Henrique knew the Amazon about as well as a white man could. He was a criollo, a man born in Brazil but of European descent, and he had been among the first settlers in Belém. Henrique had frequently canoed up or down the main river and its tributaries, and he had lived in some of the native villages for months at a time. Maurício occasionally joined Henrique, but mostly remained in Belém to look after Henrique’s interests there.
It started to drizzle. Maurício held out his hand. “I thought you said it was the dry season.” It was an old joke between them.
Henrique delivered the customary punchline. “The difference is, in the dry season it rains every day, and in the wet season, all day.”
Whether in appreciation or mockery of the witticism, the drizzle became a shower. Henrique dived for the shelter, Maurício following.
* * *
“I don’t understand,” Henrique muttered.
“Huh?” Maurício had been watching a giant river otter playing in the water. He looked up. “Don’t understand what?”
“Why none of the Indians we have questioned have heard of the rubber tree. I would have sworn that they knew every tree within ten miles of their villages.” Henrique and Maurício had visited the tribes of the lower Xingu River: the Tacunyape, the Shipaya, the Juruna. The explorers had been shown some trees which produced sap of one kind of another, but none of them matched the description of the rubber trees.
“So it doesn’t grow on the Xingu. Perhaps we’ll have better luck on the Tapajós.”
“We’re in the shaded area of the map, where the tree is supposed to be found.”
“Perhaps we don’t know what to ask for.”
“We asked them to show us a tree which weeps when it is cut. Because, uh . . .”
“I know. Because the first letter from Lisbon said that rubber is also known as caoutchouc. From the Quechua words caa, ‘wood,’ and ochue, ‘tears,’ that is—”
Henrique finished the thought. “The ‘weeping tree.’”
“A lot of good a Quechua name does you,” Maurício said. “It’s the language of the Incas, who are, what, two thousand miles west of here?”
“Even if it’s a rare tree, you would think that some Indian would try cutting it down,” Henrique said. “See if it was good for building a dugout canoe, or at least for firewood. And then see it bleed.”
Maurício brushed an inquisitive fly off the document. “Sure, but that might have happened a century ago. And they don’t remember it, because they don’t use its, what’s that word . . . latex . . . for anything. The latex is old news.”
His expression brightened. “Of course, they might still know of the tree. Maybe they use its leaves to thatch their huts. Or—”
“Um . . .”
“Or, they eat its seeds. Or—”
“Uh-uummm . . .”
“I know, it’s sacred to their Jaguar God, so it’s forbidden to speak to strangers about it.”
“Maurício!”
“Yes?”
“Shut up.”
* * *
Henrique brooded. Clearly, he thought, merely asking for a “weeping tree” wasn’t good enough. But Henrique’s superiors, or the mysterious up-timers, had provided more than just the map. He also had received drawings of the rubber tree, and its leaves and seeds. And even a sample of rubber. So he had thought he had some chance of success.
“Shit!”
Maurício gave him a wary look. “What’s wrong?”
“I have been going about this all wrong. The drawings are meaningless to the Indians we’ve been talking to; their artwork is too different.
“What we need to do is make a model of the leaves and seeds. Out of clay, or mud, or something. Life size, if possible.”
Maurício waited for Henrique to continue.
Henrique crossed his arms.
“Oh,” said Maurício. “‘We’ means ‘me.’”
* * *
It had taken months, but they found the trees, trained and recruited rubber tappers, and went to work. The rubber tapping operation was nothing like a sugar plantation. The rubber trees were widely separated, perhaps one or two in an acre, and paths, often circuitous, had to be hacked out to connect them. Each tapper—seringueiro—developed several routes, and walked one route each day. A route might connect fifty to a hundred trees.
Henrique and Maurício made periodic trips to collect the rubber, and bring the seringueiros their pay, usually in the form of trade goods. And they also took advantage of the opportunity to spot-check that they were following instructions.