THE MANATEES: CAPTUEB. 127 



to the French or other Europeans they can take in their liberties, which has occasion'd manj 

 disputes and quarrels between them, as I shall observe hereafter. 



"That controversy was decided by the treaty of Utrecht, in the year 1713. The Fortttguese 

 some years since designing to settle on the west side of the Amazons, cruelly massacred many, whp 

 before used to go unmolested, and consequently mistrusting no danger. 



"The brigantines having got their lading of salted Manati, return to Cayenne, and sell it there, 

 commonly at three pence a pound."' 



"The flesh of the Manatee being much esteemed," writes Descourtlitz, in 1809, from his own 

 observations, "and its fat never becoming rancid, the negroes employ many means to destroy 

 them, sometimes by the use of nets, in the places where they feed, sometimes by shooting them 

 from canoes; more commonly they harpoon them when they are able to approach sufficiently 

 near, but as the animal, although seriously wounded, does not die immediately, they let out a cord 

 in order not to lose so precious a prey, which one sees reappear at the surface of the water, drowned 

 and lifeless."" 



Products pubnishbd by Manatees. — The Sirenians possess the quality, most fatal to 

 them, of furnishing palatable food for man. The lauge Sea-cow of Bering Sea disappeared from 

 this cause, and the Dugong, the Sirenian of the Indian Ocean, and the Manatees suffer not less on 

 the same account. For the Indian of South America the Manatee is a fund of wealth. On its 

 flesh he subsists, with its oil he anoints himself, from its skin he makes shields and cords, in its 

 bones he finds medicine. The early explorers werci not long in discovering its virtues. Herrara 

 gathers the fpUowing estimate of its importance from th«ir accounts of America: 



"The Taste of it is beyond Fish: when fresh it is like Veal, and salted like Tunny-Fish, but 

 better, and will keep longer: the Fat of it is sweet, and does not grow rusty. Leather for Shoes 

 is dress'd with it. The Stones it has in the head^ are good against the Pleurisy and the Stone."* 



Eochefort is not less impressed with the good qualities of the animal. He exclaims: "Among 

 all the fishes there is none having so good flesh as the Lamantin. Two or three of these beasts 

 will fill a large canoe, and the flesh is like that of a land animal, firm, pink and a])petizing, and 

 mixed with fat, which being rendered never becomes rancid. When it has been two or three days 

 in pickle, it is better for the health than when eaten entirely fresh." ^ He Also gives some very 

 good advice in regard to the use of the ear bones for medicine. "The superstitious," he says, "lay 

 great store by the stones which are found in the head, because they possess the power, they say, 

 when reduced to powder, to stop the formation of calcareous deposits, and to remove those already 

 formed; but, since the remedy is very violent, no one ought to use it without the advice of a wise 

 and experienced physician."^ 



Biet mentions the Manatee first in his list of the fishes [sic] of the He de Cayenne. Alluding 

 to the flesh, ho says: "It is very excellent, and although one may have other provisions, it will be 

 preferred to beef. Its fat, also, is as sweet as butter, and can be used to advantage in, all kinds of 

 pastry, fricasees, and soups."' 



Barbot seems to have summed up all that was known of the Manatee of South America up to 

 his time, earlyiu the eighteenth century, and quotes, also. Father Acuna, in a translation which, 



'Bakbot: Op.cit.,Tj}.56'.i. 



^DesCoukti.itz: Vovage d'un Natiiraliste, ii, 1809, p. 276. 



•■•The ear bones. 



■•Herraka: History of America, i, 1725, p.278. 



«Eochefokt: Nat. Histoire des lies Antilles, 2d ed., 1665, p. 195. 



*£oc. cit, p. 195. 



'Biet: Voyage eu I'lle de Cayenne, 1664, pp. 346, 347. 



