170 
THU MAS ATI. 
considerable receptacles for air, the manati comes so often 
to the surface of the water to breathe. Its flesh is very 
savoury, though, from what prejudice I know not, it is con- 
sidered unwholesome and apt to produce fever. It ap- 
peared to me to resemble pork rather than beef. It is most 
esteemed by the Gnarnos and the Ottomacs ; and these two 
nations are particularly expert in catching the manati. Its 
flesh, when salted and dried in the sun, can be preserved a 
whole year; and, as the clergy regard this mammiferous 
animal as a fish, it is much sought during Lent. The 
vital principal is singularly strong in the manati ; it is tied 
after being harpooned, but is not killed till it has been 
taken into the canoe. This is effected, when the animal is 
very large, in the middle of the river, by filling the canoe 
two-thirds with water, sliding it under the animal, and then 
baling out the water by means of a calabash. This fishery 
is most easy after great inundations, when the manati has 
passed from’ the great rivers into the lakes and surrounding 
marshes, and the waters diminish rapidly. At the period 
when the Jesuits governed the Missions of the Lower 
Orinoco, they assembled every year at Cabruta, below the 
mouth of the Apure, to have a grand fishing for manatis, 
with the Indians of their Missions, at the foot of the moun- 
tain now called El Capuchino. The fat of the animal, 
known by the name of manati-butter (manteca do manati,) 
is used for lamps in the churches ; and is also employed in 
preparing food. It has not the fetid smell of whale-oil, 
or that of the other cetaceous animals which spout water. 
The hide of the manati, which is more than an inch and half 
thick, is cut into slips, and serves, like thongs of ox-leather, 
to supply the place of cordage in the Llanos. When im- 
mersed in water, it has the defect of undergoing a slight 
degree of putrefaction. Whips are made of it in the Spa- 
nish colonies. Hence the words latigo and manati are 
synonymous. These whips of manati-leather are a cruel 
instrument of punishment for the unhappy slaves, and even 
for the Indians of the Missions, though, according to the 
laws, the latter ought to be treated like freemen. 
We passed the night opposite the island of Conserva. I’ 1 
skirting the forest we were surprised by the sight of an enor- 
mous trunk of a tree seventy feet high, and thickly set wd-' 
