384 CETACEA. * 



varieties blowing or snorting, and the sounds contributed in no small 

 degree to creating a feeling of sea-like extent." 



The Inia always keeps near the surface, often projecting its beak-like 

 snout for the purpose of swallowing its food. This food consists chiefly 

 of small fishes, and of fruits that drop into the stream. The Inias are to 

 be found most abundantly in the clear deep bays of the river, or where 

 streams flow into it, these spots being the best for catching fish. They 

 often annoy travelers on the banks by approaching when a fire is kin- 

 dled ; the crowds of dolphins blowing and snorting is often so great, that 

 the stranger, if he desires to sleep, must put his light out. 



The native Indians do not chase tlie Inia, less because they can make 

 little or no use of it, than from peculiar views respecting its nature and 

 being. Mysterious tales respecting the Inia pass from mouth to mouth. 

 It is a seductive nymph who has the power of appearing in the form of a 

 maiden of wondrous beauty and flowing locks to beguile young men 

 from the paths of virtue. She walks by night through the streets of the 

 village, and many a 3'outh follows the siren to the banks of the stream. 

 Enraptured he sinks into her arms, when with a yell of triumph she 

 plunges with the lover whom she is clasping to her bosom into the fatal 

 waters. The Inia is the Lorelei of the Amazons — no Indian kills it, no 

 one uses its oil for his lamp, for the light cast by such oil causes blind- 

 ness. Bates had great difficulty in overcoming the scruples of an 

 Indian fisherman who procured a specimen for him. The poor man 

 declared afterward that from the moment he killed the Inia, all good 

 fortune had deserted him, and that his peace of mind had been destroyed 

 forever by his yielding to the importunities of the naturalist. 



GENUS STENO. 



The Tucuxi, Stcno Tucuxi, shares with the Inia the lower waters of 

 the Amazon River. It can be distinguished from the latter by its 

 method of rising and sinking in the water. It ascends to the surface in 

 a horizontal position, so that its dorsal fin is the part first seen ; it 

 then breathes and sinks back, head foremost, into the water very gently, 

 while the Inia rolls like a porpoise, displaying first its head, then respir- 

 ing, and immediatel}' plunging its head down so that by degrees the 

 whole external line of its curved back and its dorsal fin become visible. 

 Apart from its peculiar mode of respiring, the Tucuxi differs from the 

 Inia by not keeping in pairs. 



