AND MANATEES 



a long pointed back-fin, and so swift are its movements 

 that it is sometimes called the Sea Arrow. 



In days gone by, sailors and fishermen credited the 

 animal with all the ferocity and voracity of the shark, 

 and told weird tales of shoals of them pursuing a boat 

 for the sake of a meal of human flesh, making wild dashes 

 and jumps to seize the crew, even leaping on board after 

 their prey, and being deprived of it only after a battle in 

 which axes and guns figured. 



This belief has died hard, for the reason, I suppose, 

 that " a lie that is half a truth " is harder to fight than 

 " a lie that is all a lie." For the dolphin does swim after 

 ships and boats, and he does jump aboard sometimes, 

 though not with the intention of attacking the crew. 

 He is an exceedingly astute being, and has discovered 

 that from time to time a good deal of waste food 

 and rubbish is thrown overboard, and that this attracts 

 the fish in great quantities ; fish that under ordinary 

 circumstances would elude him by their swift dodging 

 or by diving into the mud; therefore, because a boat 

 generally means a meal, he will follow it for miles. As 

 to his jumping on board, he may do that out of sheer 

 playfulness, or by accident, when springing up in pursuit 

 of a fish that has leapt into the air in order to escape 

 him. 



His extreme fondness for the flesh of the various flying- 

 fish is well known. In the warmer parts of the Atlantic 

 he will spend his entire day in hunting them ; leaping up 

 after them and sometimes snapping them in mid-air 

 lying in wait just below the surface at a spot where one 



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