The seringal, located in a region propitious to rubber trees crop, constituted the basic unit of a long chain of transactions around a product disputed for its usefulness, rarity, and difficulty in obtaining. The only productive activities in the chain were concentrated in the rubber plantation, although it was the least benefited place, due to the wealth generated in the daily work of cutting the Hevea brasiliensis, in which rubber tappers and rubber bosses were exploited.
Seringal consisted of a small village of wooden and straw houses—the only investment made in the production site—the rubber boss house, grocery stores, rubber warehouses and houses of employees linked to the administration were all located there. The place was in a large clearance of the forest, with a port and a small field where the most prosperous people developed subsistence agriculture and raised some domestic animals. Hunting and fishing in charge of the native inhabitants, necessary for domestic services. In many of them, the figure of the rubber boss, already rich and living in the capital, was replaced by that of an agent, manager or tenant.
The work began before dawn, when it was still dark, with the bleeding of the trees and the placement of the bowls. It continued with the collection of milk, and ended at night with the smoking. All this were processed under a cloud of insects and with the constant danger of attacks by animals and Indigenous. The only food was xibé or jacuúba, which are mixtures of flour and water. Those who had some money could have jabá, beans, rapadura, and cachaça. The ones who could afford a firearm would do some hunting, when there were no prohibitions. And those who had large families sometimes organized small plantations to help handle their situation.
At the end of the harvest, the annual production accumulated and was taken to the headquarters, weighed and bought at prices far below the quotation. After harvesting the crop, the rubber cut and selected by the rubber warehouses was sold to exporting companies, located in the two regional capitals, Manaus and Belém.
Rubber tappers’ instruments
Cans - attached to the rubber trees after bleeding to collect the latex.
Poronga Lamp - Lamp that goes stuck in the head
Cat - to open the pela (smoked but not processed latex - see photo at the top of the page)
Knife - to bleed the rubber tree
Recife, March 30, 2010.
how to quote this text
GASPAR, Lúcia. Rubber. In: PESQUISA Escolar Online. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2010. Available from: https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/pt-br/artigo/borracha/. Access on: Month. day, year. (Ex.: Aug. 6, 2020.)