53 



power at will to trayel inland in order to browse upon terrestrial her- 

 bage ; : but whenever found in that position, it has been driven there by 

 tempest, or, as Leguat pithily remarks, " laid hold of and forced on 

 shore." 



Peron observes, "the sailors were alarmed by a terrible howling, 

 which resembled the roaring of a bull, but much stronger, and seemed 

 to come from the reeds." And Mr. Eraser, in Captain Sterling's 

 Yoyage, 1826, notices that while attending to the boat on the river he 

 " distinctly heard the bellowing of some huge animal, similar to that of 

 an ox, from an extensive marsh further up the river/' : 



So far there is nothing extraordinary in these narratives, for the Austral- 

 ian eared-seal, Zalophus lobatus, is plentiful along the coast of Western 

 Australia, and its habits and voice accord with the description of these 

 travellers ; but the explanatory remark attached by Dr. Gray, viz., 

 " the roars were doubtless from the dugong," appears to be singularly 

 infelicitous. 



The dugong is a large, ungainly looking creature, reaching in its 

 adult state to about twenty feet. The colour, according to some, is on 

 the upper portions of the body slaty black ; to others, brownish-black, 

 with a whitish breast and belly. The skin is very thick and smooth, 

 having over it a few remote and scattered hairs. The head is small, the 

 upper lips- are very large and obliquely truncated, on which part it is 

 tuberculated and bristled ; the flippers are short, thick, and fleshy, and 

 incapable of supporting on land the huge bulk of the animal. 



The flesh is much esteemed as an article of food by the natives of the 

 various countries whose shores the dugong frequents, and the King of 

 Malay claims as a royalty all those that are taken in his dominion. 

 Many Europeans also affirm that it is excellent, comparing it to veal, 

 to beef, or to pork ; the variation in taste attributed to age and con- 

 dition. But I am bound to add, that an opposite estimate of the 

 quality of the flesh, whether roasted, boiled, or stewed, is entertained 

 by some, to whom it appeared like coarse, oily bacon, and with a 

 toughness and elasticity of fibre which kept the teeth engaged in a 

 kind of perpetual motion. 



The oil, however, is acknowledged by common consent to be of the 

 best quality, peculiarly clear, limpid, and free from disagreeable smell. 



These animals were formerly captured by the use of the spear, but of 

 late years harpoons, nets, and boats with organized crews, have been 



1 " This induces them" (herbivorous whales) " to leave the water frequently to 

 come on and crawl and pasture on the shore." Cuvier's Animal Kingdom. " They" 

 (dugongs) " are also found, and called ' the seal,' on the shore and in the salt-water 

 inlet of the Concan, where they feed on the vegetable matter found on the rocks, and 

 bask and sleep in the morning; sun." Gray, S. & "W., 1866, p. 363. " Browsing on 

 fuci, water-plants, or the grass of the shore." Owen, Anatomy and Physiology of 

 Vertebrates, 1866, vol. ii, p. 281. " Le Cetace est mammifere qui vit dans 1'eau, non 

 comme le Phoque ou le Sirenien, qui prend librement ses ebats sur le rivage de la 

 mer." Van Beneden & Gervais, Ost. des Cetaces, p. 1, now publishing. 



2 Gray, S. & W., 1866, p. 364. 



