Across Unknown South America Part 36

CHAPTER XV Mutiny and Threats--Wasted Efforts--Awful Waters--The Canoe escapes in a Violent Rapid--Another Mutiny--The Canoe recovered--An Appalling Vortex--The Fall of S. Simo--Cutting an Artificial Channel in the Rocks pp. 235-248

CHAPTER XVI At Death's Door--Mundurucu Indians--All Author's Followers poisoned by Wild Fruit--Anxious Moments--Seringueiros--A Dying Jewish Trader--The Mori Brothers--A New Hat--Where the Tres Barras meets the Arinos-Juruena--The Canoe abandoned pp. 249-265

CHAPTER XVII A Fiscal Agency--Former Atrocities--The Apiacar Indians--Plentiful Rubber--Unexploited Regions--Precious Fossils thrown away by Author's Followers--A Terrific Storm--Author's Canoe dashed to pieces--The Mount St. Benedicto pp. 266-277

CHAPTER XVIII Starting across the Virgin Forest--Cutting the Way incessantly--A Rugged, Rocky Plateau--Author's Men throw away the Supplies of Food--Attacked by Fever--Marching by Compa.s.s--Poisoned--Author's Men break down--Author proceeds across Forest endeavouring to reach the Madeira River--A Dramatic Scene pp. 278-298

CHAPTER XIX Benedicto and Filippe show Courage--Confronted with a Mountainous Country--Steep Ravines--No Food--Painful Marches--Starving--Ammunition rendered useless by Moisture--The "Pros" and "Cons" of Smoking--A Faint Hope--A Forged Tin which should have contained Anchovies--Curious Effects of Starvation upon the Brain--Where Money is of no avail--Why there was Nothing to eat in the Forest--The Sauba Ants--Sniffed by a Jaguar--Filippe tries to commit Suicide pp. 299-320

CHAPTER XX Benedicto and the Honey--Constantly collapsing from Exhaustion--A Strange Accident--Finding a River--People's Mistaken Ideas--Sixteen Days of Starvation--An Abandoned Hut--Repairing a Broken-down Canoe--Canoe founders--A Raft constructed of Gla.s.s pp. 321-338

CHAPTER XXI The Launching of the Gla.s.s Raft--Accidents--The Raft sinking--Saved--Our First Solid Meal--Its Consequences--The Canuma and Secundury Rivers--Marching back across the Forest to the Relief of the Men left behind--A Strange Mishap--A Curious Case of Telepathy pp. 339-364

CHAPTER XXII Baggage Saved--The Journey down the Tapajoz River--Colonel Brazil--Wrecked--From Itaituba to the Amazon--Benedicto and the Man X are discharged pp. 365-385

CHAPTER XXIII Santarem to Belem (Para)--The Amazon--From Belem to Manaos--The Madeira-Mamore Railway pp. 386-404

CHAPTER XXIV Attacked by Beri-beri--A Journey up the Madeira River to the Relief of Filippe the Negro and Recovery of Valuable Baggage left with him--Filippe paid off--A Journey up the River Solimes--Iquitos pp. 405-418

CHAPTER XXV From Iquitos to the Foot of the Andes up the Rivers Ucayalli, Pachitea and Pichis--The Cas.h.i.+bos or "Vampire Indians" pp. 419-438

CHAPTER XXVI Across the Andes--The End of the Trans-continental Journey pp. 439-457

CHAPTER XXVII The Peruvian Corporation Railway--The Land of the Incas--Lake t.i.ticaca--Bolivia--Chile--The Argentine--A Last Narrow Escape--Back in England pp. 458-476

APPENDIX Some of the Princ.i.p.al Plants of Brazil--Mammals--Birds--Fish-- Reptiles--Vocabularies pp. 477-496

