238 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS L MAMMALIA. 



tlie .same manner as a cow browses in a meadow. Sir Tlionias remarks that 

 its fiesli utiiirded nmeii satisfaction on the taljle, as it pro\ed to be most 

 excellent beet'. The natives of Sumatra assert that it never frequents the 

 hind or the fresh water, but hjves best to roam and feed in the shallows of 

 the sea, where the water is only two or three fathoms deep. DiU'ini;' a six 

 months' possession of Singapore by the Englisli, our author observes that 

 only four of tliese animals were taken ; but the greatest number is said to be 

 cauglit during the northern monsoon, near the mouth of the Johorc liiver, 

 where the sea is the calmest. They are usually taken l.)y sjiearing at night, 

 when the animals announce their approach by the j)cculiar snuffling noise 

 which tliey make at the surface of the water. The hunters first seize and 

 ele\ate tiic tail, thereby rendering the animal utterly powerless. They are 

 seldom caught above eight or nine feet in length ; the larger ones, by their 

 sujjcrior strength, invariably escape when attacked. 



The Malavscall the duLTOuQ' a roval fish, and the kin"- claims all th.at arc 

 taken. The affection of the mother for its young is as strikingly manifested 

 as in the other genera oC this family; and this peculiar habit appears to have 

 made a di-c[i in)pression upim the imagination of the jNIalays, who often 

 allude to the animal as an example of maternal \irtue and aii'cction. If a 

 young one is taken, the mother yields with little or no resistance. The cry 

 of the young is short and sharp, and frcrpiently repeated. It will shed 

 tears like the seals. These tears the pcojile carefully jirescr\e as a charm, 

 the possession of which is supposed to secure the affection of those to whom 

 tliey are attached, in the same manner as they attract the mother to her 

 young — a beautiful idea, and eminently poetical. 



Family II. TnK Ti;i;k Cetacea. No creatures which Ciod has made are 

 more calculated to excite our wonder and awe, as well as admiration, than 

 the whales, those gigantic inliabitants of the deep, whose size far surpasses 

 that of any other known animal, either of the land or sea, and who£:e entire 

 organization is so beautifullv and perfectlv adapted to the element where 

 they ha\e their existence. They arc Manunalians, and in their anatomical 

 and physiological structure somewhat resemble man ; ^ct as their home is 

 wholly in the ocean, they must have some peculiar adaptations to that mode 

 of life. They respire through lungs, and are obliged to come to the surface 

 to In'cathc ; but Nature has provided them with a curious organ, which 

 enables some of the larger species to remain imder the water one and e\en 

 two hoiu's without suffering any inconvenience. This j)cculiar structure, 

 which was lir.'-t i)ointcd out by the celebrated John Hunter, is a grand n'ser- 

 voir of arterial blood, lining a large p(jrti(in of the interior of the chest, 

 deriving its supply of the vital fluid from the vessels near the heart, and 



