232 SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



in piscein" The manatee has thence been called by the 

 Spaniards and Portuguese the "woman-fish," and by the 

 Dutch the "manetje," or mannikin. The dugong, having 

 the muzzle bristly, is named by the latter the "baard- 

 manetje," or " little bearded man." There are no bristles 

 or whiskers on the muzzle of the manatee ; all the portraits 

 of it in which these are shown are in that respect erroneous. 

 The origin of the word " manatee " has by some been 

 traced to the Spanish, as indicating " an animal with 

 hands." On the west coast of Africa it is called by the 

 natives "Ne-hoo-le." By old writers it was described as 

 the " sea-cow." Gesner depicts it in the act of bellowing ; 

 and Mr. Bates, in his work, 'The Naturalist on the 

 Amazon,' says that its voice is something like the bellow- 

 ing of an ox. The Florida "crackers" or "mean whites," 

 make the same statement. Although I have had oppor- 

 tunities of prolonged observation of it in captivity, I have 

 not heard it give utterance to any sound not even a grunt 

 and Mr. Bartlett, of the Zoological Gardens, tells me that 

 his experience of it is the same. His son, Mr. Clarence 

 Bartlett, says that a young one he had in Surinam used to 

 make a feeble cry, or bleat, very much like the voice of a 

 young seal. This is the only sound he ever heard from 

 a manatee.* 



I believe the dugong to be more especially the animal 

 referred to by JElian as the semi-human whale, and that 

 which has led to this group having been supposed by 

 southern voyagers to be aquatic human beings. In the 

 first place, the dugong is a denizen of the sea, whereas the 



* For a full description of the habits of this animal in captivity, see 

 an article by the present writer in the Leisure Hour ' of September 28, 

 1878 ; from which the illustration, Fig. 18, is borrowed by the kind 

 consent of the Editor of that publication. 



