244 . CONDAMINE*S TRAVELS 



Other, for the purpofe of avoiding the peril attendant on paffing their mouths. What 

 enfured my fafety, and had been gratifying to another traveller, was far from fatisfac- 

 tory to me, whofe chief objedl was the ftrudure of my chart ; in order, mid this tortu- 

 ous labyrinth of illands and innumerable canals, to preferve the thread of my rout, 

 while it largely multipHed my toil, exaded redoubled attention. 



I have hitherto faid nothing of the fmgular fifti which the Amazons produces, nor 

 of the rare animals found on its banks. This portion of natural hiftory alone would 

 furnifli materials for an entire work, and the exclufive ftudy of it would not only re- 

 quire a voyage exprefsly undertaken for the purpofe, but a traveller whofe attention 

 fhould be called to no other objed. I fhall merely enumerate fome of the mofl 

 fingular. 



At St. Pablo de Omaguas I defigned, from nature, the largeft frefh-water fifh that 

 is known, to which the Spaniards and Portuguefe have given the name of the Sea-cow 

 or Sea-bull ; which, however, muft not be confounded with the feal or fea-calf. The 

 one in queftion browzes the grafs of the banks of rivers, and in its flefh and fat bears 

 fome relemblance to veal. The female has teats, with which it fuckles her young. 

 Some writers have increafed the fmiilitude fuppofed between it and the bull, by attri- 

 buting horns to it, which nature, lefs generous than they, has denied. It is not am- 

 phibious, properly fpeaking, as it never entirely quits the water ; and, indeed, is unable 

 fo to do, having only two fins near the head, in fhape of fmall wings, about fixteen 

 inches long, which ferve it for hands and feet, and, confequently, merely raifes its 

 head out of water to reach the grafs it feeds on, The one I defigned was a female ; 

 its length was feven and a half Paris feet, and its greateft breadth two : I have fince 

 feen others of fuperior fize. The eyes of this animal are difproportionate ; they are 

 round, and only three lines in diameter ; the opening of the ears is ftill fmaller, and 

 can better be compared to nothing than a hole made with a pin. This fifh, by fome, 

 has been reckoned peculiar to the Amazons, but it is equally common in the Oronooco ; 

 it is likewife, though lefs frequently, found in the Oyapoc, and in many other rivers of 

 Cayenne, and off the coaft of Guyana, and very probably in other parts. It is the 

 fame animal in genus, though I think of different fpecies, that is called the Lamentin, 

 in Cayenne, and in the French iflands of America. It is not met with in the open fea, 

 and is rare near the mouths of rivers ; but it is found inland at more than a thoufand 

 leagues from the fea in the major part of the great rivers which fall into the Amazons, 

 the Gullaga for example, the Paflaca, &c. In the Amazons itfelf, it is only flopped 

 in its upward courfe by the Pongo of Borja ; but this barrier is no obftacle to another 

 fifh called Mixano, as diminutive as this is large, many of them not exceeding the 

 length of a finger. This fry annually proceed to Borja, at the commencement of the 

 fubfiding of the waters, about the end of June. They prefent nothing fingular, if we 

 except the ftrength they exhibit in flemming and fwimming againfl the current. As 

 the narrow bed of the river neceffarily^ colledls them in great number near the flrait^ 

 they are feen crofling in fhoals from one bank to another, and, alternately on either 

 fide, overpowering the violence with which the waters are impelled through this flrait. 

 "When the waters are low, they are taken by hand from the hollows in the rocks of the 

 Pongo, where they refl to refume their ftrength, and which ferve them as fo many 

 ladders in afcending. 



In the neighbourhood of Para I faw a kind of lamprey, the body of which, Hke that 

 of the common fpecies, is pierced by many openings, but, at the fame time, it pof- 

 feffes the fame faculty with the torpido ; whoever prefumes to touch it with the hand, 

 or even with the end of a ftick, experiences a painful numbnefs in the arm, and a 



I fhcck. 



