S3 
V AM PYRE BAT. 
all over besmeared with gore ; to which, if act 
ded, my pale face, short hair, and tattered ap- 
parel, he mightwell ask the question, 
4 Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn’d ? 
4 Bring with thee airs from heav’n, or blasts from hell 
The mystery, however, was, that I had been bitten 
by the v am pyre, or spectre of Guiana, which is 
also called the flying dog of New Spain, and by 
the Spaniards perro-volador ; this is no other than 
a bat of a monstrous size, that sucks the blood 
from men and cattle while they are fast asleep, 
even sometimes till they die ; and as the manner 
in which they proceed is truly wonderful, I shall 
endeavour to give a distinct account of it. Know- 
ing, by instinct, that the person they intend to at- 
tack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight 
near the feet, where, while the creature continues 
fanning with his enormous wings, which keeps one 
cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, 
so very small indeed, that the head of a pin could 
scarcely' be received into the wound, which is con- 
sequently not painful ; yet through this orifice be 
continues to suck the blood, until he is obliged to 
disgorge. He then begins again, and thus conti- 
nues sucking and disgorging till lie is scarcely 
able to fly, and the sufferer has often been known 
to sleep from time into eternity. Cattle they gene- 
rally bite in the ear, but always in places where 
the blood flows spontaneously. 
“ Having applied tobacco ashes as the best re- 
medy, and washed the gore from myself and my 
hammock, I observed several small heaps of con- 
gealed blood all round the place where I had lain, 
upon the ground ; on examining which, the sur- 
geon judged thiit I had lost at least twelve or 
fourteen ounces during the night/' 
