192 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



fallen asleep, and it was some time before a light 

 could be procured, the fire having gone out; in 

 the mean time, the poor gentleman was suffering 

 an indescribable martyrdom, and would have 

 found himself more at home in the Augean stable 

 than in the planter's house. 



I had often wished to have been once sucked by 

 the vampire, in order that I might have it in my 

 power to say it had really happened to me. There 

 can be no pain in the operation, for the patient 

 is always asleep when the vampire is sucking him ; 

 and as for the loss of a few ounces of blood, that 

 would be a trifle in the long run. Many a night 

 have I slept with my foot out of the hammock to 

 tempt this winged surgeon, expecting that he 

 would be there ; but it was all in vain ; the vam- 

 pire never sucked me, and I could never account 

 for his not doing so, for we were inhabitants of 

 the same loft for months together. 



The armadillo is very common in these forests ; 

 he burrows in the sand-hills like a rabbit. As it 

 often takes a considerable time to dig him out of 

 his hole, it would be a long and laborious business 

 to attack each hole indiscriminately without know- 

 ing whether the animal were there or not. To 

 prevent disappointment, the Indians carefully ex- 

 amine the mouth of the hole, and put a short 

 stick down it. Now if, on introducing the stick, 

 a number of mosquitos come out, the Indians 

 know to a certainty that the armadillo is in it: 

 wherever there are no mosquitos in the hole there 

 is no armadillo. The Indian having satisfied him- 

 self that the armadillo is there, by the mosqui- 

 tos which come out, he immediately cuts a long 



