390 



AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 



growing from the upper jaw, shaped like those 

 of mi elephant, but clireeted downwards; 

 whereas, in the elephant, they grow upright, 

 like horns ; it also wants the cutting teeth, 

 both above and below : as to the rest, it pretty 

 much resembles a seal, except that it is much 

 larger, being from twelve to sixteen feet long. 

 The morses are also generally seen to frequent 

 the same places that seals are known to reside 

 in ; they have the same habitudes, the same 

 advantages, and thesameimperfections. There 

 are, however, fewer varieties of tiie morse 

 than the seal ; and they are rarely found, ex- 

 cept in the frozen regions near the pole. They 

 were formerly more numerous than at present; 

 and the savage natives of the coasts of Green- 

 land destroyed them in much greater quantities 

 before those seas were visited by European 

 ships upon the whale fishery, than now. 

 Whether these animals have been since actually 

 thinned by the fishers, or have removed to 

 some more distant and unfrequented shores, is 

 not known ; but certain it is, that the Green- 

 landers, who once had plenty, are now obliged 

 to toil more assiduously for subsistence ; and 

 as the quantity of their provisions decrease, for 

 they live mostly upon seals, the numbers of 

 that poor people are every day diminishing. 

 As to the teeth, they are generally from two to 

 three feet long ; and the ivory is much more 

 esteemed than that of the elephant, being 

 whiter and harder. The fishers have been 

 known formerly to kill three or four hundred 

 at once ; and along those shores where they 

 chiefly frequented, their bones are still seen 

 lying in prodigious quantities. In this man- 

 ner a supply of provisions, which would have 

 supported the Greenland nation for ages, has 

 been, in a few years, sacrificed to those who 

 did not. use them, but who sought them for 

 the purposes of avarice and luxury ! 



THE MANATI. 



WE come, in the last place, to an animal 

 that terminates the boundary between quad- 

 rupeds and fishes. Instead of a creature prey- 

 ing amon.'; the deeps, and retiring upon land 

 for repose or refreshment, we have here an 

 animal that never leaves the water, and is en- 

 abled to live only there. It cannot be called a 

 quadruped, as it has but two legs only ; nor 



can it be called a fish, as it is covered with 

 hair. In short, it forms the link that unites 

 those two great tribes to each other; and may- 

 be indiscriminately called the last of beasts, or 

 the first of fishes. 



We ha\ e seen the seal approaching nearly 

 to the aquatic tribes, by having its hind legs 

 throsvn back on each side of the tail, and firm- 

 ing something that resembled the tail of a fish : 

 but upon examining the skeleton of that ani- 

 mal, its title to the rank of a quadruped was 

 observed plainly to appear, having all the bones 

 of the hinder legs and feet as complete as any 

 other animal whatsoever. 



But we are now come to a creature that not 

 only wants the external appearance of hinder 

 legs, but, when examined internally, will be 

 found to want 'them altogether. The manati 

 is somewhat shaped in the head and the body 

 like a seal ; it has also the fore legs or hands pretty 

 much in the same manner, short and webbed, 

 but with four claws only ; these also are shorter 

 in proportion than in the former animal, and 

 placed nearer the head ; so that they can 

 scarcely assist its motions upon hind. But it 

 is in the hinder parts that it chiefly differs from 

 all others of the seal kind ; for the tail is per- 

 fectly that of a fish, being spread out broad 

 like a fan, and wanting even the vestiges of 

 those bones which make the legs and feet in 

 others of its kind. The largest of these are 

 about twenty-six feet in length ; the skin is 

 blackish, very tough and hard ; when cut, as 

 black as ebony ; and there arc a few hairs 

 scattered, like bristles, of about an inch long. 

 The eyes are very small, in proportion to the 

 animal's head ; and the ear-lioles, for it has no 

 external ears, are so narrow as scarcely toadmit 

 a pin's head. The tongue is so short, that 

 some have pretended it has none at all ; and 

 the teeth are composed only of two solid white 

 bones, running the whole length of both jaws, 

 and formed merely for chewing, and not tear- 

 ing its vegetable food. The female has breasts 

 placed forward, like those of a woman ; and 

 she brings forth but one at a time : this she 

 holds with her paws to her bosom ; there it 

 sticks, and accompanies hrr wherever she goes. 



This animal can scarcely be called amphibi- 

 ous, as it never entirely leaves the water, only 

 advancing the head out of the stream to reach 

 the grass on the river sides. Its food is entirely 

 upon vegetables; and, therefore, it is never 



