451 



edge of the water. We again perceived, that 

 their light attracted the crocodiles, and even the 

 porpoises (toninas), the noise of which inter- 

 rupted our sleep, till the fire was extinguished. 

 We had two persons on the watch this night ; 

 which I mention only because it serves to paint 

 the savage character of these places. A female 

 jaguar approached our station in taking her 

 young one to drink at the river. The Indians 

 succeeded in chasing her away, but we heard 

 for a long time the cries of the little jaguar, 

 which mewed like a young cat. Soon after our 

 great dog was bitten, or, as the Indians say, 

 pricked at the point of the nose by some enor 

 mous bats, that hovered around our hammocks. 

 They were furnished with a long tail, like the 

 molosses : I believe however, that they were 

 phyllostomes, the tongue of which, furnished with 

 papillae, is an organ of suction, and is capable of 

 being considerably elongated. The wound was 

 very small and round. Though the dog uttered 

 a plaintive cry, when he felt himself bitten, it 

 was not from pain, but because he was affrighted 

 at the sight of the bats, that came out from be- 

 neath our hammocks. These accidents are 

 much more rare than is believed even in the 

 country itself. In the course of several years, 

 notwithstanding we slept so often in the open 

 air, in climates where vampires * and other ana- 



* Verspertrlio spectrum. 



2 g 2 



