It's going north-west and bound as we are for Rembwe River.
I went out the other side of that river with a lighter heart than I
went in, and shouted the news to the boys, and they yelled and sang
as we went on our way.
All along this bit of country we had seen quantities of rubber
vines, and between Egaja and Esoon we came across quantities of
rubber being collected. Evidently there was a big camp of rubber
hunters out in the district very busy. Wiki and Kiva did their best
to teach me the trade. Along each side of the path we frequently
saw a ring of stout bush rope, raised from the earth on pegs about a
foot to eighteen inches. On the ground in the middle stood a
calabash, into which the ends of the pieces of rubber vine were
placed, the other ends being supported by the bush rope ring. Round
the outside of some of these rings was a slow fire, which just
singes the tops of the bits of rubber vine as they project over the
collar or ring, and causes the milky juice to run out of the lower
end into the calabash, giving out as it does so a strong ammoniacal
smell. When the fire was alight there would be a group of rubber
collectors sitting round it watching the cooking operations,
removing those pieces that had run dry and placing others, from a
pile at their side, in position.
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