April, 1832. 



VAMPIRE BAT. 



25 



they appeared also to recover from any injury much sooner 

 than those of our English breed. The Vampire bat is often the 

 cause of much trouble, by biting the horses on their withers. 

 The injury is generally not so much owing to the loss of 

 blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the 

 saddle afterwards produces. The whole circumstance has 

 lately been doubted in England ; I was therefore for- 

 tunate in being present when one* was actually caught on a 

 horse^s back. We were bivouacking late one evening near 

 Coquimbo, in Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of 

 the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter, 

 and fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly put 

 his hand on the beast^s withers, and secured the vampire. 

 In the morning, the spot, where the bite had been inflicted, 

 was easily distinguished from being slightly swollen and 

 bloody. The third day afterwards we rode the horse, without 

 any ill efi'ects. 



April 13th. — After three days^ travelling we arrived at 

 Socego, the estate of Senhor Manuel Figuireda, a relation of 

 one of our party. The house was simple, and, though like a 

 barn in form, was well suited to the climate. In the sitting- 

 room gilded chairs and sofas were oddly contrasted with the 

 whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and windows without 

 glass. The house, together with the granaries, the stables, 

 and workshops for the blacks, who had been taught various 

 trades, formed a rude kind of quadrangle ; in the centre of 

 which a large pile of cofffee was drying. These buildings 

 stand on a little hill, overlooking the cultivated ground, and 

 surrounded on every side by a wall of dark green luxuriant 

 forest. The chief produce of this part of the country is 

 cofl*ee. Each tree is supposed to yield annually, on an 

 average, two pounds ; but some give as much as eight. 

 Mandioca or cassada is likewise cultivated in great quantity. 

 Every part of this plant is useful : the leaves and stalks are 



* This bat belongs to the genus Edostoma of D'Orb'gny, but is a new 

 species. 



