EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 175 



he never had feen before, and whom he conftantly called CHAF, 

 Torica, which in his language fignifies the devil. 1 . 



About this time a dead fea-cow, or manatee, by the 

 French called Lamantin, floating paft Jerufalem, the ne- 

 gro flaves fell upon it, like fo many crows upon a car- 

 rion, fwimming round it, fome with a rufty knife, fome 

 with a bill-hook, and each carrying off a flice for his 

 dinner; atlaft they dragged the linking animal on fliorej, 

 of which I inftantly took a drawing. This manatee was 

 exadlly fixteen feet long, almoft fhapelefs, being an enor- 

 mous lump of fat, tapering backwards to a flefhy, broad, 

 horizontal tail. It had a thick round head, a flattifli fnout, 

 large noftrils, with ftrong briftles both on its nofe and 

 chin, fmall eyes, and auditory holes inftead of ears. In- 

 ftead of feet, it had two excrefcences or flefhy fins, like 

 thofe of the fea-tnrtle, proje6ling near its head ; with 

 thefe it fwims, and moves awkwardly to eat the grafs oil 

 the banks of the rivers, being an amphibious animaL 

 The colour was a greenifli black ; the fkin was hard and 

 uneven, covered with large knobs, circular wrinkles, and 

 with a very few ftifi hairs thinly fcattered. It had 

 grinders but no fore-teeth, and a very lliort tongue. 

 The fea-cow or manatee is, like the whale, a viviparous 

 animal, the female fuckling its young by the help of its 

 fwimmers. They are very numerous in the river Ama- 

 zons; their flelh, it is faid, refembles veal, and is very good 

 food. This was, however, too far advanced in a ftate of 

 putridity, for me to tafte it. It had the marks of being 



twice 



