After having established themselves in camp the natives take up their monotonous round, which is followed day after day as long as the rubber trees continue to yield their valuable sap. When the seringuero starts out he equips himself with a tomahawk-like axe having a handle about thirty inches long. This is called a “macheadino.” [Illustration: TAPPING HEVEA RUBBER TREE--BRAZIL _Courtesy of the United States Rubber Co._] How is Rubber Gathered by the Natives? The trees are tapped very much like maple syrup trees. Only the juice is found between the outer bark and the wood. So these men make a cut in the tree through the bark, almost to the wood. A little cup is then fastened to the tree with a piece of soft clay to press the cup against it, and the juice runs into this cup. Sometimes they have from ten to thirty cups on one tree and the average yield of a tree is ten pounds of rubber a year. Some two hours after the tapping is done the flow entirely ceases and the tree must be tapped anew to secure a fresh flow. The film of rubber that forms on the inside of the cup and the bits of rubber remaining on the tree are collected and sold as coarse Para. [Illustration: ON THE BANKS OF THE AMAZON _Courtesy of the B. F. Goodrich Co._] [Illustration: GATHERING THE RUBBER MILK--BRAZIL _Courtesy of the United States Rubber Co._] [Illustration: HOW THE RUBBER MILK DRIPS FROM THE GASH IN THE TREE--BRAZIL] The rubber gatherer carries in addition to a macheadino and many small tin cups, a larger vessel for gathering the liquid and carrying it to camp. One man will tap as many as 100 trees in a single morning and then cover the same ground again in the afternoon or on the following morning, gathering the sap that drips slowly from the cuts made in the trees. On these journeys the harvester frequently travels long distances over paths so buried by the undergrowth of the jungle that they are almost invisible to the untrained eye. On such expeditions rubber gatherers usually go armed with rifles to protect themselves against wild animals, reptiles and savage Indians. [Illustration: A PLANTATION IN BORNEO _Courtesy of the B. F. Goodrich Co._] How is Rubber Smoked? After the juice has been gathered in this way, the native builds a fire; over it he places a cover shaped like a large bottle with the bottom knocked out of it. This fire is built of oily nuts found in the forest, and the thick smoke arises through what would be the neck of the bottle. [Illustration: SMOKING RUBBER ON THE LOWER AMAZON _Courtesy of the United States Rubber Co._]