"The beans are separated from the pulp that surrounds them, and when dried are ready for market. Sometimes they undergo a fermentation to remove certain acrid qualities, but, except for local use, no attempt is made to manufacture the chocolate here. The manufacturing is done in England, France, and other countries, by means of delicate but powerful machinery. The shells of the seeds are of a dark-brown color, quite thin and brittle; they are the cocoa-shells which are sold in American grocery-stores to be used in making 'cocoa' for our tables. "A rich oil is made from the seeds, but its manufacture is less profitable than the sale of the seeds for making chocolate or cocoa. The trees begin to bear when four years old, and the harvest season is in July and August; the industry is said to be profitable when properly managed, as the expense of maintaining a plantation is not great, and the harvest season occurs when other industries are at a standstill. The pulp that surrounds the seeds is made into a refreshing drink for immediate use, and some of the planters make from it a jelly which is said to equal the famous guava jelly. The outer shell is burned, and its ashes are the basis of a strong brown soap, like the home-made soap of New England." [Illustration: THE ANT-EATER ASLEEP.] Fred interrupted the conversation by calling attention to an ant-eater, the property of one of the passengers, which was secured in a cage containing an upright branch of a tree for its accommodation. Manuel said the beast made his home in the trees, and lived on the tree-ants, which were numerous in Brazil. He sleeps by day, and roams at night, and when he sleeps he gives his whole mind to it. He has strong claws and a prehensile tail; by the use of these, and by placing his head in the fork of a limb, he can slumber without any fear of falling out of bed. The fellow was taking his afternoon nap, and the youths did not disturb him. Fred make a sketch of the ant-eater in repose, and pronounced him a model drawing-model, as he did not move a muscle during the time required for taking his portrait. The first stopping-place of the steamer was at Serpa, thirty miles below the mouth of the Madeira; it was a town of about one hundred houses, with as mixed a population as that of Manaos, though not as numerous. The proportion of negroes seemed larger than at Manaos, and Manuel said they would find this the case in each of the river towns as they approached Para. They took on board a considerable quantity of rubber, and then steamed onward. [Illustration: THE MOUTHS OF THE AMAZON.]