Slater : Rodeigues, and its Fauna. 



3 



though it has been classed near the elepliant and hippotamiis. It is 

 shaped much like a seal ; its fore limbs are a sort of flippers, and its 

 hind limbs united into a sort of tail — not unlike that of a fish, but set 

 upon the body in a horizontal and not a perpendicular position. The 

 dugong, with its cousins the manatees (which are found on the American 

 coasts and on the west side, only, of Africa), are supposed to have given 

 rise to the fabulous sirens and mermaids. They are all harmless and 

 unwieldly animals, and are gradually becoming extinct under the 

 invariable persecution of man. One member of the family, the Rhytina, 

 or northern sea-cow, which inhabited Behring's Straits, is quite extinct, 

 the last having been killed in 17G8, only some twenty-five years after 

 the animal had been discovered to exist. 



The other mammals of Rodrigues are, the semi- wild cattle which I 

 have mentioned before, and the invariable brown rat and house mouse ; 

 rabbits exist on a small island ofif the coast, and afford the sojourner 

 in Rodrigues a pleasant change in diet from the usual goat. Lastly, 

 the Dutch, as they did everywhere, turned out when they first visited 

 the island, goats, pigs, and cats ; about the worst thing for scientific 

 posterity that tliey could have done, though they doubtless did it with 

 the best intentions, possibly, that any brother Dutchmen, who might 

 subsequently be wrecked there, might find plenty of food ; though, in 

 that case, why they liberated cats is not so clear, possibly that music 

 might not be wanting also. Of the effect of this proceeding, it is no 

 exaggeration to say, as the botanist of the expedition did say in his 

 report, that they have completely modified the original flora of the 

 island, and, it is next to certain, the fauna in great part also, to which 

 I shall have reason to refer further on. 



Wild goats are still not uncommon, though the natives have much 

 reduced them. Wild pigs, too, are much less common than they used to 

 be. We used to go in search of them now and then, and on one occasion 

 a rather ludicrous thing happened. I had been lucky enough both to 

 shoot a fine young sow, and to capture two of her litter (which, by the 

 way, after being fattened, were much appreciated by the ward-room 

 officers of H.^LS. Shearwater, to whom I gave them). Whilst we 

 were cutting up our pig, a native, attracted by the shot, came and 

 watched us ; so I gave him a bit of pork, and apparently, he went off 

 delighted. But a bright idea struck him afterwards, and he went off 

 to the Port and complained to the magistrate that I had shot his tame 

 pig, so, of course, he wanted dollars. Upon enquiry, however, he never 

 had had a tame pig. But I had to stand numberless jokes on the 

 subject from my friends, especially as some of them had gone after 

 pigs and found none. 



