o, mixed up
together. He laid this over the wounded part and set fire to it. This
application, in connexion with one of the nausea-exciting remedies taken
inwardly, had a successful result.

Innoxious snakes[94] wind on tendrilled climbing plants, or lie like
necklaces of coral on the brown decayed leaves (_Elap. affinis_, Fitz.).
Where the branches of rivers enter the gloomy forests and form little
narrow lagunes, over which the high trees spread in vaulted cupolas
almost impervious to the light of day, there dwells the powerful giant
snake (_Eunectes murinus_, Wagl.), called by the Indians, in their
figurative language, _yacumaman_, "mother of the waters." Stretched in
listless repose, or winding round the stem of an old tree, bathing her
tail in the cool lagune, she watches wistfully for the animals of the
forest who come to the waters to quench their thirst. Whilst she gazes
at her distant prey, the fascinating power of her eyes seems to subdue
the trembling victim, and, unable even to attempt escape, he falls an
easy sacrifice.

The amphibia of the frog species, which lie concealed in silent repose
during the day, raise, after sunset, their far-sounding voices. The
violet colored throat-bladder (_Cystignathus silvestris_, Tsch.)
maintains his loud, uniform croak beneath the bushes, or penetrates into
the huts of the inhabitants. The _trapichero_, or sugar-mill frog, is a
large species, almost half a foot in length. Its croak resembles very
much the grating sound caused by the working of a sugar mill, for which
reason the natives have given it the name of trapichero, or the
_sugar-miller_. The croaking of these frogs, whose manifold tones blend
together in confused union, augments not a little the distressing
dreariness of a forest night.

Of the numerous species of insects which swarm in these regions, few are
remarkable for beauty; but many fix attention by their peculiar habits.
The bites and stings of numbers of them are very dangerous, and it
requires much caution to guard against their attacks.

Variegated butterflies flutter noiselessly among the spreading branches
of the trees, or sun themselves on the warm masses of fallen leaves. The
most remarkable of these butterflies is the large atlas, whose
brilliant blue tints shine out with lustrous radiance in the dim light
of the forest. Along the banks of rivers, and especially in hot marshy
spots, small musquitoes swarm. The bite of this animal produces an