This gathering and preparation of the fine rubber differs materially from that practiced on the lower water courses where the milk is smoked with much greater care, on the shovel shaped mould and the balls, as a rule, weigh but 10 to 30 kilos. On the Acre, the seringueiro will gather in a day 15 to 25 liters of milk, which will yield 7 to 12 kilos of dry rubber, whereas in the inundated section he will be able to gather but one-half or one-third as much. Of course the seringueiro can smoke the milk much more carefully and take certain precautions, as for instance, that the rubber-milk is never heated. On the Acre on the other hand, the milk is warmed as a rule, because otherwise the large mass is difficult to manage. There is no question but that in this manner the quality of the rubber, which is prepared from the best material and certainly would yield the best product, suffers. Nevertheless the rubber balls from Acre, prepared in the primitive manner, furnish a good and much sought for rubber. The tapping of the trees also is often effected with less care, small steel axes being used that make wounds that are too deep and as a result, the seringaes in the Acre are exhausted more quickly than those in the inundated district. [Illustration: A HUT ON THE UPPER ACRE IN WHICH RUBBER IS SMOKED.] From the =baracâos=, the stations on the banks of the river, small mule trains proceed to the interior to bring in the rubber balls, which are laid in rows, usually in the open air, so that they will be thoroughly dried before loading them on the steamer. By the same mules, food and supplies are sent to the seringueiros in the forest. When the rubber gathering ceases in December or January, the seringueiro has other important work to do. Roads must be opened and repaired, clearings made in the forest, huts erected, wood cut and finally the paths set in order for the approaching harvest. During the rainy season, the steamer brings new supplies and food, which the seringueiro must buy at the =Baracâo=. Concerning the duties the seringueiro has to perform, there are special regulations, which prevail in most seringaes and of which written or printed copies are often furnished.