OF CORNWALL. 285 
tlie oil and fat which their bodies afford. It is fuppofed that the 
fabulous relations of mermaids and mermen might firfl: arife from 
obferving this creature at fea in an eredt human-like pofture ; for 
whether it is delighted with muflc or any loud voice, as Mr. Carew 
fays, (page 35) or whether it is to alleviate the toil of fwimming, 
it fhews itfelf almoft wholly above water frequently, and near the 
fhore, ibid. Add to this that the great docility of this creature 
(little fhort of that of the human fipecies J, and his being fo eafily 
trained to be familiar with and obedient to man r , may make us 
with fome grounds conclude, that this is the creature to which 
imagination has given the fhape of half-fifh half-man, a fhape no 
where elfe to be found. The cunning of this creature to free itfelf 
from its enemy is remarkable, if what is related be true : The feals 
are in great plenty in the Baltic ; when the Ruffes hunt them, they 
furround fometimes three or four thoufand together, which the feals 
perceiving, pile themfelves up in a heap, by that exceflive weight 
ftriving to break the ice on which they have been furprized, and fo 
efcape their enemy \ The manat i of the Indians, or V acca marina, 
(Ray’s Quadrup. page 193) by Artedi (G. Pifc. page 109) called 
Trichechus, is only a larger fort of this kind from ten to fifteen 
feet long, and fometimes thirty-five feet in length 
The turtle is no native of fuch northern coafts as this of Corn- 
wall ; however there were two caught on our fhores in the year 
1756. That exhibited here, Plate xxvn. Fig. iv. was caught by 
the drovers in their mackrel-nets four leagues fouth of Pendinas caftle, 
and brought to Truro alive July 3,1756. It had feven fpinous ridges 
in its fhell, fix fins u , flefhy, without nails, flat and fmooth, (not 
in large fcales, as Rondeletius’s ) of a bluifh colour without, but 
within (that is, on the under-part) ruddy, flefh-coloured, fpeckled 
with dark fpots, as was alfo the under-part of its neck. It was 
adjudged to weigh eight hundred pounds weight. It was fix feet 
nine inches from the tip of the nofe to the end of its fhell, ten feet 
four inches from the extremities of its fore-fins, extended. Its fhell 
is like that of the 'Teftudo Coriacea , five Mercurii , of Rondeletius, 
page 450. There was another turtle taken at the fame time by 
the drovers off the Land’s End, which weighed fix hundred and 
three quarters after it was bled to death. 
» Of which fee Philofophical Tranfa&ions, ib. they made the appearance as in the drawing; but 
page 113- the body was fo heavy, and the boat fo full, that 
s See Leigh’s Lancafhire, page 131. I could not get the filhermen to turn it fo as I 
* Phil. Tranf. for 1751—2, page 114. might obferve it more particularly. N, B. Ron- 
“ As the filhermen informed me, and to me deletius’s icon, lib. 16, chap. 4, has but four fins. 
4 D 
CHAP. 
