HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



83 



flrength, and fwiftnefs, are well known. It has two, 

 three, and fometimes more rows of ftiarp ftrong teeth, 

 and fwallows whatever is thrown to it whether eatable 

 or not. A whole flieep's ikin, and even a large butcher's 

 knife, has been found in its belly. This fifh frequently 

 accompanies veflels, and by Oviedo's account there have 

 been Tiburones, which have kept up with a vefTel in 

 full fail with a fair wind, for five hundred miles, and 

 often fwimming round the fliip to catch any filth that 

 was thrown from it. 



The Mamti or Lamenting as it is called by fome, is a 

 larger fifh than the Tiburon^ and of a very different dif- 

 pofition. Ovicdo fays, that Manatis have been caught 

 of fuch a fize as to require a cart with two pair of oxen 

 to draw them. It is like the Tiburon viviparous, but 

 the female brings only one young one at a time, which, 

 however, is of a great fize (r). The flefli of this ani- 

 mal is dehcate, and fomething like veal. Some authors 

 place the Manati in the clafs of amphibious animals, but 

 improperly, as it is never upon land ; but only raifes its 

 head, and a part of its body, out of the water, to broufe 

 upon the herbage which grows along the banks of the 

 rivers (j). 



The 



(r) Buffon agrees with Hernandez in faying that the Manati brings but one 

 young one at a time ; but other perfons affirm that ftie brings two. Perhaps 

 the fame thing takes place with the Manati as with the human fpecies ; which is 

 commonly to have only one, but fometimes to have two or more. Hernandez 

 defcribes the copulation of thefe animals in thefe words : Humano more coit, fce- 

 mina fupina fere tota in littore procumbentsy et celeritate quadam fuperwniente mare. 

 We do not with fome modern naturalxfts rank the Manati among quadrupeds, 

 although it is viviparous ; becaufe every one by the name of quadruped under- 

 ftands an animal with four feet, but the Manati has only two, and thefe imper- 

 fedly formed. 



(j) Mr. de la Condamine confirm^ our obfervation with refpedl to the Ma- 

 nati's living conftantly in waller, ^d the fame thing had been faid two centu- 

 ries 



