QUADRUPEDS. 
467 
tacea. The head is roundish ; the body oblong, 
and ends in an oval fish-like tail \ jaws are provid- 
ed with grinders, of which there are eight on 
each side, and both in the upper and lower jaws ; 
but there are neither canine nor fore-teeth. It 
has two swimming paws, provided with long nails, 
and the animal uses these paws as hands j hence 
its name manatus, which has been further cor- 
rupted into lamantin, another name given to these 
animals. The mammae are placed high on the 
breast, and in the female are roundish and pro- 
minent. It grows fifteen feet and more in length. 
These animals occasionally raise themselves more 
than half out of the water, when they appear 
somewhat like the human species, and have been 
described under the names merman and mermaid. 
They occur at the mouth of the Congo and other 
great rivers in Africa. Drawings and descrip- 
tions of the manatuSy under the names mermen 
and mermaids, are given in the writings of early 
writers, as in the Relation Historique de rEthio- 
pie Occidentale, par X. P. Labat, Tome /. 
Order 8. — Cetacea, 
Few species of the whale or cetaceous tribe are 
met with near the coasts of Africa 5 and it would 
appear that these animals, as well as seals, are less 
frequent in the warmer, than in the colder regions 
of the earth. 
