166 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOURNEY 
The Ar¬ 
madillo. ' 
indescribable martyrdom, and would have found 
: himself more at home in the Augean stable than in 
the planter’s house. 
I had often wished to have been once sucked by the 
vampire, in order that I might have it in my power 
to say it had really happened to me. There can be 
no pain in the operation, for the patient is always 
asleep when the vampire is sucking him ; and as for 
the loss of a few ounces of blood, that would be a 
trifle in the long run. Many a night have I slept 
with my foot out of the hammock to tempt this winged 
surgeon, expecting that he w r ould be there; but it 
was all in vain; the vampire never sucked me, and 
I could never account for his not doing so, for we 
were inhabitants of the same loft for months together. 
The Armadillo is very common in these forests; 
he burrows in the sand-hills like a rabbit. As it 
often takes a considerable time to dig him out of his 
hole, it would be a long and laborious business to 
attack each hole indiscriminately without knowing 
whether the animal were there or not. To prevent 
disappointment, the Indians carefully examine the 
mouth of the hole, and put a short stick down it. 
Now if, on introducing the stick, a number of mos¬ 
quitos come out, the Indians know to a certainty that 
the armadillo is in it: wherever there are no mos¬ 
quitos in the hole, there is no armadillo. The Indian 
having satisfied himself that the armadillo is there, 
by the mosquitos which come out, he immediately 
cuts a long and slender stick, and introduces it into 
the hole: he carefully observes the line the stick 
