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-mentioned huts seemed very good,
and proved afterwards to be very strong.

There are now no more Indian settlements betwixt 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 circumstance occurred. The Portuguese commander
had sent some Indians and soldiers to build a canoe not far from this
settlement; they had just finished it, and those who did not stay with it
had stopped here on their return.

The soldier who commanded the rest said he durst not, upon any account,
convey a stranger to the fort: but he added, as there were two canoes, one
of them might be despatched with a letter, and then we could proceed slowly
on in the other.

About three hours from this settlement there is a river called Pirarara,
and here the soldiers had left their canoes while they were making the new
one. From the Pirarara you get into the River Maou, and then into the