136 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
—the same in which the hog had disappeared the day 
before. Selecting a long reed an inch and a half in 
diameter, he cut it off with his cutlass. The joints in 
this reed were about four inches apart, and it was a 
hollow tube partitioned at the joints; upon the outside 
of each grew a lateral branch. Trimming off the 
small shoot and cutting the larger part off about 
three inches each side of it, he had then a double- 
ended cup with a firm handle, divided in the middle. 
Upon our return to the village, Meyong covered this 
cup very neatly with basket-work; and I have it now 
before me as | write. 
Towards night, I took my gun and wandered a little 
way from camp to try to shoot some of the immense 
vampire bats that haunted the forest. My attention 
being taken up with the many objects about me, I 
wandered farther than J had intended, and darkness 
fell about me ata distance from the camp. If the 
days are glorious, the tropic nights are grand; im- 
pressive in the deep brooding silence, until the insects 
of the night break the stillness, or the hoot of the owl, 
or the shriek of the diablotin, disturbs it. 
I had been seated a little while and it had grown 
quite dark, and I was about returning, when, as I 
moved, a stick crackled sharply, thrilling me through 
with a strange feeling of fear. It was nothing but a 
dry twig upon which I myself had stepped, yet an 
unaccountable dread of moving possessed me at that 
moment, as though I felt the presence of another 
person near, whom I could not see. As I walked, I 
peered all about me, but could see nothing. Yet, during 
all that short walk I felt as if in the presence of a 
powerful man about to lay his hand on my shoulder. 
