558 



THE XORTIIERX FORESTS. 



[Part IX. 



of the mother while siiclding her young, hokhiig it to 

 her breast with one flipper, while swimming with the 

 other, holdino; the heads of both above water, and when 

 distm-bed, suddenly diving and displaying "her lish-like 

 tail,— these, together with her habitual demonstrations of 

 strong maternal affection, probabl)^ gave rise to the fable 

 of the " mermaid ;" and thus that earhest invention of 

 mytliical physiology may be traced to the Ai'ab seamen 

 and the Greeks, who had watched the movements of the 

 dugong in the waters of Manaar. 



Meii'asthenes records the existence of a creature in tlie 

 ocean, near Taprobane, with the aspect of a Avoman' ; and 

 jiEhan, adopting and enlarging on his information, peo- 

 ples the seas of Ceylon with fishes having the heads of 

 lions, panthers, and rams, and, stranger still, cetaceans 

 in the form of satyrs. Statements such as these must 

 have had their origin in the hairs, which are set round 

 the mouth of the dugong, somewhat resembling a beard, 

 which ^han and Megasthenes both particularise, from 

 their resemblance to the hak of a woman ; " xai yuvaixwv 

 07r<7<v svouciv alfTTTsp OLVTi 7ryoxaix(uv a«av9ai irpog rif^rj- 



The Portuguese cherished the belief in the mermaid, 

 and the annalist of the exploits of the Jesuits in India, 

 gravely records that seven of these monsters, male and 

 female, were captured at Manaar in 1560, and carried to 

 Goa, where they were dissected by Demas Bosquez, 

 physician to the Viceroy, and " their internal structure 

 found to be in all respects conformable to the human." ^ 

 One which was killed at Mannar and sent to me to 

 Colombo* in 1847, measured upwards of seven feet in 

 length ; but specimens considerably larger have been taken 

 at Calpentyn, and their flesh is represented to me as closely 

 resembhns: veal. 



' Megasthenes, Indica, fragm. lix. 

 33. 



2 Mu\TX, Nat. IR<>f., lib. xvi. ch. 

 xviii. 



^ Hist, (le hi Compcifinie de Jesm, 

 quoted in tlic A.siat. Jown. vol. xiv. 



p. 461 ; and in Forbes' Orient. 

 Memoirs, vol. i. p. 421. 



* The skeleton is now in the 

 Museum of the Natural History 

 Society of Belfast. 



