THE SEA-COW OF STELLER. 403 



minutes, raise their heads from the water, and snort like a horse. When 

 the tide ebbs, they retire into the sea, but return as it rises, approaching 

 the land so closely that they can be struck from the shore. They have 

 no fear of man, and have little trace of intelligence, their most admirable 

 quality being their affection for each other, which is so great, that when 

 one was struck, the others tried to rescue it. Some formed a line, and 

 attempted to keep their wounded comrade from the shore ; others tried 

 to upset the jolly-boat, while others exerted themselves to knock the 

 harpoon out, a feat they accomplished successfully in several cases. We 

 observed that a male came for two days in succession to the shore where 

 his dead wife was lying, as if to ascertain her condition. They some- 

 times rest their heads on the land, leaving the body floating like a log on 

 the water. 



" They are found at all times of the year in great abundance around 

 Behring Island, and all the inhabitants of the East Coast of Kamtschatka 

 are thus supplied with plenty of meat and fat. The skin of the Sea-Cow 

 is peculiar ; the exterior layer is black or black-brown, an inch thick and 

 firm ; it consists of vertical fibres lying close to each other. This exte- 

 rior layer, which can be easily scaled off, seems to me to be formed of 

 hairs modified in an extraordinary manner. The inner skin is somewhat 

 thicker than a cow's, strong, and white in color. Beneath these two 

 skins the whole body is enveloped with a layer of fat four fingers deep, 

 then comes the flesh. The fat is not oily, but hard : and, after exposure 

 to the sun, becomes as yellow as the best butter ; the tail is a mere mass 

 of fat. The flesh of the calves is like veal, that of the old ones like beef; 

 it has the peculiar quality that it can remain, even in summer, exposed 

 to the open air for the space of two weeks without giving forth any bad 

 smell, although it may be covered with flies and maggots ; the flesh is 

 very red in color, almost as if it had been rubbed with saltpetre. It 

 was very nutritious, and soon banished the scurvy, from which some of 

 our men were suffering." 



We have given Steller's description at some length, as no other exists 

 or will ever be given, for, since the year 176S, no trace of this animal in 

 a living condition has ever been recorded. There can be no doubt, 

 however, that considerable numbers once existed ; and these have all 

 fallen a prey to the rapacity of the Aleutian fishermen, and hunters of the 

 sea-otter. 



Attracted by the reports of the Russian exploring expedition in 



