CHAPTER IX 



A GREAT NOSE 



A GREAT NOSE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO SKETCH A LIVE SEA- 

 COW HOW A SEA-COW LOOKS ITS BAG-LIKE BODY AND 

 ITS SMALL HEAD THE FINNED MAMALIA, WOMAN FISH, 

 COUSIN TO THE LITTLE BEARDED MAN THE ADVENTURE 

 OF MR. DIMOCK WITH A TWELVE-FOOT MANATEE A SEA- 

 COW THAT KNEW ITS KEEPER USE OF THE HIDE, ITS OIL 

 AND FAT HUMBOLDT LIKED MANATEE MEAT A SCHEME 

 FOR MAKING USE OF OUR IDLE RICH, WHY NOT A MANATEE 

 RANCH. 



The mosquitoes were singing, with a noise re- 

 sembling the sound of a distant saw-mill and they 

 floated in spiral columns like steam clouds above 

 the bastard palmettoes on the shore; water tur- 

 keys with snake-like necks were swimming in the 

 stream, while living rafts of ducks floated on the 

 smooth surface of the water just out of gun shot. 

 This was before the days when our fashionable 

 women had murdered all the white herons to fur- 

 nish "aigrettes" for their criminally ignorant heads 

 and the beautiful white egrets boldly displayed 

 their slender and graceful forms, their dazzling 

 white plumage making conspicuous spots in the 

 green marsh and on the dark mud banks. 



As my boat idly drifted with the tide the al- 

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