DIFFERENT KINDS OF WILD RUBBER
Many varieties of the same species of tree belong to the family which
is known as “the Heveas,” and several of them are rubber-givers. All
rubber obtained from trees of this family has the distinctive name of
“Para” in the commercial world. Three qualities of wild Para are sent
to market--fine, entrefine or medium, and coarse or negro-head.
Fine Para is best quality rubber made from the richest kinds of Hevea
milk. It is cured through and through, whilst the latex is being
coagulated, with the smoke of palm-nuts. The nuts most commonly used in
the Amazon region are the fruit of the urucuri palm, which flourishes
in the forests where the Heveas are found. Various products are turned
to account as fuel for curing rubber in other parts of the world, but
the results, taken as a whole, have led to a general opinion that the
smoke of the palm-nuts used in the Amazon country plays an important
part in keeping the rubber of this region first of all rubbers as
regards quality; but the secret of this smoke’s special power has not
yet been discovered.
Entrefine or medium Para is made from Hevea milk other than the very
richest; or it may be the result of best quality milk which has only
been indifferently well cured.
Coarse Para, or negro-heads, is uncured or partly cured refuse. When
a tree has been tapped, some of the milk in the collecting-cups cakes
into a thin crust on the inside of the bowls, and drops fall and
congeal on the rim and outer surface. The scraps have to be cleaned
off the cups every morning, for new milk loses much of its value if it
is allowed to come into contact with dirt or refuse; sometimes they
are thrown away, but frequently they are hoarded in a bag which the
seringueiro takes with him on his tapping round for this particular
purpose. The refuse is well worth saving, for it will fetch quite
a good price as negro-heads. But such coarse rubber is not always
an extra source of income to the seringueiro. Sometimes he loses
considerably by it, for he finds himself, through no fault of his own,
with nothing but this poor quality material as the reward for his day’s
toil. If it rains hard whilst the trees are being tapped, the latex
curdles in the collecting-cups, and the seringueiro has to collect a
supply of negro-heads instead of fresh milk. Again, the milk sometimes
coagulates much too quickly when it is being cured; the material
produced is then negro-heads instead of fine or even medium Para.
In the commercial world Para rubber has many secondary names, which
tell from which particular district such or such a supply has been
obtained. The chief rubber-producing regions in the Amazon country are:
1. The Brazilian State of Para, in the Lower Amazon Valley, including
the islands in the mouth of the river. One very good quality rubber
from this region is called “Caviana,” after the island of that name,
where it is obtained.
2. The Brazilian State of Amazonas, in the Upper Amazon Valley. Rubber
produced in this State is known generally as “up-river” rubber; it is
also called “Manaos,” after the great commercial centre of the industry
in this region, or “Madeira,” after a tributary of that name which
gives access to some of the richest rubber lands in the State.
3. Acre. This is a far interior territory, bordering on Peru and
Bolivia. Acre, which is now federated with Brazil, is very famous
for its rubber, which, like that of Amazonas, is generally known as
“up-river” rubber.
4. The Brazilian State of Matto Grosso, in the Upper Amazon Valley.
At present very little of this vast forest-land between Amazonas and
Paraguay has been opened up, but, judging by what has already been
seen of its dense jungle, the whole State is a treasure-ground of
rubber-trees. Most of the rubber now exported from this district is
coarse, and sun-cured instead of smoke-cured. It, too, is called
“up-river” rubber.
5 and 6. Bolivia and Peru. Both countries export large quantities of
rubber, much of which is of excellent quality. The various grades of
Bolivian and Peruvian Para are classed collectively as “up-river”
rubber; but the different qualities have native names as well, and
these are quite popular as trade terms.
The Amazon country furnishes a rubber that is quite distinct from the
Para material. It is called “Caucho,” and is obtained from a tree known
as the _Castilloa Ulei_. The biggest exporters are Peru and Bolivia.
There is no system of estradas to simplify the work of the
caucho-gatherers. A search-party, largely composed of Indians, sets
out to hunt for castilloa trees in parts of the forest that have never
before been explored. There is not so much as a track to help them on
their journey, nor a clue of any kind to tell them in which direction
to cut their way. In order to collect enough caucho to make a success
of their trip they will probably have to travel several hundred miles;
quite likely they will lose themselves, and have to wander about for
months before they happen to strike the right direction towards some
isolated village. All their baggage has to be carried by hand or on the
back, so only the barest necessities are taken. A large share of each
man’s burden consists of provisions; even so, the stores are scanty
enough, seeing that no one knows for how long they will have to be eked
out, with the help of any game that may be shot.
Every castilloa-tree that is found is felled to the ground, and is
then ringed with cuts, which extend the whole length of the trunk, at
intervals of about 2 feet. The milk which runs out from these cuts
is caught in little bowls. These are either fashioned from leaves,
which are folded and sewn together, or they are made from seed-pods--in
which case they are called “calabashes”--in the very simple way that
you can easily make a cocoanut-shell do duty for a basin or a cup.
The contents of the bowls are poured into a hole in the ground or a
scooped-out hollow in the trunk of a fallen tree, and the milk is
coagulated with the help of soap, lime, or potash. After a few days the
lumps of caucho are pressed together into square blocks, the market
name for which is “Peruvian Slab.”
Some of the milk sticks in the cuts and becomes coagulated through
exposure to the air. About a fortnight after a tree has been felled
the congealed caucho is picked out of the wounds. It comes away in
stringlike strips, which are wound into balls. Some of these caucho
balls are very roughly made; others are put together in a most pleasing
way--the narrow golden strips are prettily interlaced the while they
are being wound into a compact, round bundle; in its finished state the
ball looks as if it had been fashioned from strips of bamboo by the
patient, skilful hands of a Japanese toymaker.
[Illustration:
_Malaysian Rubber Co._
NATIVE COAGULATING JELUTONG. _Page 41_]