第94章

On the outskirts of the town a few scattered huts of Indians and coloured people are passed, prettily situated on the margin of the white beach, with a background of glorious foliage; the cabin of the pureblood Indian being distinguished from the mud hovels of the free negroes and mulattoes by its light construction, half of it being an open shed where the dusky tenants are seen at all hours of the day lounging in their open-meshed grass hammocks.

About two miles on the road we come to a series of shallow pools, called the Laguinhos, which are connected with the river in the wet season, but separated from it by a high bank of sand topped with bushes at other times.There is a break here in the fringe of wood, and a glimpse is obtained of the grassy campo.When the waters have risen to the level of the pools, this place is frequented by many kinds of wading birds.Snow-white egrets of two species stand about the margins of the water, and dusky-striped herons may be seen half hidden under the shade of the bushes.The pools are covered with a small kind of waterlily, and surrounded by a dense thicket.Amongst the birds which inhabit this spot is the rosy-breasted Troupial (Trupialis Gulanensis), a bird resembling our starling in size and habits, and not unlike it in colour, with the exception of the rich rosy vest.The water at this time of the year overflows a large level tract of campo bordering the pools, and the Troupials come to feed on the larvae of insects which then abound in the moist soil.

Beyond the Laguinhos there succeeds a tract of level beach covered with trees which form a beautiful grove.About the month of April, when the water rises to this level, the trees are covered with blossom, and a handsome orchid, an Epidendron with large white flowers, which clothes thickly the trunks, is profusely in bloom.Several kinds of kingfisher resort to the place.Four species may be seen within a small space-- the largest as big as a crow, of a mottled-grey hue, and with an enormous beak; the smallest not larger than a sparrow.The large one makes its nest in clay cliffs, three or four miles distant from this place.None of the kingfishers are so brilliant in colour as our English species.The blossoms on the trees attract two or three species of hummingbirds, the most conspicuous of which is a large swallow-tailed kind (Eupetomena macroura), with a brilliant livery of emerald green and steel blue.I noticed that it did not remain so long poised in the air before the flowers as the other smaller species; it perched more frequently, and sometimes darted after small insects on the wing.

Emerging from the grove there is a long stretch of sandy beach;the land is high and rocky, and the belt of wood which skirts the river banks is much broader than it is elsewhere.At length, after rounding a projecting bluff, the bay at Mapiri is reached.

The river view is characteristic of the Tapajos; the shores are wooded, and on the opposite side is a line of clay cliffs with hills in the background clothed with a rolling forest.A long spit of sand extends into mid-river, beyond which is an immense expanse of dark water, the further shore of the Tapajos being barely visible as a thin grey line of trees on the horizon.The transparency of air and water in the dry season when the brisk east wind is blowing, and the sharpness of outline of hills, woods, and sandy beaches, give a great charm to this spot.

While resting in the shade during the great heat of the early hours of afternoon, I used to find amusement in watching the proceedings of the sand wasps.A small pale green kind of Bembex (Bembex ciliata), was plentiful near the bay of Mapiri.When they are at work, a number of little jets of sand are seen shooting over the surface of the sloping bank.The little miners excavate with their forefeet, which are strongly built and furnished with a fringe of stiff bristles; they work with wonderful rapidity, and the sand thrown out beneath their bodies issues in continuous streams.They are solitary wasps, each female working on her own account.After making a gallery two or three inches in length in a slanting direction from the surface, the owner backs out and takes a few turns round the orifice apparently to see whether it is well made, but in reality, I believe, to take note of the locality, that she may find it again.This done, the busy workwoman flies away-- but returns, after an absence varying in different cases from a few minutes to an hour or more, with a fly in her grasp, with which she re-enters her mine.On again emerging, the entrance is carefully closed with sand.During this interval she has laid an egg on the body of the fly which she had previously benumbed with her sting, and which is to serve as food for the soft, footless grub soon to be hatched from the egg.From what I could make out, the Bembex makes a fresh excavation for every egg to be deposited; at least in two or three of the galleries which I opened there was only one fly enclosed.