176 CARIPI. Chap. V. 



I was never attacked by bats except on this occasion. 

 The fact of their sucking the blood of persons sleeping, 

 from wounds which they make in the toes, is now well 

 established ; but it is only a few persons who are subject 

 to this blood-letting. According to the negroes, the 

 Phyllostoma is the only kind which attacks man. Those 

 which I caught crawling over me were Dysopes, and 

 I am inclined to think many different kinds of bat 

 have this propensity. 



One day I was occupied searching for insects in the 

 bark of a fallen tree, when I saw a large cat-like animal 

 advancing towards the spot. It came within a dozen 

 yards before perceiving me. I had no weapon with 

 me but an old chisel, and was getting ready to defend 

 myself if it should make a spring, when it turned 

 round hastily and trotted off. I did not obtain a very 

 distinct view of it, but I could see its colour was that of 

 the Puma, or American Lion, although it was much too 

 small for that species. The Puma is not a common 

 animal in the Amazons forests. I did not see altogether 

 more than a dozen skins in the possession of the natives. 

 The fur is of a fawn colour. On account of its hue 

 resembling that of a deer common in the forests, the 

 natives call it the Sassu-arana,* or the false deer ; that 

 is, an animal which deceives one at first sight by its super- 

 ficial resemblance to a deer. The hunters are not at all 

 afraid of it, and speak always in disparaging terms of 



* The old zoologist Marcgrave, called the Puma the Cuguacuarana, 

 probably (the c's being soft) a misspelling of Sassii-arana ; hence the 

 name Cougouar employed by French zoologists, and copied in most 

 works on natural history. 



