12. Urussú.—About the size of a large bumble bee; the head is black and the body yellowish; it produces good honey.
13. Urussú preto.—Entirely black, and upwards of one inch in length; it likewise produces good honey.
14. Caniára.—Black, and about the same size as the Urussú preto; its honey is too bitter to be eatable; it is said to be a great thief of the honey of other bees.
15. Chupê.—About the size of the Tiubá, and of a black colour; it makes its hive of clay on the branches of trees, and is often of a very large size; its honey is good.
16. Urapuá.—Very like the Chupê, but it always builds its hive rounder, flatter, and smaller.
17. Enchí.—This is a kind of wasp, about the size of a house-fly; its head is black, and the body yellow; it builds its hive in the branches of trees; this is of a papery tissue, about three feet in circumference; its honey is good.
18. Enchú pequeno.—Very similar to the last, but it always makes a smaller hive; it also produces good honey.
The first eleven of these honey-bees construct their cells in the hollow trunks of trees, and the others, either in similar situations or beneath the ground; it is only the last three kinds that sting, all the others being harmless. The only attempt I ever saw to domesticate any of these bees, was by a Cornish miner, in the Gold District, who cut off those portions of the trunks of the trees which contained the nests, and hung them up under the eaves of his house; they seemed to thrive very well, but whenever the honey was wanted, it was necessary to destroy the bees. Both the Indians and the other inhabitants of the country, are very expert in tracing these insects to the trees in which they hive: they generally mix the honey, which is very fluid, with farinha before they eat it, and of the wax they make a coarse kind of taper about a yard long, which serves in lieu of candles, and which the country people bring to the villages for sale. We found these very convenient, and always carried a sufficient stock with us; not unfrequently we were obliged to manufacture them ourselves, from the wax obtained by my own men; a coarse soft kind of cotton yam for wicks was always to be purchased at the different fazendas and villages through which we passed.
From Morhinos we went on to the fazenda of Nossa Senhora d’Amparo, the distance being about three leagues. It was my intention to proceed two leagues farther, to a fazenda called Santa Cruz, on the banks of the Rio do Peixe, there being a canoe there for crossing it; but having enquired about the state of the river, we were informed that it was then low, and might be forded at a place farther up, without taking off the loads, and, moreover, save a circuit of nearly two leagues. We had yet about a league to go before we reached this ferry, where I found the river much smaller than that of Manoel Alvez, and shallow enough to be passed without difficulty; but, notwithstanding this, one of the loads of dried plants met with a sad misfortune, the horse that bore it slipped, and fell down, just as he was emerging from the bank, when one of the boxes dropped into the river, and before it could be extracted was filled with water; it is only a botanist who can imagine my feelings on this occasion, when I saw upwards of 2,000 specimens, that had cost me so much labour to procure, completely drenched, and apparently ruined for ever. My first care was to unpack them, and put them into dry paper, but so many specimens were laid on every sheet, that this process had but little effect in dissipating the moisture; I contented myself, however, with the hope of being able next day to unpack them, and spread them out in the sun. After the box was dried, and the plants again deposited in it, the package was, for greater security, placed upon a stronger horse; we had not, however, proceeded above half a league, when in crossing a small rivulet, I had again the mortification to see the same box, as well as another that had previously escaped this disaster, both plunged below the water. The unlucky animal that carried them was leading the way, when instead of entering at the right fording-place, he stumbled into a deep hole, with a muddy bottom, and in struggling to extricate himself, flung off both the packages. If I felt much chagrined on the former occasion, it may be imagined what my distress was, when I saw the hard labour of many weeks, the produce of a district hitherto unexplored by any botanist, thus apparently consigned to ruin; all that then could be done, was to drain the water out of the boxes, and resume our journey. It happened most fortunately that towards evening we reached a fazenda, where the principal article manufactured was farinha de mandiocca; and as it rained heavily all the next day, I was glad to obtain permission to make use of two large stoves, on which we dried, sheet by sheet, all the specimens that had been soaked; it was, however, the most fatiguing day’s work I ever encountered, for both Mr. Walker and myself were incessantly occupied over the heated stoves, from six o’clock in the morning till after midnight. In consequence of this prompt attention, the plants did not suffer so much as I anticipated.