24 CAPTURE OF THE DUGONG. 



Another favourite article of food is the dug'ong-j 

 {Halicore Australis) of which a few are killed every 

 year. Although it extends along- the east coast of 

 Australia from Moreton Bay to Cape York, it 

 appears to be nowhere very common. About Cape 

 York and Endeavour Strait, the dug-ong- is most 

 li'equently seen during- the ruiny season, at which 

 time it is said by the natives to bring* forth its 

 young". When one is observed feeding* close 

 inshore* chase is made after it in a canoe. One of 

 the men standing* up in the bow is provided with a 

 peculiar instrument used solely for the capture of 

 the animal in question. It consists of a slender peg* 

 of bone, four inches long*, barbed all round, and 

 loosely slipped into the heavy, rounded, and flattened 

 head of a pole, fifteen or sixteen feet in leng*th j a 

 long* rope an inch in thickness, made of the twisted 

 •stems of some creeping* plant, is made fast to the peg* 

 at one end, while the other is secured to the canoe. 

 When within distance, the bowman leaps out, strikes 

 the dug'ong*, and returns to the canoe with the shaft 

 in his hand. On being* struck, the animal dives, 

 carrying* out the line, but generally rises to the 

 surface and dies in a few minutes, not requiring* a 

 second wound, a circumstance surprising* in the case 

 of a cetaceous animal, six or eight feet in length, 

 and of proportionate bulk. The carcass is towed on 



* A slender, branchless, cylindrical, articulated sea weed, of a 

 very pale gi'een colour, was pointed out to me by a native as 

 being the favourite food of the dugong. 



