THE SEA COW 235 



from beef; but it has this remarkable property ^^^ that, even in 

 the hottest summer months and in the open air, it will keep for 

 two full weeks and even longer without becoming offensive, in 

 spite of its being so defiled by the blowflies as to be covered with 

 worms all over. This property of the meat would seem to be 

 attributable in part to the diet of the animal. It also has a much 

 deeper red color than the meat of all other animals and almost 

 looks as if it had been reddened by saltpeter.^^^ All of us who had 

 partaken of it soon found out what a salutary food it was, as we 

 soon felt a marked improvement in strength and health; this 

 was the experience especially of those among the sailors who until 

 then had constant relapses of scurvy 1^° and who until that time 

 had not been able to recover. With this sea cow meat we also 

 provisioned our vessel for the voyage — [a problem] that we 

 surely should not otherwise have known how to solve. ^^^ 



With regard to the internal structure of this wonderful creature 

 I refer the interested reader to my elaborate description of the 

 sea cow.1^2 Here I will only note briefly that the heart of this 

 animal is, contrary to the usual order, divided or double ^^^ 

 and that the pericardium does not surround it directly but forms 

 a distinct cavity; furthermore, that the lungs are enclosed in a 



16S Instead of "but it has this remarkable property" the MS reads: 

 "and it differs from the meat of all land and sea animals by this remark- 

 able property," etc. 



169 The equivalent of these two sentences reads in the MS: " I attribute 

 this to the diet of [sea]weeds and the saltpeter salt commonly incor- 

 porated in them, from which also the meat itself acquires a more reddish 

 color than the meat of land animals and carnivorous sea animals." 



1^0 "of scurvy" is not in the MS. 



I'l This sentence reads in the MS: "On this account the doubts were 

 now also dismissed as to the kind of provisions with which we were to 

 go to sea; through sea animals it pleased God to strengthen us who had 

 come to grief through the sea." 



1" Of the section of "De bestiis marinis" devoted to the sea cow (see 

 above, p. 226, footnote 135), pp. 309-318 deal with its internal structure 

 (German edition, pp. 71-88; English translation, pp. 190-195). 



1" Instead of "divided or double" the MS reads "divided into two 

 parts and consequently double." 



