MANATUS. 95 
‘‘The manner of striking Manatee and Tortoise is much the same; only when they 
seek for Manatee they paddle so gently, that they make no noise, and never touch the 
side of the Canoa with their Paddle; because it is a Creature that hears very well. 
But they are not so nice when they seek for Tortoise, whose Eyes are better than his 
Ears”*, 
Again, in his ‘ Voyages to Campeachy, Dampier mentions that Manatees were very 
plentiful in the “ River of Tobasco,” “ especially in one place on the Starboard-side about 
2 Leagues from the Sea, which runs into the Land 2 or 300 paces, and then opens very 
wide, and is so shoal that you may see their backs above Water as they feed; a thing 
so rare, that I have heard our Moskito-Men say, they never saw it any where else; on 
the least noise they will all scamper out into the River; yet the Moskito-men seldom miss 
of striking them. There [/. These] are a sort of Fresh-water Manatee, not altogether so 
big as the Sea-kind, but otherwise exactly alike in shape and taste, and I think rather 
fatter”. 
In modern times Manatees, although considerably reduced in numbers, are still 
abundant in the more secluded lagoons and estuaries of eastern Tropical America. Of 
their reported existence on the western coast there is no satisfactory evidence whatever. 
They were stated by one or two of the old writers to be found on the coast of Peruf; 
and Dr. v. Frantzius accidentally heard that Dr. Bernoulli had met with them on the 
west coast of Guatemala®. There can now be no doubt, however, that these reports 
were erroneous, and that the Manatee is not found on any of the Pacific shores. Con- 
sidering the resemblance of the marine fauna of the two oceans and the evidence of their 
intercommunication in comparatively recent ages, there would have been nothing 
surprising in Manatus being common to both; and the reason of its absence from the 
west coast is probably that quoted above from Dampier), namely the bold steep nature 
of the shore and the absence of broad shallow estuaries and lagoons. 
In Costa Rica Dr. v. Frantzius says that Manatees are still very numerous all along 
the Atlantic coast, and in the San Juan river and its tributaries the Colorado, Sarapiqui, 
and San Carlos, but are prevented by rapids from ascending into the Rio Frio and Lake 
of Nicaragua. As in Dampier’s days, they are pursued by the Mosquito Indians, who 
annually visit the coasts of Costa Rica in pursuit of Turtle. The petrous bones are 
believed by the natives to possess medical virtues, and, consequently fetch a high price °. 
Messrs. Salvin and Godman inform me that they never resided long enough on the 
sea-coast of Guatemala to become personally acquainted with the Manatee; but from 
descriptions of the animal given them by residents at Yzabal, they have no doubt of its 
occurrence in the large lake of that name, probably in tolerable abundance. This 
sheet of water is nearly at the sea-level, with a deep outlet into the Bay of Honduras. 
Its shores are covered with dense forest, into which run numerous creeks affording 
suitable feeding-ground for these animals. At Yzabal the native name for the Manatee 
* Dampier’s Voyages, i. pp. 33-37. + Dampier’s Voyages, ii. pt. 2, p. 109. 
t Of. Brandt, Mém. Ac. Pétersb. 7™° sér. xii. p. 254. § Supra, p. 93. 
