The bark of the tree is so thick that the latex does
not run off like caoutchouc when the bark is cut. So the bark has to be
cut off and squeezed in hand presses. Formerly this meant cutting down
the tree, but now alternate strips of the bark are cut off and squeezed
so the tree continues to live.
When Columbus discovered Santo Domingo he found the natives playing with
balls made from the gum of the caoutchouc tree. The soldiers of Pizarro,
when they conquered Inca-Land, adopted the Peruvian custom of smearing
caoutchouc over their coats to keep out the rain. A French scientist, M.
de la Condamine, who went to South America to measure the earth, came
back in 1745 with some specimens of caoutchouc from Para as well as
quinine from Peru. The vessel on which he returned, the brig _Minerva_,
had a narrow escape from capture by an English cruiser, for Great
Britain was jealous of any trespassing on her American sphere of
influence. The Old World need not have waited for the discovery of the
New, for the rubber tree grows wild in Annam as well as Brazil, but none
of the Asiatics seems to have discovered any of the many uses of the
juice that exudes from breaks in the bark.
Pages:
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249