GENERAL HABITS OF DUGONG 307 



together ; and though it is rare to meet with a solitary 

 dugong, parties of no more than four or five in number 

 are frequently met with, while at the present day a herd 

 of fifteen or sixteen is a large one. The sexes are termed 

 bulls and cows by the harpooners (mostly old whalers), 

 and the young are calves, and all ages, sexes, and conditions 

 have been captured, with the result that the " fishing," 

 as it is called, is no longer profitable as a distinct calling, 

 and the dugong is in danger of extinction in Australian 

 waters. Fishermen now capture the few they accidentally 

 meet with, the blubber of dugongs fetching a much higher 

 price in the market than that of whales. 



The dugong is full of blood and tenacious of life, but is 

 of such a gentle and harmless disposition that it never 

 makes the slightest resistance to its captors, and only 

 devotes its energy to a fruitless effort to escape. Owing 

 to its inactivity, it is captured with great ease ; and its 

 numbers are now so reduced that it is but seldom seen 

 even by those whose interest it is to keep a watch for it. 



The female dugong seems to never have more than 

 one young one at a birth. This clings to her breast by 

 means of its flippers, but depends mostly for support on 

 those of the mother. She supports it with one flipper, 

 except, I am told, at such times as she partially rises 

 out of the water, -when she clasps it with both. She 

 never abandons her young one ; and when pursued and 

 obliged to exert herself to escape, she holds the calf with 

 one flipper, and swims with one and her tail. Even thus 

 handicapped she contrives to retreat faster than does the 

 unhampered male. 



I believe that dugongs ruminate. They remain 

 quiescent for hours at a time, floating about eight or nine 

 feet below the surface of the water, and not more than 

 two or three from the bottom. Here they just move, 

 like a water-logged cask, and no more ; and a slight 

 movement of the throat is perceptible ; but whether this 

 arises from the exertion of breathing, or from the action 

 of chewing, I cannot state with certainty. I, however, 

 strongly believe that it arises from the latter action. 1 



