SOME SOUTH AMERICAN FISHES 153 



is obvious how superabundant fish life must be 

 in the splendidly watered regions of Brazil, and 

 how hopeless would be an attempt to describe in 

 a solitary chapter more than a small percentage 

 of the best known specimens. 



In almost every river, the fish range in size 

 from gigantic porpoises thirty-five feet long, and 

 manatees (cow-fish) from eight to seventeen feet 

 long — mammals that never leave the water ' — to 

 sardines, and fish no bigger than a stickleback. 

 The latter in certain localities furiously attack any 

 one bathing, biting the flesh with their needle-like 

 teeth ; so that where they exist in hundreds, to 

 bathe is to court death by phlebotomy. 



The manatee is an extraordinary-looking 

 creature with two small fins near the head, 

 between which, underneath, are the female's udders. 

 It has very small eyes and minute ear-holes. Its 

 body is columnar, its neckless head a mere sausage 

 end, and its skin lead colour, hard, and very 

 thick ; nevertheless it is generally harpooned. 

 The Portuguese call the female the peixe-boi, or 

 cow-fish, because of the udders, it being in no 

 other respect like that highly respectable milk- 

 giver. Its flesh is much sought after by the 

 Indians, and resembles coarse pork, but the fat 

 Which is the reason I have included (hem in this work. 



