inequalities of ground,
and show you how to pass on, unwounded, amid the mantling briers.

Snakes in these wilds are certainly an annoyance, though perhaps more in
imagination than reality: for you must recollect, that the serpent is
never the first to offend; his poisonous fang was not given him for
conquest: he never inflicts a wound with it but to defend existence.
Provided you walk cautiously, and do not absolutely touch him, you may
pass in safety close by him. As he is often coiled up on the ground, and
amongst the branches of the trees above you, a degree of circumspection
is necessary, lest you unwarily disturb him.

Tigers are too few, and too apt to fly before the noble face of man, to
require a moment of your attention.

The bite of the most noxious of the insects, at the very worst, only
causes a transient fever, with a degree of pain more or less.

Birds in general, with few exceptions, are not common in the very remote
parts of the forest. The sides of rivers, lakes, and creeks, the borders
of savannas, the old abandoned habitations of Indians and woodcutters,
seem to be their favourite haunts.

Though least in size, the glittering mantle of the humming-bird entitles
it to the first place in the list of the birds of the New World. It may
truly be called the Bird of Paradise; and had it existed in the Old
World, it would have claimed the title instead of the bird which has now
the honour to bear it. See it darting through the air almost as quick as
thought!--now it is within a yard of your face!--in an instant gone!--now
it flutters from flower to flower to sip the silver dew--it is now a
ruby--now a topaz--now an emerald--now all burnished gold! It would be
arrogant to pretend to describe this winged gem of nature after Buffon's
elegant description of it.

Cayenne and Demerara produce the same humming-birds. Perhaps you would
wish to know something of their haunts. Chiefly in the months of July
and August the tree called _bois immortel_, very common in Demerara,
bears abundance of red blossom, which stays on the tree some weeks; then
it is that most of the different species of humming-birds are very
plentiful. The wild red sage is also their favourite shrub, and they
buzz like bees around the blossom of the wallaba-tree. Indeed, there is
scarce a flower in the interior, or on the sea-coast, but what receives
frequent visits from one or other of the species.

On entering the forests, on the