70 
THE VAMPIRE. 
THE VAMPIRE. 
" Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo." Hor. 
This leech will suck the vein, until 
From your heart's blood he gets his fill. 
The vampire of India and that of South America I 
consider distinct species. I have never yet seen a bat 
from, India with a membrane rising perpendicularly 
from the end of its nose ; nor have I ever been able to 
learn that bats in India suck animals, though I have 
questioned many people on this subject. I could 
only find two species of bats in Guiana with a mem- 
brane rising from the nose. Both these kinds suck 
animals and eat fruit ; while those bats without a 
membrane on the nose seem to live entirely upon 
fruit and insects, but chiefly insects. A gentleman, 
by name Walcott, from Barbadoes, lived high up the 
river Demerara. While I was passing a day or two 
at his house the vampires sucked his son (a boy of 
about ten or eleven yearls old), some of his fowls, and 
his jackass. The youth showed me his forehead at 
daybreak : the wound was still bleeding apace, and 
I examined it with minute attention. The poor ass 
was doomed to be a prey to these sanguinary imps 
of night , he looked like misery steeped in vinegar. 
I saw, by the numerous sores on his body, and by 
his apparent debility, that he would soon sink under 
his afflictions. Mr. Walcott told me that it was with 
the greatest difficulty he could keep a few fowls^ 
