302 
Pyramids Among the Bushes, 
to do this, tfiey being only bound to carry their weapons and knapsacks. 
Mr. Fryer was ordered to stay here until the last bit of our luggage Avas 
fetched away : Goodall and I on the other hand willingly re- 
mained behind to join in some hunting-parties with the officers 
who had to await the rearguard before they could leave for Pirara. 
Unfortunately we got back from all these excursions cut and tattooed 
with the sharp cutting-grass, and no other bag than a number of birds : 
the whole area consisted of an almost continuous swamp which, though 
indeed fairly dry at this present time of the year, carried no mammals. 
Owing to its slender halms this generally 10 to 1(5 ft. high Scleria 
flagellum cannot hold itself upright, and so comes to establish itself on 
bush and trunk with which it forms impenetrable thickets. Wounds 
caused by this blady grass sting uncommonly badly, for which reason 
our ardour for the chase soon experienced a distinct cooling, when we 
limited our trips to the open damp savannah. f 
853. Upon returning from one of these excursions we found that 
some of the boats bringing the remaining military stores with Lieutenant 
Weiburg, the mortally sick army-surgeon, together with Quarter-master 
Low and Mr. Youd had just arrived: our corial from Ampa came with 
them. Unfortunately my hermetically closed glass boxes had been left 
behind in Ampa owing to want of space: I bitterly regretted this, 
because the best means of transporting the living orchids was now losh 
to me. 
851. During the morning the greater portion of the military left 
for Pirara, Lieutenant Weiburg staying behind with a detachment in 
charge of the baggage, an arrangement that suited Mr. Fryer down to 
the ground. Mr. Goodall, Missionary Youd and I left the camp before 
the soldiers so that I could count all the easier upon getting something. 
At first the path lay over undulating ground that was sparsely covered 
with bushes of Casearia carpinifolia Benth., G. brevipes Benth., Melas- 
toma, Hirtella , Byrsonima, Mimosa and Cassia, scattered trees of 
Curatella Americana , as well as with a short grass that the sun had long 
since coloured yellow. In between the bushes there rose everywhere 
8 to 12 ft. high whitish pyramid-like heaps that lent, the whole a peculiar 
character. These were the dwellings of termites which, like pigmy 
villages, appeared upon all the rises above the general level : they were 
usually built out of the oehreous savannah clay in a sugar-loaf shape 
impervious to the rain and sufficiently strong to withstand even a 
tropical hurricane. Here and there perching upon their teps could be 
seen one of the pretty little falcons (Falco sparverius Linn.) that would 
shoot down like lightning after an insect or lizard and return with it 
just as rapidly to its Belle Vue. The female differs essentially from the 
male in the colour of the plumage. The large Caracara eagle ( Polyborus 
caracara Spix.) had also picked these ant-hills for a look-out whence 
f Besides the orchids and the Loranthus guianensis Kl. , already cited, Hound particularly in 
the swampy savannah the Buttneria scabra Linn., B. ramosistima Pohl., Polygala longicaulis Humb. 
Bonp., P. variabilis Humb. Bonp., P, oppress a Benth., Corcherus argutus Humb. Bonp., Coutou- 
oea reflex' a Benth., Buchnera palustris Spreng., Schultesia stenophylla Mart., S, hr achy pt era Chmss., 
and Baeopa aquation Aubl. 
