70 



THE VAMPIRE. 



THE VAMPIRE. 



•* Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo.** Hor. 



This leech will suck the vein, until 

 From your heart's blood he gets his fill. 



The vampire of India and that of South America I 

 consider distinct species. I have never yet seen a bat 

 from India with a membrane rising perpendicularly 

 from the end of its nose ; nor have I ever been able to 

 learn that bats in India suck animals, though I have 

 questioned many people on this subject. I could 

 only find two species of bats in Guiana with a mem- 

 brane rising from the nose. Both these kinds suck 

 animals and eat fruit ; while those bats without a 

 membrane on the nose seem to live entirely upon 

 fruit and insects, but chiefly insects. A gentleman, 

 by name Walcott, from Barbadoes, lived high up the 

 river Demerara. While I was passing a day or two 

 at his house the vampires sucked- his son (a boy of 

 about ten or eleven y earls old), some of his fowls, and 

 his jackass. The youth showed me his forehead at 

 daybreak : the wound was still bleeding apace, and 

 I examined it with minute attention. The poor ass 

 was doomed to be a prey to these sanguinary imps 

 of night , he looked like misery steeped in vinegar. 

 I saw, by the numerous sores on his body, and by 

 his apparent debility, that he would soon sink under 

 his afflictions. Mr. Walcott told me that it was with 

 the greatest difficulty he could keep a few fowls. 