INDEX pp. 497-504

LIST OF ILl.u.s.tRATIONS

VOL. II

THE MOUTH OF THE PUTAMAYO RIVER (_Coloured Plate_) _Frontispiece_

PAGE RUBBER TREE SHOWING INCISIONS AND THE COLLAR AND TIN CUP FOR THE COLLECTION OF THE LATEX 4 COAGULATING RUBBER INTO A BALL 4 b.a.l.l.s OF RUBBER OUTSIDE A SERINGUEIRO'S HUT 8 METHOD OF PRESSING RUBBER INTO CAKES, THE ALUM PROCESS OF COAGULATION BEING USED 8 THE UPPER ARINOS RIVER 12 THE ARINOS RIVER ABOVE THE RAPIDS 12 THE FIRST ROCKS IN THE ARINOS RIVER 20 ENORMOUS GLOBULAR ROCKS TYPICAL OF THE ARINOS RIVER 20 A ROCKY BARRIER IN THE RIVER 24 A PICTURESQUE DOUBLE WATERFALL ON THE ARINOS RIVER 24 AN ISLAND OF THE ARINOS RIVER 28 VEGETATION ON AN ISLAND IN THE RIVER ARINOS 28 PREPARING THE CANOE TO DESCEND A RAPID 36 A CATARACT ON THE ARINOS RIVER 36 A RAPID ON THE ARINOS RIVER 44 TAKING THE CANOE THROUGH A NARROW CHANNEL 44 A FORMIDABLE VORTEX 64 GOING DOWN A VIOLENT RAPID IN A NARROW CHANNEL 64 THE RESULT OF HALF AN HOUR'S FIs.h.i.+NG ON THE ARINOS-JURUENA 84 LEADING THE CANOE DOWN A RAPID BY ROPE 92 CHARACTERISTIC ROCKY BARRIER ACROSS THE ARINOS RIVER (AUTHOR'S s.e.xTANT IN FOREGROUND) 92 WHIRLPOOL AT END OF RAPID 100 IN SHALLOW WATER 100 FIs.h.i.+NG ON THE ARINOS: A JAHU 104 FISH OF THE ARINOS RIVER 104 A FINE CATARACT ON THE ARINOS-JURUENA RIVER 108 PREPARING THE CANOE PRIOR TO DESCENDING A RAPID 112 A NASTY RAPID 112 A GIANT CENTRAL WAVE EMERGING FROM A NARROW CHANNEL 116 A DANGEROUS RAPID 120 TAKING THE CANOE AND PART OF THE BAGGAGE DOWN A NARROW Pa.s.sAGE AMONG ROCKS 120 THE CANOE BEING LED DOWN A RAPID 124 CROCODILE ABOUT TO ATTACK ONE OF THE DOGS OF THE EXPEDITION.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY AUTHOR AT A DISTANCE OF THREE METRES (RIO ARINOS-JURUENA) 128 TERRIFYING RAPID SHOT BY AUTHOR AND HIS MEN IN THEIR CANOE 132 AUTHOR'S MEN SHOOTING A CROCODILE 136 A CATARACT IN THE RIVER ARINOS 140 AUTHOR'S CANOE AMONG GREAT VOLCANIC ROCKS 140 PREPARING TO DESCEND A RAPID 144 A CATARACT IN THE ARINOS RIVER 144 LAKE FORMED WHERE THE ARINOS AND JURUENA RIVERS MEET 148 GOING THROUGH A RAPID 148 AUTHOR'S CANOE GOING DOWN A CATARACT 152 THE IMMENSE WAVES ENCOUNTERED BY AUTHOR IN EMERGING FROM THE CHANNEL, IN THE RAPID OF THE INFERNO. (THE CANOE WITH ITS OCCUPANTS SHOT UP VERTICALLY IN THE AIR) 156 A GIANT SUCURi SNAKE WITH ENTIRE DEER CONTAINED IN ITS DIGESTIVE ORGANS 160 AN EASY RAPID 164 GOING THROUGH A NARROW CHANNEL 164 A DANGEROUS VORTEX 168 PREPARING THE CANOE TO GO DOWN A RAPID 168 A NARROW Pa.s.sAGE IN THE ARINOS RIVER 172 TREBLE VORTEX. (THE WATER REVOLVED IN THREE DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS IN SUCCESSION) 172 AT THE AUGUST FALLS 176 AUTHOR AND HIS MEN IN WATER UP TO THEIR NECKS FOR AN ENTIRE NIGHT ENDEAVOURING TO SAVE THEIR CANOE, WHICH IN SHOOTING A RAPID