300 NATURAL HISTORY OF AFRICA. 



synonymous with the vampyre. A vampyre is in many 

 respects an imaginary monster, whose chief amusement 

 consists in sucking the blood of sleeping persons. The 

 name is connected with a superstition absurd in itself, 

 though sufficiently fearful to such as believed in it, which 

 prevailed in Poland and Hungary about the year 1732. 

 According to this wild belief, certain individuals were sup- 

 posed to rise from the grave and suck their friends and re- 

 lations to death. Lord Byron has alluded to the fantasy 

 in the following well-known lines : — 



*' But first, on earth as vampyre sent, 

 Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent: 

 Then ghastly haunt thy native place, 

 And surk the blood of all thy race ; 

 There from thy daughter, sister, vnfe, 

 At midnight drain the stream of life ; 

 Yet loathe the banquet which perforce 

 Must feed thy livid living corse : 

 Thy victims ere they yet expire 

 Shall know the demon for their sire, 

 As cursing thee, thou cursing them, 

 Thy flowers are withered on the stem. 

 But one that for thy crime must fall, 

 The youngest, most beloved of all, 

 Shall bless thee with a father's name — 

 That word shall wrap thy heart in flame !— 

 Yet must thou end thy task, and mark 

 Her cheek's last tinge, her eye's last spark, 

 And the last glassy ^glance must view 

 Which freezes o'er its lifeless blue; 

 Then with unhallowed hand shalt tear 

 The tresses of her yellow hair, 

 Of which in life a lock when shorn, 

 Affection's fondest pledge, was worn ; 

 But now is borne away by thee, 

 Memorial of thine agony ! 

 Wet with thine own best blood shall drip 

 Thy gnashing tooth and haggard lip; 

 Then stalking to thy sullen grave, 

 Go — and with Gouls and Afrits rave ; 

 Till these in horror shrink away 

 From spectre more accursed than they !" 



Some vague allegations of a somewhat similar nature 

 (excepting the resurrectionary faculty) having been ad- 

 duced against certain of the bat tribe, Linnaeus named one 

 of them Vesqiertilio vampyrus. The general colour of the 

 body is deep reddish brown, brighter on the neck and 

 shoulders. The teeth are large and sharp ; the wings 



