THE MANATEE. 343 



watched, it seems to be the front side of the tube 

 itself elevated by muscular action to close, and de- 

 pressed to open, the nostril.* 



The small eyes are deeply sunk, and hidden be- 

 neath projecting eyebrows : I could not see any 

 eyelids or lashes. The region around and beneath 

 these organs was maintained in a constant state of 

 vetness, by the exudation of tears. 



A slight depression down the mesial line of the 

 lack marks the course of the spine. The swimming- 

 pws are little indeed like hands, and the nails could 

 n«t have been detected, if they had not been looked 

 fo* : they are broad, rough, and black, and are 

 diitinguished from the skin of the foot only by a 

 degression around their bases : that is, as in the 

 hunan nails, the base is lower than the surrounding 

 fleii. I could find only three on each paw. I 

 should much doubt the derivation of Manatee," or 

 as the negroes call it, " Manantee, from manatus, 

 harded. If these were indeed the " mermaids" seen 

 by Columbus off the mouth of the Yaqui in Haiti, 

 he might well say that they were by no means the 

 bemtiful beings that they had been represented, 

 even though viewed under the influence of that 

 couleur de rose, which his excited imagination was 

 then casting upon every thing he saw. 



The animal allowed itself to be dragged about, 



* Looking at the Hippopotamus in the Zoological Gardens, I was 

 lately struck with its mode of breathing, while in the water. The 

 periodical and sudden opening of the valvular nostrils, and the ex- 

 plosive emission of the air, forcibly recalled to my memory the 

 Manatee of Jamaica. 



Q 4 



