A SIREN OF THE AMERICAN COAST 



The manatees found in the Atlantic waters of America were taken by- 

 early travelers for mermaids and mermen, and some of the descriptions do 

 credit to the imagination of the old voyagers. The above drawing, from 

 an old chronicle, shows the mermaid which appeared to Captain Schmidt 

 and his crew off the coast of Newfoundland, in the year 1610. To the 

 unromantic modern eye, these "mermaids" are far from seductive in 

 appearance (see Fig. 3), but mav furnish a valuable meat supply. 

 (Fig. 2.) 



waist up and terminating below in the 

 tail of a fish. The head was the size 

 and shape of a man's head, and was 

 covered with black hair, mixed with 

 gray, which hung down over his shoul- 

 ders. His face was large and round, the 

 nose large and flat, eyes of regular 

 shape, the ears large, a beard of 6 or 8 

 inches in length and mixed with grey 

 like the hair, while his stomach was 

 also covered with the same kind of hair. 

 His arms and hands were like those of a 

 man, and upon coming out of the water, 

 which he did twice, he appeared to wipe 

 his face. When he raised himself out 

 of the water, the part of his body above 

 the waist appeared to be that of a 

 young man of 15 or 16 years of age, the 

 skin being quite white. The length of 

 the whole body appeared to be about 

 five feet. He regarded the men one 

 after the other for some minutes without 

 appearing surprised. When they first 

 noticed him, he was not more than 

 seven feet from the rock on which they 

 stood, and after submerging, he next 

 appeared about four feet distant, and 



plunging a third time he came up less 

 than three feet away, so close that one 

 of the men offered him his line to see 

 if he could capture him. The creature 

 then turned and swam away, and again 

 plunging below the surface was lost to 

 sight. 



A MONOGAMOUS ANIMAL 



To return from mythical to real man- 

 atees — they are evidently monogamous 

 in their natural state, but since the dead 

 mate is apparently not mourned by the 

 living animal, it seems likely that one 

 male would be sufficient to take care 

 of a number of females. They breed in 

 .small lagoons and bayous and have one 

 or two calves, the period of gestation 

 being probably about eight months. 

 The family commonly consists of four — 

 the adult pair, one half-grown individual 

 and the calf which is generally born in 

 the autiunn. 



Due to its peculiar anatomy, it is 

 impossible for the manatee to leave the 

 water, and any stories to that effect, 

 if traced down, will be found to be 



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