NOTES AND QUERIES. 33 



her bleats of complaint, as well as the appeal in her eyes, have affected 

 the fishermen's nerves. Natives of the Malay Islands make a de- 

 coction of Dugong juices, which they term " Dugong's tears," and 

 sell as love charms, thus indicating a Malay belief in the tenderness 

 of the animal's affection. Thirty years ago Queensland looked to the 

 Dugong as a coming source of national wealth. Great herds of them 

 abounded in the waters off the northern coast, and occasionally spread 

 as far down as Moreton Bay. Fisheries were established on a con- 

 siderable scale. Companies for boiling down and canning Dugong 

 were started at Wilde Bay and Hervey's Bay under encouraging 

 auspices, but through a number of preventible causes the industry 

 was allowed to languish. Dugong bacon may be purchased in a few 

 shops along the Queensland coast. The blacks like it, and when 

 prepared in a fashion of their own the Chinese are fond of it. The 

 fresh meat, roasted or grilled, is acceptable to most men if they are 

 hungry. It tastes like pork, but with a fishy flavour. Of course the 

 way it is prepared has a lot to do with its acceptableness as food. 

 Many people along the coast, when Dugong was commonly sold, 

 have eaten it for pork without suspicion. The common method of 

 preparation is to fry it in its own oil or salt, and preserve it as hams 

 or bacon. The curative properties of the oil were first brought before 

 the world about the year 1855. The therapeutic effects were glow- 

 ingly described. The oil was classed as "emollient and solvent." Dr. 

 Hobbs, Health Officer at Moreton Bay, wrote : — " In its pure state 

 it may be taken into the most sensitive stomach. It is sweet and 

 palatable. As a restorative remedy it may be taken as food, and 

 many ounces consumed almost imperceptibly every day, thus furnish- 

 ing the system with the requisite amount of carbon for its daily 

 oxidation." He and other Queensland medical men employed it in 

 practice, and for a time all Australia regarded it as a medical boon. 

 Fishing stations were formed at St. Helena ; samples of oil and meat 

 were sent abroad, and medals and other recognitions won at various 

 exhibitions. Extract of Dugong is sold at present by Sydney chemists 

 in the forms of oil, lard, and ointment, and a London West End 

 physician is now using the oil in his practice. — The London Coeee- 



SPONDENT OF THE ' NoETH QUEENSLAND HEEALD ' (70 A, Basinghall 



Street, E.C.). 



AVE S. 



Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) in Hants. — Several intelligent ob- 

 servers have met with these birds recently (December, 1909) on the 

 south side of the New Forest. — J. E. Kelsall (New Milton, Hants). 

 Zool. 4th ser. voi. XIV., January, 1910. p 