HAD BECOME STUCK BETWEEN ROCKS _(Coloured Plate_) 178 THE SALTO AUGUSTO FROM ABOVE 192 THE UPPER TERRACE OF THE AUGUST WATERFALL 184 INTERESTING GEOLOGICAL FORMATION BELOW THE SALTO AUGUSTO 188 THE SALTO AUGUSTO (UPPER TERRACE) 192 FOLIATED ROCK BELOW THE AUGUST FALLS 196 THE WOODEN RAILWAY CONSTRUCTED BY AUTHOR IN ORDER TO TAKE THE CANOE OVERLAND FOR TWO AND A HALF KILOMETRES AT THE AUGUST FALLS 200 FORMATION OF ROCK BELOW THE AUGUST FALLS 200 PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING THE ROAD CUT BY AUTHOR ACROSS THE FOREST IN ORDER TO TAKE THE HEAVY CANOE OVERLAND 204 CONVEYING THE CANOE ACROSS THE FOREST ON IMPROVISED RAILWAY AND ROLLERS 208 PUs.h.i.+NG THE CANOE UPHILL THROUGH THE FOREST. (NOTICE MEN WITH HEADS WRAPPED OWING TO TORTURING INSECTS) 212 CONVEYING THE CANOE, WEIGHING 2,000 LB., OVER A HILL RANGE--THE DESCENT 216 AUTHOR'S CANOE BEING MADE TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE FOREST 220 DISTANT VIEW SHOWING BOTH FALLS AT THE SALTO AUGUSTO 224 LAUNCHING THE CANOE AFTER ITS JOURNEY OVER A HILL RANGE 224 A MOST DANGEROUS RAPID NAVIGATED BY AUTHOR AND HIS MEN 228 LETTING THE CANOE JUMP A RAPID 232 ARTIFICIAL Ca.n.a.l MADE BY AUTHOR AND HIS MEN IN ORDER TO TAKE THEIR CANOE ALONG WHERE THE RIVER WAS IMPa.s.sABLE 236 RAPID THROUGH WHICH AUTHOR TOOK HIS CANOE 240 CONVEYING THE CANOE BY HAND DOWN A RAPID 244 CANOE BEING TAKEN ALONG AN ARTIFICIAL Ca.n.a.l MADE BY AUTHOR AND HIS MEN 248 A MOMENT OF SUSPENSE: AUTHOR AND HIS MEN IN THEIR CANOE GOING THROUGH A NARROW CHANNEL BETWEEN VERTICAL WALLS OF ROCK. THE WATER FORCED THROUGH FROM THREE LARGE ARMS OF THE RIVER JOINING AT THAT POINT FORMED A HIGH AND DANGEROUS CENTRAL WAVE (_Coloured Plate_) 250 CONVEYING THE CANOE THROUGH THE FOREST. (NOTICE THE SIDE OF THE CANOE SPLIT AND STUFFED WITH PIECES OF CLOTH) 252 LEADING THE EMPTY CANOE DOWN A DANGEROUS CHANNEL. (PHOTOGRAPHED A FEW SECONDS BEFORE THE ROPE SNAPPED AND CANOE ESCAPED) 256 THE S. SIMO WATERFALL 260 THE HUGE CANOE BEING TAKEN THROUGH A SMALL ARTIFICIAL Ca.n.a.l MADE IN THE ROCKS BY THE AUTHOR AND HIS MEN 264 MUNDURUCU INDIANS 268 AUTHOR TAKING ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS ON A SANDY BEACH OF THE RIVER ARINOS-JURUENA 272 WHERE THE RIVERS ARINOS-JURUENA AND S. MANOEL MEET 276 JOSe MARACATI, CHIEF OF THE MUNDURUCUS, TAPAJOZ 276 APIACAR BOY 280 APIACAR INDIAN 280 APIACAR WOMEN 284 MUNDURUCU WOMEN 288 APIACAR CHILDREN 288 RAFT CONSTRUCTED BY THE AUTHOR IN ORDER TO NAVIGATE THE CANUMA RIVER WITH HIS TWO COMPANIONS OF STARVATION (_Coloured Plate_) 336 CANOE MADE OF THE BARK OF THE BURITY PALM 340 INDIANS OF THE MADEIRA RIVER 340 CARIPUNA INDIANS 348 INDIAN IDOLS OF THE PUTUMAYO DISTRICT 348 TRADING BOATS LANDING b.a.l.l.s OF RUBBER, RIVER TAPAJOZ 352 ITAITUBA 356 A