THE MAN ATI. 
169 
^ght thousand pounds weight, 
finoco below the cataracts, in 
beneath which the jaguar had lain. He was there no longer, 
tod it would have been imprudent to have pursued him into 
he forest, where we must have dispersed, or advanced in 
aill gle file, amidst the intertwining lianas. 
evel hng we passed the mouth of the Cano del 
'lanati, thus named on account of the immense quantity of 
toniatis caught there every year. This herbivorous animal 
0 the cetaceous family, is called by the Indians apcia and 
avia* and it attains here generally ten or twelve feet in 
togth. It usually weighs from five hundred to eight hun- 
re d pounds, but it is asserted that one has been taken of 
The manati abounds in the 
. - > in the Iiio Meta, and in the 
‘pure, between the two islands of Carizalcs and Conserva. 
e found no vestiges of nails on the external surface or 
’ e ,. edges of the fins, which are quite smooth; but little 
foments of nails appear at the third phalanx, when the 
the fins is taken off. We dissected one of these 
of'th ’ ".bich was nine feet long, at Cariehana, a Mission 
th i Orinoco. The upper lip was four inches longer than 
ag e °' v er one. It was covered with a very fine skin, and served 
]q a P r oboseis. The inside of the mouth, which has a sensi- 
sinu'i^rmth i Q an animal newly killed, presented a very 
but ' ar con i' orma tioa- The tongue was almost motionless ; 
ea 4 1 - 1 ^' 10n b °f the tongue there was a fleshy excrescence in 
tjjg l aw > and a cavity lined with a very hard skin, into which 
gj. exere scence fitted. The manati eats such quantities of 
SeV g S ’ tlla t we have found its stomach, which is divided into 
feet 1 caTities > alul its intestines, (one hundred and eight 
ha c L- l0n &) with it. On opening the animal at the 
tion 7® " ere struck with the magnitude, form, and situa- 
i tll , 1]f ° lts lungs. They have very large cells, and resemble 
- Use swim mine-bladders. They are three feet long 
J i’illerr“"'-4-i SWi ? nml " I1S ' bladclerS - 'a — — — 6- 
cubic -" i au ’> they have a bulk of more tlian a thousand 
niches. I was surprised to see that, possessing such 
♦ •Til 
Se cond t ^ iese w ords belongs to the Tainanac language, and the 
that t h the ° ttomac - father Gili proves, in opposition to Oviedo, 
l;iQ 4u,v. f . (fish whh hands) is not Spanish, but belongs to the 
that, ^ s (St. Domingo) and tho Maypurea. I believe also 
tave been' rd ii > ® t0 t ie s en ' us of th® Spanish tongue, the aniaral would 
called manudo or manon, but not manati. 
