WHALE -TAILED MANATI. tj^ 



The weight of a large one is eight thoufand pounds. Weight. 



Inhabits the i\\orcs o{ Berhig's znd the other iflands which inter- Place. 



vene between the two continents. They never appear off Kamtfchatka, 

 vinlefs blown afhore by tempefts, as they fometimes are about the 

 bay o{ Awatfcha. The natives ftyle them Kapujlnik, or cabbage- 

 eaters, from their food. This genus has not been difcovered in any 

 other part of the northern hemifphere. That which inhabits the 

 eaftern fide of South America, and fome part of Africa, is of a dif- 

 ferent fpecies. For the latter I can teftify, from having feen one 

 from Senegal. Its body was quite fmooth ; its tail fwelled out in 

 the middle, and Hoped towards the end, which was rounded *. To 

 fupport my other opinion, I can call in the faithful Dampier ; who 

 defcribes the body as perfeftly fmooth f : had it that ftriking inte- 

 gument which the fpecies in queftion has, it could not have elcaped 

 his notice. Let me alfo add, that the fize of thofe which that able 

 feaman obferved, did not exceed ten or twelve feet ; nor the weight 

 X)f the largeft reach that of twelve hundred pounds J. 



I fufpeft that this -fpecies extends to Mindanao, for one kind is cer- 

 tainly found there ||. It is met with much farther fouth ; for I dif- 

 cover, in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks, a flcetch of one taken 

 near Diego Rodriguez, vulgarly called Diego Rais, an ide to the ealt of 

 Mauritius ; and it may poflibly have found its way through fome 

 northern inlet to the feas of Greenland -, for Mr. Fabricius once dif- 

 covered in that country the head of one, half confumed, with teeth 

 €xa£bly agreeing with thofe of this fpecies §. 



Thefe animals frequent the fhallow and fandy parts of the flaores. Manners, 

 and near the mouths of the fmall rivers of the ifland of Bering, feem- 

 ingly pleafed with the fweet water. They go in herds : the old keep 

 behind and drive their young before them : and fome keep on 

 their fides, by way of prote6lion. On the rifing of the tide they 



* A figure of this fpecies is given in De Buffon, xii. tab. Ivii. and in Scbrebsr, ii. 

 tab. Ixxx. 



t ^y« >• 33' t Ibi^' II Dampier, i. 321. § F»un. Greenl. p. 6. 



A a 2 approach 



