MAMMALIA— MANATI. 393 



away, or plunges to the bottom ; but the cord which holds the lance, has a 

 cork or piece of wood fastened to the end of it, to serve as a buoy. When 

 the animal begins to grow faint and weak through the loss of blood, he 

 swims to shore ; the cord is then wound up, and the animal drawn within 

 arm's length of the boat, where they dispatch it in the water by strokes 

 of the oar or lance. It is so very heavy, as to be a sufficient load for two 

 oxen to draw ; its flesh is excellent eating, and is eaten rather as beef tnan 

 as fish. Some of these animals measure more than fifteen feet in length, by 

 six feet in breadth. The body becomes narrower towards the tail, and then 

 spreads gradually broader towards the end. As the Spaniards give the 

 appellation of hands to the feet of quadrupeds ; and as this animal has only 

 fore feet, they have given it the name of manati, that is, an animal with 

 hands. The female has breasts placed forward, like those of a woman ; and 

 she generally brings forth two young ones at a time, which she suckles." 



"The flesh and fat of this animal," says M. de Condamine, "have a great 

 resemblance to veal. It is not, properly speaking, amphibious, since it 

 never entirely leaves the water ; having only two flat fins, close to the head, 

 about sixteen inches long, and which serves the animal instead of arms and 

 hands. It only raises its head out of the water to feed on the herbage by 

 the sea-side. The eyes of this animal have no proportion to the size of its 

 body ; the orifice of its ears is still less, and only seems like a hole made 

 by a pin. The manati is not peculiar to the Amazonian river; for it is not 

 less common in the Oronoko. It is found, also, though less frequently, in 

 the Oyapoc, and many other rivers in the environs of Cayenne, and the 

 coast of Guiana, and probably in other parts." 



The female of this animal, from the position of the breasts, probably gave 

 rise among mariners, to the fable of the mermaid. Columbus, when he 

 first saw these animals in the West Indies, called them sirens. 



THE ROUND-TAILED MANATI.i 



This animal frequents most of the great African rivers, from Senegal to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and also many of the rivers on the eastern shore 

 of South America. It is often seen in the Amazons, nearly a thousand 

 leagues from its mouth. It prefers shallow waters near low land, and is a 

 frolicsome creature, frequently leaping into the air to great heights. The 

 natives of America are said frequently to tame it, and we are told that it 

 delights in music. The female, when struck by the harpoon, seems insensi- 

 ble to her own sufferings, and only anxious to protect her young one, by 

 taking it under her fins or feet. The round-tailed manati is about six feet 



1 Manatus Senegalensis, Desm. 



50 



