24 CAPTUEE OF THE DUGONG. 



Another favourite article of food is the dugon^, 

 {Halicore Australis) of which a few are killed every 

 year. Althoug-h it extends along- the east coast of 

 Australia from Moreton Bay to Cape York^ it 

 appears to be nowhere very common. About Cape 

 York and Endeavour Strait, the dug-ong- is most 

 frequently seen during- the rainy season, at which 

 time it is said by the natives to bring; forth its 

 young-. When one is observed feeding' close 

 inshore* chase is made after it in a canoe. One of 

 the men standing- up in the bow is provided with a 

 pecuhar instrument used solely for the capture of 

 the animal in question. It consists of a slender peg- 

 of bone, four inches long, barbed all round, and 

 loosely slipped into the heavy, rounded, and flattened 

 head of a pole, fifteen or sixteen feet in length ; a 

 long rope an inch in thickness, made of the twisted 

 stems of some creeping plant, is made fast to the peg 

 at one end, while the other is secured to the canoe. 

 When within distance, the bowman leaps out, strikes 

 the dug-ong, and returns to the canoe with the shaft 

 in his hand. On being struck, the animal dives, 

 carrying- out the Hue, but generally rises to the 

 surface and dies in a few minutes, not requiring- a 

 second wound, a circumstance surprising in the case 

 of a cetaceous animal, six or eight feet in length, 

 and of proportionate bulk. The carcass is towed on 



* A slender, branchless, cylindrical, articulated sea weed, of a 

 very pale green colour, was pointed out to me by a native as 

 being the favourite food of the dugong. 



