I hesitated whether to proceed or not, fearing I might lose the way and not be able to find my camera again.  The monkey was not visible at all; it fact, it was not possible to see anything, unless it was very close by, so dense was the foliage.  I laid my automatic pistol on a fallen tree-trunk, and was trying to figure out the chances of getting a look at my simian friend and at the same time not losing my valuable property on the pathway, when I heard another startling sound, this time near-by.  I prepared myself for whatever species of animal was due, and could feel the excitement a hunter knows when he thinks he is about to get a sight of big game.  Suddenly the undergrowth parted in front of me and a herd of wild boars came trotting out.  I drew a bead on the biggest of the lot and fired, letting five soft-nose bullets go through his head to make sure; the others fled, and I hastened to the spot to examine my prize more closely.  It was a boar of medium size, weighing in the neighbourhood of one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and he had a fine set of tusks.  He was rather vicious-looking and was doing considerable kicking before he gave up the ghost.  It was impossible for me to carry him through the bush owing to the fact that I had the valuable camera and apparatus to take care of, so I made a mental note of the spot, and cut his ears off.  It took four hours’ search to find the camera, in spite of my belief that I had not gone far, and it was late in the afternoon when I arrived at headquarters.

The very next morning there was a good opportunity to see the smoking of rubber-milk.  A seringueiro had collected his product and when I went to the smoking-hut I found him busy turning over and over a big stick, resting on two horizontal guides, built on both sides of a funnel from which a dense smoke was issuing.  On the middle of the stick was a huge ball of rubber.  Over this he kept pouring the milk from a tin-basin.  Gradually the substance lost its liquidity and coagulated into a beautiful yellow-brown mass which was rubber in its first crude shipping state.

The funnel from which the smoke issued was about three feet high and of a conical shape.  At its base was a fire of small wooden chips, which when burning gave forth an acrid smoke containing a large percentage of creosote.  It is this latter substance which has the coagulating effect upon the rubber-milk.  When the supply of milk was exhausted, he lifted the ball and stick off the guides and rolled it on a smooth plank to drive the moisture out of the newly-smoked rubber.  Then he was through for the day.  He placed the stick on two forked branches and put some green leaves over the funnel to smother the fire.  On top of the leaves he put a tin-can and a chunk of clay, then filled the hole in the ground with ashes.  Under this arrangement the fire would keep smouldering for twenty-four hours, to be used anew for the next repetition of the smoking process.