24 CAPTURE OF THE DUGONG. 



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

 (HaUcore Australis) of ^^hich 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 

 frequently seen during- the rainy 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 ; 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 duo-ono-, and returns to the canoe with the shaft 

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

 carrying- out the line, but g-enerally 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 eig'ht feet in leng-th, 

 and of proportionate bulk. The carcass is towed on 



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

 very pale green colour, was pointed out to me by a native as 

 being the favourite food of the dugong. 



