WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 69 



Egrets and Jabirus are distinguished at a great 

 distance ; and in the asta and coucourite trees you 

 may obsrerve flocks of scarlet and blue Aras feed- 

 ing on the seeds. 



It is to these trees that the largest sort of 

 Toucan resorts. He is remarkable by a large 

 black spot on the point of his fine yellow bill. He 

 is very scarce in Demerara, and never seen except 

 near the sea-coast. 



The ants' nests have a singular appearance on 

 this plain. They are in vast abundance on those 

 parts of it free from water, and are formed of an 

 exceedingly hard yellow clay. They rise eight or 

 ten feet from the ground, in a spiral form, impen- 

 etrable to the rain, and strong enough to defy the 

 severest tornado. 



The wourali-poison, procured in these last-men- 

 tioned huts, seemed very good, and proved after- 

 wards to be very strong. 



There are now no more Indian settlements be- 

 twixt you and the Portuguese frontiers. If you 

 wish to visit their fort, it would be advisable to 

 send an Indian with a letter from hence, and wait 

 his return. On the present occasion a very for- 

 tunate circumstance occurred. The Portuguese 

 commander had sent some Indians and soldiers to 

 build a canoe, not far from this settlement ; they 

 had just finished it, and those who did not stay 

 with it had stopped here on their return. 



The soldier who commanded the rest, said, he 

 durst not, upon any account, convey a stranger to 

 the fort ; but, he added, as there were two canoes, 

 one of them might be despatched with a letter, 

 and then we could proceed slowly on in the other. 



