MAMMALS. 



601 



tury ago. He found on the shores of that one island a huge manatee-like 

 animal from twenty to twenty-eight feet in length, and Steller, the nat- 

 uralist who accompanied him, gave a description of it. It formed great 

 herds, surrounding the shores, where it fed upon the sea-weed, grinding it 

 between the horny plates which took the place of teeth. It was very tame, 

 even stupidly tame, and this led to its destruction. It furnished while it 

 lasted an abundant supply of fresh meat, and Middendorff supposes that 

 the last individual was killed in 1768. It w r as called Rhythm. 



The dugong of the Indo-Pacific Ocean is not yet extinct, though its 

 numbers have greatly diminished in the last two hundred years. In olden 









dm \ 



Fig. 514. — Dugong (Halicore dugong). 



times they might be seen, as around the Mascarenes, feeding in large herds 

 in the sea-weeds in the shallow water, but they were possessed of too many 

 valuable qualities to allow them to remain free from interference by man. 

 In the first place, their flesh is very good, especially that of the calves, while 

 from the fat a clear oil can be tried, which has no unpleasant taste, and 

 which besides will not become rancid in the warmest weather. Around 

 Bourbon and Mauritius they have been largely killed off, while on the 

 northwestern coast of Australia a dugong-fishery has been established, con- 

 ducted in much the same way as the capture of whales, and this has had 

 its effect in these regions. The dugong has a much wider distribution 



