I will now describe, from notes in my journal, a day's rubber cutting, and
the method of preparing milk. Rose about S"30i j"st before sunrise. Supped
basin of coffee mixed with faiinha, carefully loaded our guns and in company
with Feliz, a brother of my host, started for a day's rubber cutting, Fcliz
carrying a small steel tomahawk and a two gallon tin-can strapped upon the
shoulders. My guide was a wiry youth of eighteen, a keen hunter, a dead
shot, a swift runner, and full of fun and humour. In the distance we heard
a band of giiaribas, or howling monkeys, giving a final chorus. They usually
commence at ssnset, and amuse themselves by uttering blood-curdling shrieks at



INDIARUBSER. 183

inlervals till daybreak. Feliz says he believes they howl because of tootlhache.
Countless birds now began to whistle, pipe, coo, and scream ; cicadas kept up
a deafening stridulation, and the rise and fall of insect hum and twitter re-
sembled the distant roar of ocean surf. A gentle breeze rustling among tree
tops brought down a smart shower of dew deposited during the night.
Though drenched with perspiration and water — one always freely perspires
asleep and awake in equatorial latitudes — we were sheltered from the already
blistering rays which would soon impart to the forests the temperature of a
Turkish ba«th.
