THE BATS. 37 



the bat manages so adroitly, that the victim does not discover 

 that anything has happened until the morning, when a pool 

 of blood betrays the visit of the vampire. "The Vampire 

 Bat," says Professor Darwin, "is often the cause of much 

 trouble by biting the horses on their withers. The injury 

 is not so much owing to the loss of blood, as to the inflammation 

 which the pressure of the saddle afterwards produces. The 

 whole circumstance has lately been doubted in England. I 

 was therefore fortunate in being present when one was actually 

 caught on a horse's back. We were bivouacking late one 

 evening, near Coquimbo, in Chili, when my servant, noticing 

 that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was 

 the matter, and fancying he could distinguish something, 

 suddenly put his hand on the beast's withers, and secured 

 the vampire. In the morning the spot where the bite had 

 been inflicted was easily distinguished by its being slightly 

 swollen and bloody. The third day afterwards we rode the 

 horse without any ill effects." 



A Traveller's Captain Steadman, in his " Narrative of a Five 

 Experience. Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes 

 of Surinam, " relates, that on waking about four o'clock one 

 morning in his hammock, he was extremely alarmed at finding 

 himself weltering in congealed blood, and without feeling any 

 pain whatever. " The mystery was," continues Captain Stead- 

 man, "that I had been bitten by the Vampyre or Spectre of 

 Guiana, which is also called the Flying Dog of New Spain, 

 and by the Spaniards, Perrovolador. This is no other than 

 a bat of monstrous size, that sucks the blood from men and 

 cattle while they are fast asleep, even sometimes till they die ; 

 and as the manner in which they proceed is truly wonderful, 

 I shall endeavour to give a distinct account of it. Knowing, 

 by instinct, that the person they intend to attack is in a 

 sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, 

 while the creature continues fanning with his enormous wings, 

 which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the 



