THE ROUND-TAILED MANATI. l^Q 



We are told that this species of Manati is often 

 tamed by the native inhabitants of America, and 

 that it delights in music. A governor of Nicaragua 

 is said to have kept one of them in a lake near his 

 house, for six-and-twenty years. The animal was 

 usually fed with breads and fragments of victuals, 

 as fish are fed in a pond. He became so familiar, 

 that in tameness and docility he nearly equalled 

 what has been said by the ancients of their 

 Dolphin. The domestics gave him the name of 

 Matto ; and when any of them came at the regular 

 hour to feed him, and called him by his name, he 

 would come immediately to the shore, take victuals 

 out of their hands, and, (though contrary to what is 

 generally said of these creatures) even crawl ip to 

 the house to receive it. Here he would play with 

 the servants and children ; and according to the 

 wirter of the account has even been known to carry 

 persons across the lake on his back *. From cir- 

 cumstances similar to these, some authors have 

 imagined tiiis to be the Dolphin of the ancients ; 

 and others believe that what has been written re- 

 pecting Mermaids and Syrens, should be referred to 

 this animal. 



The flesh and fat of the Round-tailed Manati 

 are very white, sweer, and salubrious. The young 

 are extremely tender and delicious. The thicker 

 parts of the skin, cut into slips, and dried, be- 

 come very tough, and are used for whips. The 

 thinner parts, which are more pliimt, se-ve the 



* Parsons (from Peter Martyr), ia Phil. Trail, vol. 47. p. 109. 



