Ch. X.] PETEOLEUM. 161 



sported, birds sang, and shrill cicadas made the forest re- 

 echo ; beautiful butterflies flitted across the open glades ; 

 scarlet-bodied dragon-flies shot hither and thither hke 

 painted arrows ; and now and then curious green mantises, 

 and walking-stick insects (Phasma), scarcely distinguishable 

 from the green and brown twigs, arrested my attention.* 

 No workings have yet, however, been undertaken at the 

 petroleum spring ; but as I have learned that others exist 

 in the neighbourhood, no doubt they will one day form 

 important sources of material and revenue. 



* I was rewarded in this wallc by the capture of a handsome new species of 

 Phasma. 