TRADING BOAT ON THE TAPAJOZ RIVER 360 THE S.S. "COMMANDANTE MACEDO" 360 COLONEL R. P. BRAZIL AND HIS CHARMING WIFE 364 WHERE THE MADEIRA-MAMORE RAILWAY BEGINS 368 MADEIRA-MAMORE RAILWAY, SHOWING CUT THROUGH TROPICAL FOREST 368 BOLIVIAN RUBBER AT ABUNA STATION ON THE MADEIRA-MAMORE RAILWAY 372 THE INAUGURATION TRAIN ON THE MADEIRA-MAMORE RAILWAY 372 WRECK OF THE "MAMORIA" IN THE CALDERO OF THE SOLIMES RIVER 376 INDIANS OF THE PUTUMAYO DISTRICT. (DR. REY DE CASTRO, PERUVIAN CONSUL AT MANAOS IN THE CENTRE OF PHOTOGRAPH) 376 A STREET IN IQUITOS 380 THE LAUNCH "RIMAC" ON THE UCAYALLI RIVER 380 A TRAIL IN THE ANDES 384 CAMPAS INDIAN CHILDREN 388 CAMPAS OLD WOMAN AND HER SON 392 CAMPAS INDIAN WOMAN 396 CAMPAS WOMAN 400 CAMPAS MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD 400 THE UCAYALLI RIVER 402 THE LAUNCH ON WHICH AUTHOR TRAVELLED ALMOST TO THE FOOT OF THE ANDES 402 CAMPAS FAMILY WADING ACROSS A STREAM 404 A FARMHOUSE ON THE ANDES 404 ON THE ANDES: AN ELEVATED TRAIL OVERLOOKING A FOAMING TORRENT. (SEE ARCH CUT IN ROCK) 406 LA MERCEDES 410 THE AVENUE OF EUCALYPTI NEAR THE TOWN OF TARMA (ANDES) 410 ON THE ANDES 412 A STREET OF TARMA 412 THE MARKET-PLACE, TARMA 414 THE HIGHEST POINT WHERE AUTHOR CROSSED THE ANDES BEFORE REACHING THE RAILWAY AT OROYA 416 OROYA 420 OROYA, THE HIGHEST RAILWAY STATION IN THE WORLD 420 IN THE ANDES AT 16,000 FEET ABOVE THE SEA LEVEL 422 THE HIGHEST POINT OF THE OROYA RAILWAY: THE GALERA TUNNEL 422 THE OROYA RAILWAY (A GREAT SPRING EMERGING FROM THE MOUNTAIN-SIDE) 424 BEAUTIFUL SCENERY ON THE PERUVIAN CORPORATION RAILWAY TO CUZCO, PERU 424 A. B. LEGUIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE PERUVIAN REPUBLIC 426 THE AMERICAN OBSERVATORY, AREQUIPA, AND MOUNT MISTI, PERU 428 ON THE PERUVIAN CORPORATION RAILWAY ON THE WAY TO CUZCO 428 A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF ANCIENT SPANISH WOOD-CARVING, PERU 432 WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF OLD SPANISH WOOD-CARVING, PERU 434 ON THE WAY TO CUZCO: RAILWAY BRIDGE PARTLY CARRIED AWAY BY SWOLLEN RIVER 436 GREAT SAND DUNES ALONG THE PERUVIAN CORPORATION RAILWAY TO CUZCO 438 INCA BATH OR FOUNTAIN 438 CUZCO: LLAMAS IN FOREGROUND 440 A FAMOUS INCA WALL, CUZCO. (THE VARIOUS ROCKS FIT SO PERFECTLY THAT NO MORTAR WAS USED TO KEEP THEM IN PLACE) 442 INCA THREE-WALLED FORTRESS OF SACSAYHUAMAN, CUZCO 444 THE INCA TEMPLE OF THE SUN, WITH SPANISH SUPERSTRUCTURE 446 INCA DOORWAY, CUZCO 446 INCA STEPS CARVED IN A DOME OF ROCK, CUZCO. (FORTRESS NOTICEABLE IN THE DISTANCE) 448 THE "ROUND TABLE" OF THE INCAS 452 ENTRANCE TO INCA SUBTERRANEAN Pa.s.sAGES 452 INCA PLACE OF AMUs.e.m.e.nT: A TOBOGGAN SLIDE OF ROCK 454 AN INCA GRAVE, BOLIVIA 454 INCA REMAINS NEAR CUZCO 456 WHERE A STONE FIGHT TOOK PLACE IN THE INCA COUNTRY.

