THE DUGONG. 305 



and described. He was informed by the Arabs 

 that these Dugongs live in pairs or small families 

 that their voices are very feeble that they feed on 

 algae and that, in the months of February and 

 March, bloody combats take place among the males. 

 The females produce in November and December. 

 The former sex attains the length of eighteen feet, 

 the latter never equals these dimensions.* 



The respectable voyager, Lequat, describes the Du- 

 gong as occurring in great numbers in the Isle of 

 France in 1 720. He states they were twenty feet long, 

 arid were captured with the greatest facility. They 

 feed in troops like sheep, in three or four fathoms 

 water, and did not attempt to escape when ap- 

 proached, so that a selection could be made, and 

 they were shot at the end of the musket ; or some- 

 times two or three of the party seized hold of one 

 and forced it on shore. Three or four hundred were 

 occasionally encountered together ; and they were 

 so little shy, that they allowed themselves to be 

 handled at pleasure, and thus were the fattest 

 selected. The natives here avoided, as we have 

 noticed the Malays also do, a contest with the larger 

 animals, on account of the great trouble which they 

 occasioned, and also because they were not such 

 good eating as the smaller ones. 



It is the popular belief of the Malays, that two spe- 

 cies frequent their coast ; and M. F. Cuvier states, that 

 there are considerable differences between the Malay 



* See Encyc. Brit. art. Mammalia. 







