A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

The Big Bats episode forms part of a long voyage to obtain stone axes. The travelling party's elderly leader warns that the next landing lies in the Bat Tribe's country, where bats are as large as cranes. Hammocks hung openly between trees offer no protection, so he directs the crew to build a shelter with closed sides. The danger belongs to this particular encounter on the journey, whose other stopping places have different rules.

One young man refuses both the building work and the shelter, insisting that even large bats will not hurt him before morning. He hangs his hammock outdoors while the others sleep inside. During the night he begs to enter, but the occupants refuse to open the door. In the morning they find only his bones; the telling attributes the death to the bats draining him. The episode's warning is therefore followed by a complete fatal outcome, rather than an unreported battle with a named bat ruler.

Bats described as crane-sizedAttack an exposed sleeper during the nightEnclosed shelter protects the remaining travellers
01

Origins & earliest records

Roth prints The Big Bats on p. 221 of his 1915 collection, within The Search for the Stone Ax, an account introduced as Arawak. He explains that he supplied the larger journey's title. The heading identifies a narrated creature type, not an independently documented species or a known date of oral origin.

02

Records & interpretation

The entire episode was read from the leader's warning to the morning discovery. It specifies crane-like size, a collective bat country, an enclosed shelter and blood-draining death. Roth does not supply a personal bat name, named narrator or contemporary community commentary; the profile does not equate this account with Maya Camazotz.

In the literature

“the Bats here were as large as cranes”
Walter Edmund Roth, collector/editor; selected individual narrator unidentified · An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-lore of the Guiana Indians
Section155, printed p.221

The leader explains the size of the bats when requiring a covered camp.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians

    Walter E. Roth · 1915

    The Search for the Stone Ax, complete Big Bats episode printed p. 221; journey introduction p. 219.

  2. 02

    An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-lore of the Guiana Indians — The Search for the Stone Ax: The Big Bats, Arawak-labelled section155

    Walter Edmund Roth, collector/editor; selected individual narrator unidentified · 1915

    Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office,1915; selected Cornell scan. Preface dated Pomeroon,June1913 explains A=Arawak, C=Carib, W=Warrau source labels. Named episodes read in full; individual contributors not named in these headings.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians

Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office,1915; selected Cornell scan. Preface dated Pomeroon,June1913 explains A=Arawak, C=Carib, W=Warrau source labels. Named episodes read in full; individual contributors not named in these headings.

  1. The stone-axe search party reaches the country of the Bat Tribe. Because its bats are crane-sized, the old leader orders an enclosed shelter with covered sides. One young man dismisses the warning and stays in his hammock outside.

    Section155, printed p.221, warning and enclosure

  2. Later the exposed man begs to be let inside, but his companions refuse to open the door. In the morning only bones remain, and the narrator explains that the bats have sucked him dry.

    Section155, printed p.221, night appeal and ending

Actual printed section is155: OCR misreads it as156. This supernatural narrative tribe is not assigned to a modern bat species or treated as a measured animal specimen. The companions’ refusal is part of the complete outcome and not erased to make a simple rescue story. No asserted anatomical mechanism beyond the account’s own ending.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. ResearchRoth 1915: complete Big Bats episodeResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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