634 



that kind hospitality, which we had already 

 enjoyed on our first passage. The sky was little 

 favourable for astronomical observations ; we 

 had obtained some new ones in the two Great 

 Cataracts ; but thence, as far as the mouth of the 

 Apure, we were obliged to renounce the attempt. 

 Mr. Bonpland had the satisfaction at Carichana 

 of dissecting a manatee more than nine feet 

 long. It was a female, the flesh of which ap- 

 peared to us not unsavoury. I have spoken in 

 another place of the manner of catching this her- 

 bivorous cetacea *. The Piraoas, some families 

 of whom inhabit the mission of Carichana, detest 

 this animal to such a degree, that they hid them- 

 selves, to avoid being obliged to touch it, when 

 it was conveying to our hut. They said, " that 

 the people of their tribe die infallibly, when they 

 eat of it." This prejudice is the more singular, 

 as the neighbours of the Piraoas, the Guamoes 

 and the Otomacs, are very fond of the flesh of 

 the manatee. We shall soon see, that the flesh 

 of the crocodile is also an object of horror to 

 some tribes, and of predilection to others. 



The island of Cuba furnishes a fact little 

 known in the history of the manatee. South of 

 the port of Xagua, several miles from the coast, 

 there are springs of fresh water in the middle of 

 the sea. They are supposed to be owing to a 



* See vol. iv, cbap. 18, p. 447. 



