A GREAT NOSE 135 



The oil from the fat is free from that rancid 

 odor common to most animal oils, and is held in 

 high esteem. The flesh is edible, and pronounced 

 by Humboldt and others, sweet and palatable. 

 When salted and sun-dried it will keep for a year 

 or more. By Catholics it is considered fish, and 

 eaten by them on fast days. 



The true manatees are confined to the Atlantic 

 side of America. The largest species is found in the 

 United States upon the Florida coast; a smaller 

 kind inhabits some of the rivers in South America. 



The manatee is placed by Cuvier among the 

 cetaceans (whales), but Prof. Agassiz compared 

 the skull of one with that of the mastodon and 

 with that of the elephant, and in a discourse before 

 the American Society for the Advancement of 

 Science, over a very perfect skeleton, he proved 

 that Cuvier was wrong in many of his statements 

 regarding the anatomy of the manatee, and ended 

 by pronouncing it an embryo type of the thick- 

 skinned animals, such as the elephant, hippopota- 

 mus, etc. 



By domesticating and rearing Florida sea-cows 

 for the market there is an opportunity for some 

 people of wealth to find occupation and win fame 

 far more lasting than that gained by society notices 

 in the newspapers. It is possible that they could 

 save from extinction a very valuable food animal 

 and benefit humanity by adding a new and valuable 

 domestic animal to its lists. Just think what fun 

 it would be ! 



