42 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIRST 
.TOURNEY. 
The 
Toucan. 
Ants’ 
nests. 
Portu¬ 
guese 
frontiers. 
curlew, black, with a white bar across the wings, 
nearly as large again as the scarlet curlew on the sea- 
coast, frequently rise before you. Here, too, the 
Moscovy cluck is numerous; and large flocks of two 
other kinds wheel round you as you pass on, but 
keep out of gun-shot. The milk-white egrets, and 
jabirus, are distinguished at a great distance; and 
in the aeta and coucourite trees, you may observe 
flocks of scarlet and blue aras feeding 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 exceeding 
hard yellow clay. They rise eight or ten feet from 
the ground, in a spiral form, impenetrable 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 fortunate circum¬ 
stance occurred. The Portuguese commander had 
sent some Indians and soldiers to build a canoe, not 
far from this settlement; they had just finished it, 
