46 SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



Humboldt compares it with ham. Unhke that of the 

 whales, which is of a deep and dark red hue, it is as white 

 as veal, and, it is said, tastes very like it. It is remarkable 

 for retaining its freshness much longer than other meat, 

 which in a tropical climate generally putrefies in twenty- 

 eight hours. It is therefore well adapted for pickling, as 

 the salt has time to penetrate the flesh before it is tainted. 

 The Catholic clergy of South America do not object to its 

 being eaten on fast days, on the supposition that, with 

 whales, seals, and other aquatic mammals, it may be liberally 

 regarded as " fish." The " Indians " of the Amazon and 

 Orinoco are so fond of it that they will spend many days, 

 if necessary, in hunting for a manatee, and having killed one 

 will cut it into slabs and slices on the spot, and cook these 

 on stakes thrust into the ground aslant over a great fire, 

 and heavily gorge themselves as long as the provision lasts. 

 The milk of this animal is said to be rich and good, and 

 the skin is valuable for its toughness, and is much in 

 request for making leathern articles in which great strength 

 and durability are required. The tail contains a great 

 deal of oil, which is believed to be extremely nutritious, 

 and has also the property of not becoming rancid. Un- 

 happily for the dugong, its oil is in similarly high repute, 

 and is greatly preferred as a nutrient medicine to cod- 

 liver oil. As its flesh also is much esteemed, it is so 

 persistently hunted on the Australian coasts that it will 

 probably soon become extinct, like the rytina of Steller. 

 The same fate apparently awaits the manatee, which is 

 becoming perceptibly more and more scarce. 



I fear that before many years have elapsed the Sirens of 

 the Naturalist will have disappeared from our earth, before 

 the advance of civilization, as completely as the fables and 

 superstitions with which they have been connected, before 



