132 NATURAL HISTOEY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



hastened out to the herd. The striker stood in the prow, held the harpoon in his hand, and, as 

 soon as he was near enough to strike the animal from the boat, hurled his weapon. As soon as 

 this was done thirty men standing on the shore, seizing the other extremity of the rope, held the 

 animal, and in spite of his desperate efforts to resist drew him with great labor toward the shore. 

 Those who wree in the boat re-enforced themselves with another rope and wearied the animal with 

 repeated blows until, exhausted and quiet, he was dispatched with dirks, knives, and various 

 weapons, and was drawn to the shore. Some cut great pieces from the living animal. All that the 

 animal did was violently to move his tail and struggle so with his fore limbs that often great pieces of 

 the skin split off. He breathed heavily, and as with a groan. From his wounded back the blood 

 was Ihrown in a spray high up after the manner of a spouting fountain. As long as the head was 

 hidden under the water the blood did not flow, but as soon as he raised his head and breathed the 

 blood gushed out. The reason for this is that the lungs, situated on the back, were wounded first, 

 and as often as these were afterward filled with air they increased the strength of the flow of blood. 

 From this phenomenon I almost came to the conclusion that the circulation of the blood in this 

 animal, as in the seal, is completed in a twofold manner in the open air through the lungs, but 

 under water through an oval aperture (foramen ovale) and arterial duct, though I did not find 

 both. But that they at the same time respire in a different way from fishes I think happens on 

 account of the deglutition of solid food rather than because of a forward-moving circulation. 



"The full-grown and very large animals are captured more easily than the calves, because the 

 calves move with a far more violent motion ; and though the harpoon remains intact, yet when the 

 skin is broken they easily escape, a thing which is repeatedly attempted. 



"But if an animal captured by the harpoon begins to move quite violently, those near or in a 

 neighboring herd are frequently stirred and are aroused to bear aid to the captive. On account of 

 this, sometimes they attempt to overturn the boat with their backs, sometimes they fall upon the 

 rope and strive to break it, or, by the vibration of the tail, labor to extract the harpoon from the 

 back of the wounded animal, which oftentimes they attempt not without success. It is a most 

 curious proof of their disposition and conjugal affection that when the female has been taken and 

 drawn in with the harpoon, the male, after he has attempted her liberation with all his strength, 

 but in vain, and lias been struck many blows by us, none the less will follow her even to the shore, 

 and sometimes unexpectedly and suddenly will approach her when she is already dead. On the 

 next day at early dawn when we came to cut the flesh in pieces and carry it home we have found 

 the male still standing near his female, and I have even seen this on the third day when I 

 approached alone for the sake of examining the intestines. 



"As regards voice, the animal is mute and does not give forth any sound, but only breathes 

 heavily, and when wounded sighs. 



"How much power lies in his eyes and ears I dare not affirm, but frequently he sees and 

 hears very little for the reason that he keeps the head continually under water; nay, the animal 

 himself seems to neglect and despise the use of these organs. Among all who have written con- 

 cerning Sea cows, 1 no one has produced a more full and careful account than the most curious and 

 diligent Captain Dampier in the narrative of his travels published in London in 1702. As I read 

 his account, nothing seemed to me to be worthy of censure, although some few things did not agree 

 with our animal. For he says that two species of Sea cow exist, one of which has stronger eyes 

 than ears and the other stronger ears than vision. What he says concerning the hunting of this 

 animal, namely, that the Americans approach it without any noise or talking lest the Sea-cow flee, 



'The allusions to the "Sea-cow" in this paragraph relate to the American and African Manatees. Steller at this 

 time seems to have regarded both these and the Rhytinia as forming but a single species. 



