io8 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK. i. 



" method" (adds Oviedo) " I have known a turtle 

 " caught, of a bulk and weight which no single man 

 " could support."* 



Their contrivance for catching wild fowl was equal- 

 ly ingenious, though practised I believe by other na- 

 tions, particularly the Chinese, at this day. In the 

 ponds to which these birds resort, they used to throw 

 calabashes (a species of gourd) which float about the 

 \\ater, and which, when accustomed to them, the fowl 

 would approach without fear. Having succeeded thus 

 far, the sportsman puts one of these gourds on his 

 head (first making apertures for the sight and the 

 breath) and very cautiously creeps into the water, ei- 

 ther gently swimming, or walking where the stream 

 is shallow, with his head only above the water, until 

 he gets among the fowl, when seizing one at a time 



* Herrera confirms this account. See also P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. 



Besides the turtle, it is said, that the Indians (ihe reader may be- 



Jieve >t or not) frequently caught the Manati in the same manner. This 

 singular anima. nas now become very scarce on the shores of the West 

 India islands, but ib st.ll sometimes caught there, as I myself can witness, 

 It is the same which the French call Lamentin^Ey the British seamen it 

 has been named (from a supposed resemblance in the head) the Sea-C9<w\ 

 and its flesh, whicn tastes somewhat like pork, is thought to be very good, 

 both fresh and salted. The animal itself is a sort of amphibious crea- 

 ture, neither a quadruped noi a fish. Jt has two legs, and is covered with 

 hair, and suckles its young j yet it never leaves the water, but feeds on 

 grass which grows at the bottom of the sea. It is commonly from ten to 

 fifteen feet long, huge and unwieldy, and weighs from twelve to fifteen 

 hundred weight. Acosta, who was a very good catholic, relates that this 

 animal was very excellent food j but (continues he) " I scrupled to 

 <* it on Friday, being doubtful whether it <was flesh or fsb" 



