CHAPTER X. 



MY FRIENDS POMONA AND CERES. 



How I got cocoa and coffee, and made flour from cassava — I find 

 tobacco, maize, and rice ; also feast on turtle eggs. 



Above my head, as I came down the trail after 

 shooting the serpent, a nighthawk darted ronnd and 

 round, uttering strange cries. I tried in vain to cap- 

 ture its companion, which flew persistently in front of 

 me, suddenly alighting in the path at intervals, with 

 tail and wings loosely spread, as though badly 

 wounded. 



Other night prowlers bothered me also, such as 

 bats and vampires, which flew across my path and 

 unexpectedly swooped down upon me. Some were 

 small, but others large as doves, true blood-sucking 

 vampires, which flapped about like ghosts, so soft and 

 noiseless was their flight. 



I found a curious group of them one day in the 

 hollow trunk of an immense tree, where they had ar- 

 ranged themselves in the figure of a triangle, with the 

 base upward. There were six of them — three in the 

 upper row, two in the next, and one at the point. 

 In order to see what they would do if their arrange- 

 ment were disturbed, I shot the lowermost one, and 



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