134 



THE VAMPIRE. 



whom I afterwards met with. They are good tempered, cheerful, and 

 sober, and by far the largest and finest-looking of the aborigines that I 

 have encountered. They are obedient to the church and attentive to 

 her ceremonies ; and are more advanced than common in civilization, 

 using no paint as an ornament, but only staining their arms and legs 

 with the juice of a fruit called huitoc, that gives a dark, blue dye, as a 

 protection against the sand-flies, which are abundant, and a great nui- 

 sance. The place is generally very healthy. The common diseases 

 are lymphatic swellings of the body and limbs, (supposed to be caused 

 by exposure to the great humidity of the atmosphere while fishing at 

 night,) and sarna, (a cutaneous affection, which covers the body with 

 sores, making the patient a loathsome object.) These sores dry up and 

 come off in scabs, leaving blotches on the skin, so that an Indian is 

 frequently seen quite mottled. I imagine it is caused by want of clean- 

 liness, arjd the bites of the sand-flies. They take, as a remedy, the dried 

 root of a small tree called sarnango, grated and mixed with water. 

 It is said to have a powerfully-intoxicating and stupefying effect, and to 

 # cause the skin to peal off. 



The huitoc is a nut-like fruit, about the size of a common black 

 walnut with its outer covering. It is, when ripe, soft, of a russet color 

 outside, and filled with a dark purple pulp and small seeds. The tree 

 is slender, and some fifteen or twenty feet high, shooting out broad 

 leaves, with the fruit growing at their base and underneath, like the 

 bread fruit. There is also here a small tree called anil, or indigo, with 

 a leaf narrow at its base and broad near the extremity, which yields as 

 deep a dye as the plant. There are also gay and fragrant flowers in 

 the gardens of the Indians. 



Ijurra shot a large bat, of the vampire species, measuring about two 

 feet across the extended wings. This is a very disgusting -looking ani- 

 mal, though its fur is very delicate, and of a glossy, rich maroon color. 

 Its mouth is amply provided with teeth, looking like that of a minia- 

 ture tiger. It has two long and sharp tusks in the front part of each 

 jaw, with two smaller teeth, like those of a hare or sheep, between the 

 tusks of the upper jaw, and four (much smaller) between those of the 

 lower. There are also teeth back of the tusks, extending far back into 

 the mouth. The nostrils seem fitted as a suction apparatus. Above 

 them is a triangular, cartilaginous snout, nearly half an inch long, and 

 a quarter broad at the base ; and below them is a semi-circular flap, of 

 nearly the same breadth, but not so long. I suppose these might 

 be placed over the puncture made by the teeth, and the air underneath 

 exhausted by the nostrils, thus making them a very perfect cupping- 