(NOTICE THE INNUMERABLE ROCKS WHICH HAVE BEEN THROWN DOWN THE HILL FROM THE HIGH INCA STRUCTURE) 458 ENTRANCE TO INCA SUBTERRANEAN Pa.s.sAGES 458 THE GREAT INCA RUINS OF VIRACCOCHA, IN TINTA (CUZCO) 460 INCA POTTERY, WEAPONS AND ORNAMENTS OF GOLD AND COPPER 464 INCA TOWERS OF SILLISTAYNI, PUnO (LAKE t.i.tICACA) 468 AN INCA STATUE, BOLIVIA 468 LAKE t.i.tICACA 470 GUAQUI, THE PORT FOR LA PAZ ON LAKE t.i.tICACA 470 ON THE ANDES 474 LLAMAS IN BOLIVIA 476 BORAX DEPOSITS, BOLIVIA 476

CHAPTER I

The River Arinos--A Rickety Canoe--Mapping the River--The _Siphonia Elastica_--Rubber and its Collection--An Enormously Rich Country--A German in Slavery

WE struck the River Arinos at a point called Porto Velho. There were at that place the miserable sheds of three _seringueiros_ (rubber-collectors). I had made for that particular spot because I had heard that a big canoe carved out of the trunk of a tree probably existed there. I was told that the canoe was large enough to carry many people.

It had been constructed, it seemed, some ten years previously by a rubber-collecting expedition which came to grief, was abandoned, and had since been taken possession of by seringueiros. I had purchased it on chance from its last owner for Rs. 300,000. With accessories I gave about Rs. 450,000, or roughly, 30. It was the only canoe upon that river.

I considered myself lucky, when I arrived at Porto Velho, to find that the canoe actually existed at all. There she was, floating more or less gracefully upon the water. She had a total length of 42 ft., was 3 ft.

wide, and had been roughly scooped out of a giant tree which was not quite straight. Her lines, therefore, were not as elegant as might have been expected. For instance, her starboard and port sides were not absolutely straight lines, but described curves--in fact, the port side almost an angle. That gave the canoe an original appearance, which to my practical mind at once suggested great difficulty of steering. Her sides, coa.r.s.ely cut with an axe, were from 3 to 5 in. thick; her bottom from 6 in. to 1 ft. thick. The two extremities were solid blocks, so that her weight--she was carved out of unusually heavy wood--was altogether over 2,000 lb.

When I went down to the water to examine my purchase I found that the vessel was in a pitiful condition and needed sound repairing before she could proceed on a long journey. She was sufficiently good for crossing the stream--that was all she was used for by the seringueiros--but it would be a different matter to go down rapids for some thousands of kilometres. It took all the strength of my men, the seringueiros, and myself combined to pull the canoe out of the water upon the beach and to turn her over. We worked hard for two days with saws and hammers, knives, tar and wadding, in order to stop up a gigantic crack which extended from one end of the canoe to the other under her bottom. Although the crack did not go right through, I could well imagine that a hard knock against a rock might be quite sufficient to split the canoe in two. We sc.r.a.ped her and cleaned her; we overhauled and strengthened her thoroughly; we cut rough seats inside, and built an elevated deck upon which the baggage might be comparatively safe from moisture.

