SOUTH AMERICA. 11 



king of the vultures ; they were sitting on the F1R8T 



' ^ JOURNEY. 



naked branch of a tree, with about a dozen of- 

 the common ones with them. A tiger had killed 

 a goat the day before ; he had been driven away 

 in the act of sucking the blood, and not finding it 

 safe or prudent to return, the goat remained in 

 the same place where he had killed it; it had 

 begun to putrefy, and the vultures had arrived 

 that morning to claim the savoury morsel. 



At the close of day, the vampires leave the The 

 hollow trees, whither they had fled at the morn- Y ' 

 ing's dawn, and scour along the river's banks in 

 quest of prey. On waking from sleep, the asto- 

 nished traveller finds his hammock all stained 

 with blood. It is the vampire that hath sucked 

 him. Not man alone, but every unprotected 

 animal, is exposed to his depredations ; and so 

 gently does this nocturnal surgeon draw the 

 blood, that instead of being roused, the patient 

 is lulled into a still profounder sleep. There are 

 two species of vampire in Demerara, and both 

 suck living animals ; one is rather larger than the 

 common bat; the other measures above two feet 

 from wing to wing extended. 



Snakes are frequently met with in the woods Snakes, 

 betwixt the sea-coast and the rock Saba, chiefly 

 near the creeks, and on the banks of the river. 

 They are large, beautiful, and formidable. The 

 rattlesnake seems partial to a tract of ground 

 known by the name of Canal Number-three ; 



