The details of collecting the sap and preparing it for market vary somewhat according to locality and the nature of the trees or shrubs from which it comes. In the region of the Amazon, when the sap is to be obtained from a tree, cuts are made each morning in the bark. The milky sap that exudes is collected in little tin or clay cups fastened to the trunk. At the end of about ten hours these cups are emptied into larger ones, and on the morning of the following day new incisions are made in each tree, about eight inches below the old ones. This process is continued until incisions have been made in the bark from a height of about six feet down to the ground; the lower down on the trunk of the tree, the better is the quality of the sap. For the evaporation of the sap, a fire is built of material yielding dense volumes of smoke. Workmen dip wooden paddles into the liquid and hold them in the smoke until the sap solidifies and acquires a slightly yellow tinge. They repeat the process of dipping the paddle into the sap and holding it in the smoke, until the paddle is covered with a layer of the dried gum about an inch and a half in thickness. This layer is then removed from the paddle and hung up to dry; and the process of evaporation is commenced anew. The raw material, which is an elastic, yellowish, gum-like substance, is sent away to be vulcanized. From the vulcanized product are made the rubber goods of commerce. As far back as 1615 A.D. the Spaniards used rubber for waxing canvas cloaks so as to make them water-proof. But it was not until two centuries later that caoutchouc began to attract general attention. Charles Goodyear, an American inventor, found a way for making it commonly useful, and brought about its practical and widespread utility. The story of Goodyear's life is pathetically interesting. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, December 29, 1800. His father was Amasa Goodyear, a pioneer hardware manufacturer, from whom the son inherited much of his inventive ability. Charles Goodyear was educated in the schools of New Haven, and spent much of his time on his father's farm and in the factory, where the father manufactured steel implements and pearl buttons, the first ever made in America. The son intended to become a preacher, but obstacles arose and he abandoned his purpose. Though he was not to minister to man's spiritual needs, yet he was to bring to the race a material blessing of great value. Goodyear entered into the hardware business with his father in Connecticut and at Philadelphia, but their business failed. During the ten years extending from 1830 to 1840 he was frequently imprisoned for debt. All this time he was working to perfect unfinished inventions in order that his creditors might be paid.