52 MARINE AND AQUATIC TRESPASSERS. 



order to keep the whales from being drowned during 

 their long sojourn beneath the water. 



Such are the general characteristics of these re- 

 markable animals, and it only remains to give examples 

 of them. 



The first is the Dugong, which is represented in 

 the lower part of the illustration on Cut 2. There 

 are several species of this animal, the longest being 

 known to reach the length of twenty- six feet, though 

 the average length is only about eight feet. These 

 animals are found in the rivers that run into the Indian 

 seas, where they may be seen in numbers, feeding on 

 the algae at the bottom of the river, and every now and 

 then coming to the surface to breathe. When feeding, 

 the Dugong has been observed to seize the plants with 

 its singularly shaped jaws, the upper of which con- 

 siderably overhangs the lower, drag them from their 

 attachments, and then quietly eat them at the surface 

 of the water. In consequence of the general structure 

 and the vegetable-feeding habits, some zoologists have 

 considered the Siren as the aquatic type of the pachy- 

 dermatous animals. 



The natives of Australasia prize the Dugong almost 

 beyond the power of expression. They use the layer 

 of fat which lies just under the skin as a cosmetic, 

 with which they plentifully besmear the whole of their 

 bodies. As to the flesh, it is perhaps the greatest 

 dainty which an Australian savage knows. He will 

 make a journey of several days in order to partake of 

 it, caring very little whether the meat be fresh or far 

 gone in putrefaction ; and, after every available 

 morsel has been eaten, his memory always recalls him 



