THE HAPPY VALLEY 457 



sion to ship the creature. But when I returned 

 to where I had left my prize I found that he had 

 broken his bonds and shipped himself to parts un- 

 known. Returning to Miami I wired my 

 apologies and the promise to find another manatee 

 if it took me a year, which it did. 



During that year I must have discovered and 

 explored every manatee haunt in the waters 

 between the Gulf of Mexico and the Everglades. 

 I felt that I knew every family of the creatures 

 and was intimate enough with them to call their 

 children by their first names. I pursued them 

 with nets of several kinds, nets that were set in 

 their homes, that were run around them as they 

 swam, and nets that were fitted with a great 

 iron ring to put over them after they had been 

 chased to exhaustion by a little motor boat. We 

 caught a number of the creatures of varying 

 lengths from fourteen feet to four and got two of 

 them safely to the Aquarium. The largest one 

 died in his tank just as he was ready for ship- 

 ment and the others were turned loose after the 

 camera man's purpose had been served. 



