THE EQUATORIAL FORESTS 
fact, merely a place of convalescence for Mr. 
Campbell's family and friends, its salubrity depend- 
ing on the dryness of the site and the cool breezes 
that sweep across the bay, enhanced by the facilities 
for bathing and the absence of carapanas. . . . 
The large and commodious house had been shut 
up for a few months during the absence of the 
family, and when the room destined for my recep- 
tion was reopened there appeared in the middle of 
the floor a heap of fresh earth near 3 feet high, 
as if thrown out of some newly-opened grave, but 
in reality the work of that great excavator and 
roadmaker, the saiiba ant — the navvy of the 
Amazon valley, of whom we shall see more here- 
after. Hordes of bats were disturbed and flew 
wildly about when the light was admitted ; some of 
them were killed by the negroes, and the rest 
returned to their roosting-places in the roof 
There were amongst them some that looked very 
formidable, being about two feet across the ex- 
panded wings, although I afterwards saw far larger 
ones on the Upper Rio Negro. Neither these nor 
the smaller kinds were known to bite ; but as 
undoubted vampires sometimes entered the house 
at nightfall, it was customary, as a preservative 
from their attacks, to sleep with a light in the 
room, and this I afterwards found to be a common 
practice all through the Amazon. . . . 
On the second or third night of our sojourn at 
Caripi, happening to awake a little after midnight, 
I saw King lying with his head out of his hammock 
and nearly touching the ground, while close by his 
ear sate a sooty imp, which from its size might be 
a big toad, like Eve's dream -prompter ; but the 
