170 THE MAJTATT. 





considerable receptacles for air, the manati comos so cften 

 to the surface of the water to breathe. Its flesh is very 

 savoury, though, from what prejudice I know not, it is con- 

 sidered unwholesome and apt to produce fever. It ap- 

 peared to me to resemble pork rather than beef. It is most 

 esteemed by the Gruamos and the Ottomacs ; and these two 

 nations are particularly expert in catching the manati. Its 

 flesh, when salted and dried in the sun, can be preserved a 

 whole year; and, as the clergy regard this mammiferous 

 animal as a fish, it is much sought during Lent. The 

 vital principal is singularly strong in the manati ; it is tied 

 after being harpooned, but is not killed till it has been 

 taken into the canoe. This is effected, when the animal is 

 very large, in the middle of the river, by filling the canoe 

 two-thirds with water, sliding it under the animal, and then 

 baling out the water by means of a calabash. This fishery 

 is most easy after great inundations, when the manati has 

 passed from the great rivers into the lakes and surrounding 

 marshes, and the waters diminish rapidly. At the period 

 when the Jesuits governed the Missions of the Lower 

 Orinoco, they assembled every year at Cabruta, below the 

 mouth of the Apure, to have a grand fishing for manatis, 

 with the Indians of their Missions, at the foot of the moun- 

 tain now called El Capuchino. The fat of the animal, 

 known by the name of manati-butter (manteca de manati,) 

 is used for lamps in the churches ; and is also employed in 

 preparing food. It has not the fetid smell of whale-oil, 

 or that of the other cetaceous animals which spout water. 

 The hide of the manati, which is more than an inch and half 

 thick, is cut into slips, and serves, like thongs of ox-leather, 

 to supply the place of cordage in the Llanos. When im- 

 mersed in water, it has the defect of undergoing a slight 

 degree of putrefaction. "Whips are made of it in the Spa- 

 nish colonies. Hence the words latigo and manati are 

 synonymous. These whips of manati-leather are a cruel 

 instrument of punishment for the unhappy slaves, and even 

 for the Indians of the Missions, though, according to the 

 laws, the latter ought to be treated like freemen. 



"We passed the night opposite the island of Conserva. In 

 skirting the forest we were surprised by the sight of an enor- 

 mous trunk of a tree seventy feet high, and thickly set witb 



