AND MANATEES 



fishermen of harpooning a couple of baby dugongs and 

 towing them along as a decoy ; the mothers follow and 

 become easy game. This may be good business but it 

 " isn't cricket." 



The manatees, or sea-cows, or femmes poissons, show 

 just the same tenderness and, in addition, a peculiar 

 clannishness. In great herds they often leave the sea and 

 enter the rivers of Central and South America ; a few old 

 males go first, then the bulk of the herd, wives and 

 children in the middle. If a harpoon should suddenly 

 dart out on them, the males try to cover the retreat of 

 the females, and if one of either sex be harpooned the 

 rest will gather round the wounded animal and try to set 

 it free. 



But the greater part of the manatee-hunting is done 

 higher up the rivers. Here the animals may be seen 

 lying about on the weedy, muddy banks, feeding as peace- 

 fully as cows ; yet the Indian fishermen know that this is 

 no place to take them, for at the first unnatural sound or 

 unusual sight they disappear. The harpooner must there- 

 fore decide upon one of three courses ; either hiding in 

 the weeds on the bank, at the risk of being eaten by 

 alligators, and waiting for the chance of the manatee's 

 coming up to breathe ; or walking boldly along the bank 

 and launching a spear at the " cow " when it is sleeping ; 

 or thirdly, setting off before daylight in a canoe and 

 catching the animals off their guard when they come up 

 unsuspectingly to feed at dawn. The second method is 

 more satisfactory and less precarious than it sounds ; for 

 the manatee must sleep sometimes, and does not neces- 



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