Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/54

 In the lower part of the Mahicá woods, towards the river, there is a bed of stiff white clay, which supplies the people of Santarem with material for the manufacture of coarse pottery and cooking utensils: all the kettles, saucepans, mandioca ovens, coffee-pots, washing-vessels, and so forth, of the poorer classes throughout the country, are made of this same plastic clay, which occurs at short intervals over the whole surface of the Amazons valley, from the neighbourhood of Pará to within the Peruvian borders, and forms part of the great Tabatinga marl deposit. To enable the vessels to stand the fire, the bark of a certain tree, called Caraipé, is burnt and mixed with the clay, which gives tenacity to the ware. Caraipé is an article of commerce, being sold, packed in baskets, at the shops in most of the towns. The shallow pits, excavated in the marly soil at Mahicá, were very attractive to many kinds of mason bees and wasps, who make use of the clay to build their nests with. I spent many an hour, watching their proceedings: a short account of the habits of some of these busy creatures may be interesting.

The most conspicuous was a large yellow and black wasp, with a remarkably long and narrow waist, the Pelopæus fistularis. It collected the clay in little round pellets, which it carried off, after rolling them into a convenient shape in its mandibles. It came straight to the pit with a loud hum, and, on alighting, lost not a moment in beginning to work; finishing the kneading of its little load in two or three minutes. The nest of this species is shaped like a pouch, two inches in length, and is attached to a branch or other