FISH OB FLESH 323 



but nevertheless one of the Manatee's family names is 

 Sii-enia, or Siren, which does not seem as suitable as Sea 

 Cow. No less a personage than Christopher Columbus 

 believed that these Manatees were mermaids, but con- 

 fessed himself disappointed in their beauty. In an ac- 

 count of his second voyage we read: 'The Admiral 

 [Columbus] affirmed he had seen thereabouts three 

 mermaids that raised themselves far above the water, 

 and that they are not as handsome as they are painted, 

 and that they wore something like a human face,' which 

 I believe is the first mention of our Sea Cow in history. 

 "The Manatee is slate-gray on top, with a few scat- 

 tered hairs ; the belly is whitish. Though it has only 

 fore limbs, in resting on the river bottom as is its custom, 

 it curves its tail fins to support its back, after the fashion 

 of legs, and balances by resting also on the tips of its 

 flippers. One or two calves are born each year, to 

 whom the Cow is most affectionate, being said even to 

 shed tears if she is separated from them. One would 

 think that there need be no fear of such a useful, harm- 

 less animal becoming extinct ; but man kills on water as 

 well as on land, and the Manatee, if it does not possess 

 the ' fatal gift of beauty,' has a gift that exposes him to 

 even greater danger from the half-wild people of his 

 haunts : he is wonderfully good eating, the meat being 

 compared by different people to young pig, veal, and 

 lamb. So it will not be long before we shall have to 

 say 'good day' to the Manatee. He may change his 

 skin, as he does every year ; men will not change their 

 habits, but keep on killing the geese that lay the golden 

 eggs, like the people in the fairy story." 



