WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 229 



body of coushie ants. Many of those which escaped being 

 crushed to death, turned again, and, in revenge, stung the 

 unintentional intruder most severely. The watchman had 

 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 vampire 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 indis- 

 criminately without knowing whether the animal were 

 there or not. To prevent disappointment, the Indians 

 carefully examine 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 himself that the armadillo is there, by the mos- 

 quitos which come out, he immediately cuts a long and 

 slender stick, and introduces it into the hole : he carefully 

 observes the line the stick takes, and then sinks a pit in 



