OEDEE OF CETACEA. 
95 
but defends ber till bis death. Tbe young ones have no less 
tenderness for their mother. 
The fishermen know how to profit by the ties which unite all 
the members of the family. They try, above all, to capture first 
the females, because the males and the young ones follow them, to 
defend them or to share their fate. On the shallow weedy 
shores, round islands, at the mouths of rivers, which these innocent 
and mild animals frequent to feed on the sea- weed, are the places 
to look for the Manatees. The hunter waits for the moment 
when they come to the surface to breathe ; or else he sur- 
prises them in their sleep, floating with their muzzles above the 
surface of the water, in the current. When close he throws his 
harpoon. The wounded animal loses its blood ; this blood brings 
up the other Manatees to the assistance of the victim. At this 
fatal moment, some of them try to wrench out the murderous 
weapon, the others to bite through the cord which the wounded 
one is dragging along with it, thus affording the fishermen an 
opportunity to massacre the whole troop. The unselfish devotion 
of these animals leads them on to their destruction. 
The Manatees often leave the sea to go up rivers. For this 
