NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
Journal (continued)— January to August 1852 
The Blood-sucking Bats 
Sao Gabriel is terribly infested with vampires, 
and my house, which has an old, decayed roof, has 
more than its share of them. When I entered it 
there were large patches of dried-up blood on the 
floor which had been drawn from my predecessors 
by those midnight blood-letters, and my two men 
were attacked the first night, one of them having 
wounds on the ends of four toes, three on one foot 
and one on the other. The same has happened 
every night since, and the bats do not stop at 
the toes, but bite occasionally on the legs, fingers' 
ends, nose and chin and forehead, especially of 
children. . . . 
A curious circumstance occurred to the family 
of my next neighbour since 1 arrived here. The 
children were much tormented by vampires, being 
bitten in various parts night by night. A cat was 
observed to be very expert at killing bats in the 
doorway at nightfall. One night, by accident, the 
cat was allowed to remain in the house, and when- 
ever a bat alighted on the children's hammocks she 
pounced upon it. When morning came they had 
not once been bitten, and now the cat is their 
constant nocturnal guard. She also evidently 
knows her office, for as regularly as the children 
lie down at night to sleep she takes up her station 
by their hammocks. Poor Pussy ! the good 
deeds of those who call thee ungrateful " and 
"perfidious" seldom shine with such lustre on a 
naughty world ! From my youth up I have been 
