40 
SANTAREM. 
Chap. L 
In the lower part of the Mahica woods, towards the 
river, there is a bed of stiff white clay, which supplies 
the people of Santarem with material for the manu- 
facture of coarse pottery and cooking utensils : all the 
kettles, saucepans, mandioca ovens, coffee-pots, w^ash- 
ing-vessels, and so forth, of the poorer classes through- 
out the country, are made of this same plastic clay, 
which occurs at short intervals over the whole surface of 
the Amazons valley, from the neighbourhood of Para to 
within the Peruvian borders, and forms part of the 
great Tabatinga marl deposit. To enable the vessels to 
stand the fire, the bark of a certain tree, called Caraipe, 
is burnt and mixed with the clay, which gives tenacity 
to the ware. Caraipe is an article of commerce, being 
sold, packed in baskets, at the shops in most of the 
towns. The shallow pits, excavated in the marly soil at 
Mahica, were very attractive to many kinds of mason 
bees and wasps, who make use of the clay to build their 
nests with. I spent many an hour, watching their 
proceedings : a short account of the habits of some of 
these busy creatures may be interesting. 
The most conspicuous was a large yellow and black 
wasp, with a remarkably long and narrow waist, the 
Pelopaeus fistularis. It collected the clay in little 
round pellets, which it carried off, after rolling them 
into a convenient shape in its mandibles. It came 
straight to the pit with a loud hum, and, on alighting, 
lost not a moment in beginning to work ; finishing the 
kneading of its little load in two or three minutes. 
The nest of this species is shaped like a pouch, two 
inches in length, and is attached to a branch or other 
