22 
THE VULTURE. 
told, is now supposed to be exploded since the 
appearance of the article in Jameson's Journal, I 
marvel to learn how these birds in Angustura got 
their information, that the seemingly lifeless bodies 
of the Spaniards were merely asleep, — 
Dulcis et alta quies, placidaeque siraillima morti," 
and were by no means proper food for them. 
Some years after this, being alongside of a wood, 
I saw a negro on the ground ; and, as I looked at 
him from a distance, it struck me that all was not 
right with him. On going up to him I found him 
apparently dead. Life was barely within him, and 
that was all. He was a total stranger to me, and I 
conjectured that he had probably been seized with 
sickness as he was journeying on, and that he had 
fallen down there to rise no more. He must have 
lain in that forlorn, and I hope insensible state, for 
many hours ; because, upon a nearer inspection, I saw 
swarms of red ants* near him, and they had eaten 
deeply into his flesh. I could see no marks that the 
vultures had been upon him. Indeed, their not 
being here caused me no surprise, as I had long been 
satisfied, from the innumerable observations which I 
had made, that the vulture is attracted to its food 
* " The Red Ant of Guiana marches in millions through the country, in 
compact order, like a regiment of soldiers. They eat up every insect in 
their march; and if a house obstruct their route, they do not turn out of 
the way, but go quite through it. Though they sting cruelly when molested, 
the planter is not sorry to see them in his house ; for it is but a passing 
visit, and they destroy every kind of insect vermin that had taken shelter 
under his roof." (Waterton's Wanderings in South America, 8(C.) 
