Chapter I: Front Matter

PEEPS AT
INDUSTRIES

RUBBER

PEEPS AT INDUSTRIES

EACH VOLUME CONTAINING 24 PAGES
OF ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

Large Crown 8vo., Cloth, Picture Cover

SUGAR

“Miss Browne ... gives a singularly full and an exceedingly interesting account of the cultivation of the sugar-cane and the sugar-beet in various countries of the world. This is followed by a lucid account of the making, the exporting, and the refining of sugar.... Twenty-six instructive photographs, excellently reproduced, embellish and add value to the book.”--_Educational News._

“This first volume is certainly a happy beginning. Miss Browne writes from first-hand knowledge, and she describes the life of the sugar from the Demerara plantations to the tea-table. The illustrations add to the charm of the work.”--_Manchester Courier._

RUBBER

“It is interestingly written, free from technicalities, and excellently illustrated. Those who wish for a 'peep’ at this all-important industry--which, in spite of ever-recurring discoveries of 'artificial rubber,’ is likely to continue all-important--cannot do better than read this little book.”--_Morning Post._

“The twenty-four excellent illustrations add considerably to the value of the book, which is heartily recommended to anyone desiring a non-technical account of rubber production”--_Nature._

TEA

“It would be difficult to produce a more comprehensive or more charmingly interesting story of a world’s great commodity. The work is a result of experience, observation, information, and illustration obtained on the spot, and, as such, is remarkable value at the price.”--_Schoolmaster._

“An interesting little book ... the author has introduced the minimum of technicalities, and gives the maximum of information.”--_Educational News._

COCOA

(IN PREPARATION)

PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, LTD., 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. 1.

AGENTS

America THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, NEW YORK

Australasia OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
205 Flinders Lane, MELBOURNE

Canada THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA. LTD
St. Martin’s House, 70 Bond Street, TORONTO

India MACMILLAN AND COMPANY, LTD
Macmillan Building, BOMBAY
309 Bow Bazaar Street, CALCUTTA

_By permission of the Director of the Museum, Para_]

PEEPS AT INDUSTRIES

RUBBER

BY
EDITH A. BROWNE, F.R.G.S.

CONTAINING
SIXTEEN PAGES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

SECOND EDITION

A. & C. BLACK, LTD.
4, 5 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. 1
1920

_First Edition published May, 1912_

_Printed in Great Britain._

NOTE

It is astonishing how ignorant is the world as a whole of the great industries which maintain our oft-boasted civilization, and it is ignorance of this character which this series of books aims to dispel.

Produced on the same lines as the “Peeps at Many Lands” series, which has met with such remarkable success, these books will bring the reader into a complete understanding of all the great industries of the British Empire and the world at large. Technicalities being avoided, there are no impedimenta in the way of easy assimilation of the story and the romance of great manufactures. The reader is taken into the atmosphere and confronted with the stern realities of each industry, and when he has laid down the book he will find he has another window in his house to let in the sunshine of knowledge.

Each of the three volumes already issued, concerned respectively with tea, sugar, and rubber, has been promoted to a second edition. Such a reception has encouraged the belief that there is a wide sphere of usefulness, and power of pleasure-giving, for a series of Peeps at Industries written from first-hand knowledge. The next book in the series, now in course of preparation, will deal with cocoa, and similarly will be a collection of experience, observation, information, and pictures harvested “on the spot.”

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE ROMANCE OF RUBBER 1

II. THE ROMANCE OF RUBBER (_continued_) 6

III. THE HISTORY OF RUBBER 10

IV. WE VISIT A SERINGAL 17

V. WE GO WITH A SERINGUEIRO ON HIS ROUND 21

VI. MAKING PARA RUBBER IN THE FOREST 26

VII. DIFFERENT KINDS OF WILD RUBBER 29

VIII. DIFFERENT KINDS OF WILD RUBBER (_continued_) 33

IX. DIFFERENT KINDS OF WILD RUBBER (_continued_) 37

X. KINDRED PRODUCTS TO RUBBER 41

XI. THE STORY OF PLANTATION RUBBER 49

XII. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENTS 56

XIII. THE RUBBER BOOM 60

XIV. WILD RUBBER _v._ PLANTATION RUBBER 64

XV. MAKING A RUBBER PLANTATION 69

XVI. LIFE ON A RUBBER PLANTATION 74

XVII. WE VISIT A RAW-RUBBER FACTORY 80

XVIII. RUBBER GOODS 84

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. SMOKING WILD RUBBER ON A PADDLE IN THE BRAZILIAN FOREST
_Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE
2. TAPPING THE WILD RUBBER-TREES IN THE FOREST NEAR PARA,
BRAZIL 17

3. A BALATA BLEEDERS’ CAMP 24

4. NATIVE COAGULATING JELUTONG 33

5. TAPPING A RUBBER-VINE, BELGIAN CONGO 40

6. (1) TAPPING RUBBER-VINE; (2) EXTRACTING GUTTA-PERCHA, NEW
GUINEA 43

7. BALATA BLEEDERS LEAVING SPROSTONS’ STELLING AT ROCKSTONE,
BRITISH GUIANA 46

8. (1) CEARA RUBBER-TREE IN CEYLON; (2) PARA RUBBER-TREES,
TWENTY-SEVEN MONTHS OLD, CEYLON 57

9. (1) WEEDING YOUNG RUBBER IN MALAYA; (2) LOADING RUBBER IN
MALAYA 64

10. (1) PARA RUBBER SEEDS AND PODS; (2) TAMIL COOLIE PLANTING
RUBBER 67

11. CARRYING LATEX TO FACTORY, IN MALAYA 70

12. TAMIL WOMAN TAPPING RUBBER-TREE UNDER SUPERVISION OF A
KANGANY, ON A CEYLON ESTATE 81

13. MAKING RUBBER BISCUITS 83

14. MAKING CRÊPE RUBBER ON A CEYLON ESTATE 86

15. SAMPLING BOLIVIAN RUBBER AT BULL WHARF, LONDON 88

16. TAKING LATEX TO THE FACTORY BY BULLOCK-CART IN MALAYA 76

RUBBER