30 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



or spectre of Guiana, which is also called the flying do'g 

 of New Spain. This is no other than a bat of monstrous 

 size, that sucks the blood from men and cattle, sometimes 

 even till they die. 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 great toe, so very 

 small indeed, that the head of a pin could scarcely be re- 

 ceived into the wound, which is consequently not painful ; 

 yet through this orifice he contrives to suck the blood, 

 until he is obliged to disgorge. He then begins again, 

 and thus continues sucking and disgorging till he is 

 scarcely able to fly, and the sufferer has often been known 

 to sleep from time into eternity. Cattle they generally 

 bite in the ear, but always in those places where the 

 blood flows spontaneously. Having applied tobacco 

 ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from 

 myself and my hammock, I observed several small heaps 

 of congealed blood all around the place where I had lain, 

 upon the ground ; upon examining which, the surgeon 

 judged that I had lost at least twelve or fourteen ounces 

 during the night. Having measured this creature (one 

 of the bats), I found it to be, between the tips of the 

 wings, thirty-two inches and a half ; the colour was a 

 dark brown, nearly black, but lighter underneath.' 



Mr. Waterton, whom all the world recognises as a 

 gentleman, and consequently a man of truth, laboured 

 at one time under the same stigma of exaggeration as 

 Captain Stedman and many other illustrious travellers ; 

 and he confirms the blood-suckiug in the following terms: 

 ' Some years ago I went to the river Paumarau with 

 a Scotch gentleman. We hung our hammocks in the 



