Guayule rubber is of sufficiently good quality to be used for all but the highest class rubber goods, such as surgical appliances. CHAPTER IX DIFFERENT KINDS OF WILD RUBBER--_continued_ The chief wild-rubber producing countries in the Old World are Africa, Northern India, and the East Indies. In Africa, the rubber-giving plants are the _Funtumia elastica_, a medium-sized tree, and several varieties of vine whose family name is Landolphia. Both plants flourish in the tropical forests of West Africa, extending from Soudan to the Congo, and embracing large areas in Liberia, Gold Coast, Southern Nigeria, and the Cameroons. Landolphias grow profusely in these same forests, and in the more northerly West African districts of Senegal, Gambia, and Sierra Leone; they also abound in British East Africa and neighbouring territory. Funtumias are tapped on the “herring-bone” system. A native climbs one of the trees, and as he ascends he makes a wide cut vertically up the trunk with a somewhat clumsy chisel or gouge; on his downward journey he makes numerous branch cuts, which run into the central one alternately on the right and left sides at an angle of about 45 degrees. The milk which comes out of the side cuts trickles down into the central channel, where it mixes with the milk which is oozing out therefrom. The whole supply thus finds its way down to a calabash or pot, which is placed on the ground at the terminus of the “herring-bone” or “featherstitch” system. The more destructive method of felling the trees is also adopted by the collectors of Funtumia milk. The rubber is prepared from the milk in several ways. The most common methods are the addition of the juice of another plant, and the burying of the milk in holes scooped out of the ground. In the latter case, an oblong hole, 2 to 3 feet deep, is made, and the inside of it is coated with clay. When the clay is dry, the milk is poured into the hole, over which is placed a lid of leaves or boughs. Under this treatment, about six weeks have to elapse before the change called “coagulation” is brought about, and then the results are far from satisfactory. When, at last, the hole is uncovered, there is a lump of rubber in place of the milk, but it usually contains a great deal of uncoagulated and partially coagulated latex. The lumps are put in the sun to dry, after which they are taken home to a forest hut. Here they are stored until such time as some of the natives set forth for the nearest centre of civilization, to dispose of a stock of rubber to the merchants. The lumps are carried to town in native-made baskets, which in shape are rather like the baskets commonly used by us for soiled linen. The product prepared from Funtumia milk is generally known as “Lagos silk rubber.”