Manuel explained that the particular kind of wasp which had caused the trouble was known as the "Yessi Marabunta," a large black wasp with a powerful sting. His nest in the limbs of a tree resembles a Dutch cheese, and it is generally inhabited by a large family. There are several varieties of wasp on the Amazon; all of them are troublesome, and some are actually dangerous to life. Away from the rivers they are numerous in the neighborhood of springs, and cause great annoyance to cattle going to drink; in the towns and villages they take possession of the upper part of the houses, building their nests under the eaves and beneath the roof. Woe betide the individual who disturbs them in their occupations, unless he is protected by coverings their lances cannot penetrate.
While they were passing under another tree a snake dropped on board, close to where the captain was standing on the upper deck, engaged in giving directions to the man at the wheel. It was a member of the boa family, about six feet in length; though he was classed as "harmless," there was a manifest desire of the captain to get out of the reptile's way, and both Frank and Fred, who were in the vicinity, showed similar inclinations. The intruder was equally frightened, and wriggled towards the edge of the deck, whence a push with a pole sent him spinning overboard.
The beauty of the forest that bordered the river was a never-ending source of attraction to our friends. Giant trees and trees of lower stature covered the banks, and extended back from the shore as far as the eye could reach. Their trunks were almost concealed by the profusion of climbing plants, and their foliage was intermingled with bright orchids, some of immense size, and with colors rivalling those of the rainbow. The variety of the trees and plants was bewildering, and as our friends gazed hour by hour upon the ever-changing panorama, with its ever-sameness, they realized that it would be a labor of years for a botanist, to number and classify the vegetable growths comprised in the limits of a single day's travel.
LEAVES, NUT, AND FLOWERS OF SAPUCAYA, AN AMAZON TREE.
Fred copied into his note-book the following, from Professor Orton's narrative:
"No spot on the globe contains so much vegetable matter as the valley of the Amazon. In it we may draw a circle a thousand miles in diameter, which will include an evergreen forest broken only by the rivers and a few grassy campos. There is a most bewildering diversity of grand and beautiful trees—a wild, unconquered race of vegetable giants—draped, festooned, corded, matted, and ribboned with creeping and climbing plants, woody and succulent, in endless variety.
