"The India-rubber is got from its tree as the sugar is from the
maple tree. It is taken from the trunk in the shape of a very thick
milky fluid, and it is said that no other vital fluid, whether in animal
or in plant, contains so much solid material within it; and it is a
matter of surprise that the sap, thus encumbered, can circulate through
all the delicate vessels of the tree. Tropical heat is required to form
the caoutchouc; for when the tree is cultivated in hothouses, the
substance of the sap is quite different. The full-grown trees are very
handsome, with round column-like trunks about sixty feet high, and the
crown of foliage is said to resemble that of the ash."
"Did people always know about India-rubber?" asked Clara.
"No indeed! It is not more than a hundred and fifty years--perhaps not
so long--since it was a great curiosity; so that a piece half an inch
square would sell in London for nearly a dollar of our money, but now it
comes in shiploads, and a pound of it costs less than quarter of that
sum. It is used for so many purposes that it seems as if the world could
never have gone on without it. All sorts of outside garments to keep out
the rain are made of it. Waterproof cloaks are called macintoshes in
England because this was the name of the person who invented them.
India-rubber is also used for tents and many other things, and, as water
cannot get through it, there is a great saving of trouble and expense."
"It must be splendid for tents," said Malcolm; "no one need care, when
snug under cover, whether or not it rained in the woods.
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