We were proud of our work when we launched her. Wiping the dripping perspiration from our foreheads, necks and arms, we looked just as if we had come out of a bath, we sweated so in our efforts to push her back into the water, the heat near the water, screened as it was from the breeze by the high banks and trees, being suffocating! We gazed at her--the queen of the Arinos River. She looked lovely in our eyes. On her stern I fixed the steering gear, a huge paddle 12 ft. long; and upon a neatly-made staff, which I had cut myself, I hoisted the British flag, which had hitherto flown over my tent. It was, I think, the first time the British flag had waved over that river. The canoe was baptized the "Elfrida," after my sister's name.

It will be remembered that only four men remained with me. Not one of them had ever been in a canoe before--except to be ferried across a river, perhaps--not one had the slightest idea of navigation, and it followed, of course, that not one had ever used a paddle or steered a canoe.

As the river had never been surveyed, it was my intention to make an accurate map of its entire course as far as its junction with the Tres Barras, several thousand kils. away, from which point I imagined the river must be slightly better known. Therefore, as I should be busy all day long with the prismatic compa.s.s and watch, constantly taking notes of the direction of the stream and the distances covered (checked almost daily by astronomical observations) I should not be able to take an active part in the navigation.

The canoe was undermanned. Imagine her length--42 ft.--with only two men to paddle. A third man was stationed on her bow to punt when possible and be on the look-out for rocks; while Alcides, whom I had promoted to the rank of quartermaster, was in charge of the steering. I had taken the precaution to make a number of extra paddles. We carried a large quant.i.ty of fis.h.i.+ng-lines with hooks of all sizes, and cartridges of dynamite.

The river was most placid and beautiful, and the water wonderfully clear.

Unlike rivers elsewhere, the Arinos did not show a branch or a twig floating on its waters, not a leaf on its mirror-like surface. That did not mean that branches of trees--sometimes even whole trees--did not fall into the river, but, as I have stated already, the specific gravity of woods in that part of Brazil was so heavy that none floated. Hence the ever-clean surface of all the streams.

We were then in a region of truly beautiful forest, with _figueira_ (_Ficus_ of various kinds), trees of immense size, and numerous large _cambara_. The bark of the latter--reddish in colour--when stewed in boiling water, gave a refres.h.i.+ng decoction not unlike tea and quite good to drink.

Most interesting of all the trees was, however, the seringueira (_Siphonia elastica_), which was extraordinarily plentiful in belts or zones along the courses of rivers in that region. As is well known, the seringueira, which grows wild in the forest there, is one of the most valuable lactiferous plants in the world. Its latex, properly coagulated, forms the best quality of rubber known.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rubber Tree showing Incisions and the Collar and Tin Cup for the Collection of the Latex.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Coagulating Rubber into a Ball.]

There are, of course, many latex-giving plants of the _Euphorbiae_, _Artocarpae_ and _Lobeliae_ families, but no other are perhaps such abundant givers of latex as the Brazilian seringueira (of the _Euphorbiae_ family), a tree plentiful not only in Matto Grosso on all the head-waters and courses of the rivers flowing into the Amazon, but also abundant in the Provinces of Para and the Amazon. In less quant.i.ties the seringueira is also to be found in Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte and Maranho.

The seringueira prevailed chiefly near the water, in swampy places, or in places inundated when the river was high. Never was the tree to be found at a distance away from water.

The height of the seringueira varies from 25 ft. to 50 ft. Its diameter is seldom more than 35 in. Its leaf is composed of three elongated leaflets, smooth-edged and complete in themselves. The seed is smooth-skinned, and of a reddish tone. The fruit consists of a well-rounded wooden capsule enclosing three cells which contain white oily almonds not disagreeable to eat. From the almonds an oil of a light red colour, not unlike the colour of old port wine, can be extracted.

That oil can be subst.i.tuted for linseed oil, and has the further advantage of not desiccating so quickly. Mixed with copal and turpentine it gives a handsome varnish. It can be used advantageously in the manufacture of printing-ink and soap. So that every part of the seringueira can be put to some use or other.

