far  as  they  have  explored  they  report  there  is  no  diminu- 
tion in  the  abundance  of  trees.  The  forest  at  this  depth,  of  course, 
has  never  been  touched  by  woodcutters,  as  for  convenience  in  getting 
their  timber  out  they  have  to  confine  their  operations  to  the  banks  of 
the  river  and  creeks,  rarely  going  in  more  than  a  mile  or  two. 
The  balata  collector's  life  is  described  as  a  very  hard  one,  as  the 
ground  is  not  only  swampy,  lut  often  up  to  the  armpits  in  water; 
moreover,  they  are  often  badly  clad  and  short  of  food,  they  conse- 
quently suffer  much  from  rheumatic  affections. 
The  trees  are  tapped  either  standing  or  after  felling.  In  the  former 
position  gashes  are  made  through  the  bark  in  a  slanting  manner,  meet- 
