306 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 



never show themselves. Once only have I had the 

 pleasing experience of seeing a dugong raise its head 

 above the water. This was off the coast abreast of that 

 remarkable peak, Peter Botte, and at a distance of about 

 twelve miles from the shore. The animal remained 

 exposed to view about two minutes, but on the approach 

 of the boat it quickly dived out of sight. 



I have seen dugongs under the water on several 

 occasions, while I was making investigations in diver's 

 dress. It is remarkable that all sorts of fish, including 

 sharks, are afraid of a man in a diver's dress, but dugongs 

 are not. Frequently I have got so close to them that I 

 expected to be able to touch them, but they would not 

 permit this, swimming slowly away when I got close to 

 them. In all their actions they are slow and deliberate ; 

 and though, judging from their conformation, one would 

 expect that they could swim and turn in the water quite 

 as actively as a whale can do, this does not seem to be the 

 case. The flippers are powerfully formed, and so is the 

 tail ; yet the animal changes direction with a remarkably 

 sluggish motion, and floats along rather than swims. It 

 is certainly capable of moving faster, but, so far as I could 

 discover, only does so in short spurts on rare occasions, as 

 when it is frightened, or when the male is pursuing the 

 female. 



Dugongs do not seem to have any natural enemies. 

 Sharks do not attack them, and dugongs show no fear 

 of these ferocious creatures. I have seen thirty or forty 

 sharks cruising about amidst a small herd of dugongs, 

 but neither species of animal seemed to notice the other, 

 or try to avoid each other. 



The dugongs feed entirely on marine herbage, which 

 they gather and masticate beneath the surface of the 

 water, the jaws working with a peculiar motion, unlike 

 that of a land animal. They usually feed in companies of 

 about a dozen each, comprising animals of several ages and 

 sizes. If it is true that they ever assembled in large herds 

 of three, four, or five hundred head, that has long ceased 

 to be the case. I have never seen as many as twenty 