Among the other more important trees which produce rubber may be mentioned the _Siphonia brevifoglia_, the _Siphonia brasiliensis_, _Siphonia rhytidocarpa_, and the _Siphonia lutea_, all found chiefly in the State of Para. In other parts of Brazil grow the _Ficus anthelmintica_, the _Ficus doliaria_ (or _gameilleira_), the _Ficus elastica_, _Ficus indica_, _Ficus religiosa_, _Ficus radula_, _Ficus elliptica_, _Ficus prinoides_, the _Plumeria phagedenica_, the _Plumeria drastica_, the _Sorveira_ or _Collophora utilis_, and the _Mangabeira_ or _Harncornia speciosa_.

At present we shall be chiefly interested in the seringueira (_Siphonia elastica_).

The collection of the latex from the seringueira and the subsequent process of coagulation were simple enough. A seringueiro, or rubber-collector, started from his hut early every morning carrying with him a small steel axe or pick, the head of which was 3 in. long and shaped like a bird's beak; a tin bucket, and some _barro_--soft clay which had been soaked in water. He walked along the _estrada_ or track which he had cleared for himself, leading from one rubber tree to the next. There may be twenty, thirty, fifty or more rubber trees that have been tapped on one estrada, according to the district and the activity of the seringueiro. In the case of a new tree a collar of the fibre of burity palm was in the first instance nailed with pegs of hard wood round the stem, not horizontally, but at an angle: sometimes, when necessary, in a spiral. In other cases a similar band of clay was made to encircle the tree. These collars served as channels, compelling the latex, as it exuded from cuts made in the tree, to flow into a small tin cup suspended at the lowest point of the collar. The incisions were never made lower than 2 or 3 ft. from the ground. They must not penetrate deeper than the entire thickness of the bark of the tree, and they must on no account touch or wound the actual wood, or the tree would suffer greatly--even die. In some regions the incisions were made longitudinally, in others transversely. The operation was repeated by the seringueiro each time on every rubber tree as he went along the estrada, the latex flowing freely enough into the tin cup after each fresh incision had been made.

The seringueiro thus tapped each tree on his way out along the estrada, which in some cases may be several miles long; in other cases, where rubber trees were plentiful, only a few hundred yards in length. On his return journey the seringueiro emptied each small tin cup--by that time filled with latex--into the large bucket which invariably accompanied him on his daily round. Rubber-trees possess in a way at least one characteristic of cows. The more milk or latex one judiciously extracts from them, the more they give, up to a certain point. But, indeed, such a thing is known as exhausting a tree in a short time. A good seringueiro usually gives the trees a rest from the time they are in bloom until the fruit is mature. In some regions even a much longer respite is given to the trees--generally during the entire rainy season. In some localities, too, in order to let the latex flow more freely, a vertical incision is made above and meeting a horizontal one. At intervals oblique incisions are cut next to the vertical ones, but in Matto Grosso I never saw that complicated system of incisions adopted--only vertical incisions parallel to one another at a distance of 025 m. (9-7/8 in.) being made there, and in rows one above another. Some of the trees had actually hundreds of those cuts--many, of course, healed. Each cut only exudes latex for a comparatively short time, merely an hour or so.

During the first month after a tree is tapped, the supply of latex is generally plentiful; the second month it gives less; less still the third month. On an average twenty trees give about one litre of latex a day.

Three litres of latex are necessary in order to obtain one litre of rubber. At the head-waters of the Arinos River 600 trees gave from 30 to 35 arobas (450 to 525 kils.) of fine rubber in the first month, and about 20 arobas (300 kils.) of _sarnambe_ (second quality with impurities). One aroba is 15 kils.

The latex of the seringueira in the Arinos region was of a beautiful white, quite liquid, and with a pungent, almost sickening, odour. When a new tree was tapped, the lower towards the ground the incisions were made the better. If after considerable tapping the tree did not yield much, it was advisable to incise the tree higher up. In that region the trees exuded latex more abundantly when they began to have new leaves in October. Late in the dry season the latex flowed less freely. When the weather was windy all the latex seemed to contract to the summit of the trees and hardly flowed at all from the incisions. When it rained, on the contrary, it flowed freely, but was spoilt by being mixed with water; so that a good seringueiro must know well not only where and how, but also when to tap the trees, in order to get good results.

[Ill.u.s.tration: b.a.l.l.s of Rubber outside a Seringueiro's Hut.]