OCEANIC MAMMALS 533 



the dugong. Sowerby, in discussing this matter, states that so 

 far as known to him there is no record in Chinese literature 

 of the dugong's occurrence in the coastal waters of that country. 



Whether the Australian dugong is identical with that of the 

 East Indian and Formosan waters is still uncertain. It former- 

 ly ranged southward on the east coast to at least Moreton Bay, 

 and probably still farther, for skeletal remains have been found 

 at Botany Bay, New South Wales. It is common along the 

 northern coast in tropical waters and occurs on the west coast 

 at the present day, as far at least as Sharks Bay. Somewhat 

 north of this point, in the Kimberly district, Dampier, in his 

 account of 1688, found it in plenty, and relates that "our 

 strikers brought home Turtle and Manatee [i. e., dugong] 

 every day, which was our constant food" (Troughton, 1932, p. 

 176). Various recent writers agree that on the northern, 

 western, and eastern coasts of Australia it is now getting scarcer 

 owing to continued persecution. 



In his excellent account of the dugong, Troughton (1928, 

 1932) says that in 1893 large herds were a common sight in 

 Moreton Bay, Brisbane, and fishing or netting was carried out 

 there and at Hervey Bay, but tne slow breeding of the animals 

 has usually put a stop to ungoverned slaughter. They are not 

 so plentiful now between Brisbane and Cairns, eastern Queens- 

 land, and range round the north coast of Australia to Broome 

 on the west coast. In July, 1893, a herd in Moreton Bay was 

 reported as extending over a length of about 3 miles with a 

 width of 300 yards. The main method of capture by whites was 

 with strong coir nets of a yard mesh, which are not usually more 

 than 300 feet long and 25 meshes deep, anchored at the ends 

 and buoyed with floats. About 50 years ago (ca. 1890), fishing 

 was conducted with the use of a schooner as a floating station 

 and smaller boats for netting, but the venture proved unsuc- 

 cessful, probably because of the rapid diminution of the quarry. 

 In 1922 Banfield deplored the increasing rarity of dugong and 

 attributed this largely to their slaughter by the crews of 

 Japanese vessels fishing in the waters of northern Australia 

 for trochus and trepang. They depended for meat on the 

 dugong, which they harpoon from small boats. Pearling crews 

 also kill many for food. In this destruction the aborigines 

 also play a certain part, but though this, Troughton believes, 

 "may hardly constitute a vital menace," their employment 



