:::::::::)*? THE TROPICS je:::::::: 



eyes, and the cruel, grinning mouth, with its many 

 sharp-pointed teeth, which gnash in impotent rage, as 

 one holds captive the diminutive imp ! After all the 

 bats had passed and vanished, they would sweep back 

 again, finding our little glade a profitable hunting- 

 ground. A stone thrown up drew a score of the little 

 creatures in its wake, as they mistook it for some large 

 flying insect. After lingering with us for a short time, 

 the bats dispersed, flying, who knows where, into the 

 dark night. 



Not far from the camp, well up on the hillside, was 

 a small-mouthed crevice which opened into a large dark 

 cavern. This might have been the home of these bats, 

 but the air within was so foul that exploration was 

 impossible. 



In the dim, flickering light, where the flare of our 

 cooking-fire melted into the all-surrounding darkness, 

 we sometimes saw strange dark creatures leaping and 

 running. Noiselessly they sped here and there, like 

 wandering shadows. When we finally caught one, we 

 found them to be great hairy-legged spiders, forbid- 

 ding-looking and with jaws suggestive of the taran- 

 tula. We heeded them not and they never troubled 

 us, nor did the scorpions which we unearthed now and 

 then in the folds of our tent, both the common kind 

 and a small species of Whip Scorpion. 



After the passing of the bats came an owl concert, 

 several gruff voices calling to each other from tree to 



«f 273 -^ 



