Ch. Vn. SOUTH AMERICA. 59 



fhat after fun-fet, when they begin to fly, they may, 

 without any hyperbole, be faid to cover the ftreets like 

 clouds They are the mod dextrous bleeders both of 

 men and cattle j for the inhabitants being obliged, by 

 the exceffive heats, to leave open the doors and wiur 

 dovvs of the chambers where they fleep, the bats get 

 in, and if they happen to find the foot of any one bare, 

 they infmuate their tooth into a vein, with all the arc 

 of the moft expert furgeon, fucking the blood till they 

 are fatiated, and withdraw their tooth ; after which the 

 blood flows out at the orifice. I have been afllired, 

 by perfons of the ftridiefl: veracity, that fuch an acci- 

 dent has happened to them ; and that, had they not 

 providentially awaked foon, their fleep would have 

 been their pafliige into eternity ; they having lofl: fo 

 large a quantity of blood, as hardly to be able to bind 

 up the orifice. The reafon why the pundture is not 

 felt is (befides the great precaution with which it is 

 .made) attributed to the gentle and refrelliing agitation 

 of the air by the bat's v/ings, hindering the perfon from 

 feeling this flight puriclure by throwing him into a 

 deeper fleep. Nearly the fame thing happens to 

 . horfes, mules, and afiTes but beads of a thick and 

 hard fl^in are not expofed to this iiiconveniency. 



We fliall next proceed to the infedis and reptiles, in 

 which nature has no lefs difplayed its infinite power. 

 The great number of them is not only an inconvenience 

 to the inhabitants, but health and even life itfelf often 

 fuffers from the malignity of their poifon. The prin- 

 cipal are the fnakes, the cientopies-)^, the fcorpions, and 

 the fpiders ; of all which there are diflerent kinds, 

 and their poifons of different adlivity. 



* They are almofl as large as rats ; and the inlide of the roofs 

 of the out-houfes are generally lined vj'ith them. A. 



f Or hundred feet. They are very common throughout the 

 warmer regions of America. Common fait is a fpeciiic againft 

 Jheir bite, as alfo againft the fting of the fcorpion. A. 



Of 



