52 



Halicoke DuGOifG, Illiger. The Dugong. 



Synonyms — Tricheclius Durionrj, Q-melin, Pucheran, &c. 

 Indian Walrus, Pennant. 

 Bugong, Raffles, Home, Knox, &c. 

 Salicore Bugong, Gray, S. & W., 1866, p. 361. 

 Sea-pig of Moreton Bay, Captain Sidney. 

 Yangan, or Yung-im, Natives' of North Australia. 



The Dugong may be considered to be a tropical animal, although it 

 is frequently seen in the waters of Moreton Bay, which would place it 

 slightly without the verge of this prescribed limit. Its natural home, 

 however, is in that extensive area embraced within both tropics, from 

 the eastern coasts of Africa to those of Queensland. This vast range 

 includes the Mauritius, Ceylon, the Bay of Bengal, the islands of the 

 Indian Archipelago, and the northern coasts of New Holland, from the 

 Barrow Reefs on the west round to Moreton Bay on the east. 



But in these localities, it is only the shallow waters of unruffled 

 inlets and creeks, the sheltered mouths of rivers, the bays and the 

 straits between proximate islands, that afford the necessary quiet, and 

 the abundant submersed marine aliment essential for a permanent 

 residence. In such resorts the dugongs were formerly exceedingly 

 plentiful, herding together in large numbers, and peacefully feeding 

 like so many sheep on the seaweed, at depths of from six to twenty 

 feet. They were at such times so far from being shy that, when rising 

 at intervals to breathe, or drowsily basking on the surface, they allowed 

 themselves to be handled,^ so that the smaller and fatter ones were 

 selected for food, and then shot at the end of the musket, or " laid hold 

 of and forced on shore." 



The natives of Sumatra, according to Sir Stamford Raffles, assert 

 that the dugongs are never found on land or in fresh water, and their 

 presence in shallows of the sea is at night-time ascertained by the 

 snuffling noise they make at the surface. The Arabs also state of the 

 dugong of the Red Sea° that they have feeble voices.^ 



Respecting these faculties, I have made many enquiries from well- 

 informed persons, and the replies obtained confirm the truthfulness 

 of the foregoing observations, at least when applied to the Australian 

 animal. Hence, I cannot but think that the voice of the dugong 

 scarcely exceeds the feeble lowing of the whale, and is not deep and 

 hoarse as that of the larger seals, and that the fleshy front limbs of 

 inadequate strength, the entire absence of hinder ones, and great 

 unwieldiness of frame, substantiate the fact that this animal has not the 



^ Leguat, Penny CyclopEedia — Whales ; oonfirrued by Mr. Edward Hill, who for, 

 some time studied the habits of the dugong in the liying state in Northern Australia. 

 See also, in page 79, Steller's description of tlie Ehytina of the Arctic Seas. 



^ " This is probably the same as the dugong from India and Australia." — Gray, 

 S. & W., 1866, p. 365. 



^ Biippell. 



