120 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



ness. The Feet are round, and have four Claws on each of them. The Females bring forth like 

 the Cows, and have two Dugs to give suck. . . . Sometimes they are taken ashore, grazing 

 near the Sea, or Elvers, and when young they are taken with Nets." 1 



Then follows the oft repeated story of the tame Manatee of the Cazique Carametex: 



"Thus the Cazique Carametex took one, and fed it twenty six Years in a Pond, and it grew 

 sensible and tame, and would come when eall'd by the name of Mato, which signifies Noble. It 

 would eat whatsoever was given it by Hand, and went out of the Water to feed in the House, 

 would play with the Boys, let them get upon him, was pleas'd with Musick, carry'd Men over the 

 Pool, and took up ten at a Time, without any Difficulty." 2 



FATHEK ACUNA UPON THE " PEGEBX'EY." In the fourth decade of the succeeding century 

 Father Acuna, in narrating his adventures on the Amazon River, makes mention of the South 

 American Manatee somewhat at length. Au-ong other things he says: "But above all, the fish, 

 that like a king lords it over all the others, and which inhabits this river from its sources to its 

 mouth, is the Pegebuey (Fish Ox), a fish which when tasted only can retain the name, for no one 

 could distinguish it from well-seasoned meat. It is large as a calf a year and a half old, but on its 

 head it has neither ears nor horns. . . . This fish supports itself solely on the herbage on 

 which it browses, as if in reality a bullock; and from this circumstance the flesh derives so good 

 a flavour, and is so nutritious, that a small quantity leaves a person better satisfied and more 

 vigorous than if he had eaten double the amount of mutton. It cannot keep its breath long 

 under water; and thus, as it goes along, it rises up every now and then to obtain more air, when 

 it meets with total destruction the moment it comes in sight of its enemy." 3 



ROCIIEFORT UPON THE HABITS OF THE ANTILLEAN MANATEE. After Oviedo, Gotnara, and 

 Acuna no one seems to have added any new facts, or supposably new facts, to the history of the 

 habits of the Manatees until Hernandez and Rocbefort published their narratives. The work of 

 the former I have not had at ( ommand, but from F. Cuvier's notes it would seem that it contains 

 nothing of importance. Rocbefort, the second edition of whose work on the Antilles was pub- 

 lished in ]665, gives the following information: "This fish 1'eeds upon plants which it collects 

 about the rocks and on the shallows which are not covered with more than a fathom (brasxe) of 

 water. The females breed at the same season as do cows, and have two mammae with which they 

 suckle their young. Two calves are born at a birth, which are not adaudoned by the mother until 

 they have no more need of special nourishment, or until they can browse upon plants like the 

 mother." 4 



15. BIET'S AND Du TERTRE'S ACCOUNTS. Biet repeats these observations, although it is to 

 be believed independently, saying that the Manatee roams about the shores near the sea browsing 

 on the plants which grow there. 5 



Du Tertre in effect repeats the little that his predecessors have laid down, but adds some 

 additional observations which are interesting if sufficiently substantiated. "The food of this 

 fish," he says, " is a little plant which grows in the sea, and on this it browses after the manner of 

 an ox. After being filled with this food it seeks the fresh-water streams, where it drinks and 

 bathes twice a day. Having eaten and been refreshed it goes to sleep (Jen dart) with its snout 

 half out of water, a sign by which its presence is recognized by the fishers from afar." 6 



(STEVENS): His'ory of Anieiicu, i, 1/25, p. 27H. 

 "IlKKKARA (STEVENS): History of America, i, 1725, p. 279. 



'ClIRISTOVAL BE AcuS* : River of the Amazons 1041, pp. 68-91). (Hakluyt Society.) 

 4 RocilKKOi:T: HiHtoiro cles lies Antilles, 2<1 cd., 1665, pp. 194, 195. 

 *BiET: Voyage en I'Islo <le Cayenne, 1GG4, p. 346. 

 Du TEHTHE : Hint, gdne'ralo <les Antilles, 1667, p. 200. 



