136 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



centre, retards very effectively the animal's progress through the 

 water. The native paddles after it in his canoe, waiting till the 

 animal becomes exhausted before finally despatching it. 



Another method is to spear them from a canoe in the daytime 

 as they are making their way to some feeding ground. The 

 spear used for this purpose is composed of a light wooden shaft 

 in which is imbedded a piece of sharpened fencing wire. This 

 is easily plunged through their gutta-percha-like hide, and, as the 

 animal dashes off, the wire bends like a fish-hook, and tows the 

 shaft or some other float behind, and is easily followed by the 

 natives in the canoe. The spear thrust is, however, not sufficient 

 to fatally injure the animal, and it is therefore necessary for the 

 natives to kill it, which is done by suffocation. Being a mammal, 

 it is necessary for the Dugong to come to the surface to breathe. 

 One of the natives dives overboard, and endeavours to insert a 

 wooden plug into the animal's nostrils, and so cause suffocation ; 

 failing this, they usually tie a rope round its tail and drag it down 

 under the surface of the water, and so drown it ; in the event of 

 both these methods failing, they spear it through the nostrils. 



White men adopt a different method for their capture. A 

 huge, thick net of large mesh (over a mile in length) is spread 

 along the outside of the mud-banks on which the Sea-grass grows. 

 The net is set when the tide is out, and is held up by stout 

 stakes. When the Dugong comes in to feed it does so on the 

 high water of the flood-tide, thereby passing over the net. On 

 the ebbing of the tide the animal tries to return, but finds its 

 course barred by the net. It swims up and down the net until, 

 driven to desperation, it thrusts its head through the mesh in its 

 vain endeavours to get past, and, becoming tangled up in the net, 

 is at last drowned. 



Crossing over to the mainland we find the mouths of the tidal 

 streams lined with mangroves, the roots of which are usually 

 covered with oysters. These require a hanmier and chisel to detach 

 them, and, if one has the other necessary additions, a splendid 

 lunch can be obtained Fireflies are often seen flitting about these 

 streams. At night the light emitted by them when flying appears 

 as if someone was walking about carrying a lantern. When 

 boating at night, what with the fireflies, the phosphorescence of 

 the water, running from the oars like streams of liquid fire, and 

 the crackling of the molluscs on the mangrove roots as they are 

 left bare by the tide, one gets a very weird, uncanny impression 

 of these tidal estuaries. 



Colonies of huge destructive bats, Pteropus poliocephalus, 

 known as Flying Foxes, make the Mangroves their home, and in 

 the daytime can be seen hanging to the boughs by their hind 

 toes, head downward, by thousands. They sally forth at night 

 to any orchard in the vicinity, and feed upon and destroy large 



