obtained with ammonia.

In the Amazon and Para Provinces a different process was used. The latex
was coagulated by placing it near the fire. The heat evaporated the
aqueous part and coagulated the vegetable albumen. In order to make what
was called a _garrafa_, or large ball of rubber--some weighed 20, 30, 40
kils. and more--a small ball of latex was made to coagulate round a
horizontal bar of wood. That ball was gradually increased in
circumference by smearing it over with more latex, which became gradually
coagulated and dried by the heat and smoke produced by the burning of
certain woods, and of the oily seeds of the _urucuri_ palm, technically
known as the _Attalea excelsa_. In this process the rubber did not remain
white, as with the alum process; in fact, it became dark brown, almost
black, owing, of course, to the smoke. Locally, the smoking process was
said to be the better of the two, for the coagulation with alum took away
somewhat from the elasticity of the rubber.

Interesting was the _sorveira_ (_Collophora utilis_), a tree which gave
latex that was quite delicious to drink, but could not be coagulated. The
trees, to any untrained person, closely resembled the seringueira, only
the leaves were more minute and differently shaped. It must be remembered
that nearly all the trees of the Brazilian forest had leaves only at a
very great height above the ground, and it was not always easy to see
their shape, especially when close to other trees where the foliage got
interwoven into an almost solid mass. We frequently enjoyed the sweet
milk of the _sorveira_--it tasted slightly of fresh walnuts with sugar on
them. It was unsafe to drink too much of it, as it had injurious effects
upon one's digestive organs.

There was there also the _leiteiro_ (or producer of milk), a smaller
tree, and the liana _macaco_, which both produced abundant milk, but in
neither case had a way, so far, been found to coagulate it.

The two days spent at Porto Velho were interesting. The four men who had
remained with me behaved fairly well, principally owing to the prospect,
that, in drifting down stream, they would not have to work, and would be
saved the heavy trouble of grooming, packing and unpacking the animals,
and the tedious job every morning of riding miles through the country in
order to recover those that had strayed away during the night.

"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Antonio, as he gazed at the canoe, "we shall
not have to h