NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN Jl 



to the very end. At length when the creatures strength is spent, they 

 hale it up to the Canoas side, and knock it on the head and tow it to 

 the nearest shore, where they make it fast, and seek for another ; 

 which having taken they go on shore with it, to put it into their 

 Canoa : for 'tis so heavy that they cannot lift it, but they hale it up in 

 shoal water, as near the shore as they can, and then overset the 

 Canoa, laying one side close to the Manatee. Then they roll it in, 

 which brings the Canoa upright again, and when they have heav'd 

 out the water, they fasten a line to the other Manatee that lieth afloat, 

 and tow it after them. I have known two Moskito men for a week 

 every day bring aboard 2 Manatee in this manner ; the least of which 

 hath not weighed less than 600 pound, and that in a very small 

 Canoa, that 3 English men would scarce adventure to go in. When 

 they strike a cow that hath a young one, they seldom miss the Calf, 

 for she commonly takes her young under one of her Fins. But if 

 the Calf is so big that she cannot carry it, or so frightened that she 

 only minds to save her own life, yet the young never leaves her till 

 the Moskito men have an opportunity to strike her. 



" The manner of striking Manatee and Tortoise is much the same ; 

 only when they seek for Manatee they paddle so gently, that they 

 make no noise, and never touch the side of the Canoa with their 

 paddle ; because it is a Creature that hears very well. But they are 

 not nice when they seek for tortoise, whose Eyes are better than 

 his Ears." 



The manatee was also recorded from near the eastern boundary of 

 Panama by Maack (1874, p. 171) who says: "The manati is fre- 

 quently caught by the natives in the Atrato and in the Cacarica. Its 

 meat is highly prized by the natives, and I had the pleasure, during 

 my stay at the Cacarica hills, to partake with some caoutcheros 

 [rubber gatherers] of such a Manati dinner." 



Order ARTIODACTYLA. Artiodactyls or 



Even-toed Unj^ulates 



Family TAYASSUIDAE. Peccaries 



The family Tayassuidae includes two genera of peccaries, or pig- 

 like species fairly well known in the region under review. Both have 

 extremely short tails. Large glands opening upon the back give off 

 a peculiar rank odor by which the proximity of a herd to windward 

 may often be detected long before the animals can be heard or seen. 



