Sea Cows, Past and Present 



Bv FREDERIC A. LUCAS 



JUST wliy the manatre, tlie first 

 sireniaii known to Europeans, 

 should have been called a "sea 

 cow" {J'acca marina) is hard to say; 

 possibly because its flesh resembled beef, 

 certainly not because its form was in any 

 way like that of a cow. It has also been 

 suggested that it received this appella- 

 tion on account of the style of its teeth, 

 the character of its food, and its manner 

 of browsing on water plants. There 

 was a belief with many that everything 

 on land had its counterpart 

 or analogue in the sea, and 

 when one is looking for re- 

 semblances, they are gener- 

 ally to be found. Thus, 

 the ordinary seals were sea 

 wolves; the fur seals, sea 

 bears; while other animals 

 did duty as sea dogs, sea 

 horses, and sea elephants. 



At first sight one would 

 hardly think of the chunky 

 clumsy sea cows as in any 

 way connected with mytli 

 or fable, or as having con- 

 tributed aught of interest to 

 the pages of history. Yet 

 for a family numbering so 

 few members, and those of retiring hab- 

 its, there is — save the elephants which 

 naturall\- could not be overlooked — no 

 group of animals so often mentioned in 

 myth and history. 



In the first place the dugong, the sea 

 cow of the Red Sea and iVfrican coast, 

 has a good claim to be considered the 

 original mermaid. True it does not look 

 the part, when seen too near; but when 

 the Arab traders cruising down the Red 

 Sea, or on their way to Madagascar, 



caught glimpses of the round head of a 

 dugong peering above the waves, or 

 perhaps saw a mother with her baby 

 tucked under her arm, they not unnatu- 

 rally thought of them as having some 

 human attributes. Thus, from saying 

 that they looked like men, it was a 

 short step to saying that they were men. 

 A seal does not look much like a man, and 

 yet anyone who has seen a seal's head 

 bobliing above the waves will know how 

 strong, under these conditions, is the 



Jhis figure of tlie manatee occurs in (Jviedo s History of the Indies, 

 1.535, and is the earliest known representation of the sea cow. One 

 species of manatee inhabits the rivers of western Africa, another those 

 of northern and eastern South America and parts of Florida 



resemblance of the seal to a human 

 being. A little imagination is a great 

 help in "seeing things" and the creation 

 of the mermaid would seem to lie be- 

 tween seal and sea cow, Norseman and 

 Arab — with the odds in favor of the sea 

 coW, since the seal was already bespoken 

 for the sea wolf. 



Another claim to distinction possessed 

 by the dugong is that its hide is believed 

 to have been that used by the Israelites 

 to cover the Ark of the Covenant, the 



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