280 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
barrels were filled with Ehytina bones; among which were three 
very fine, complete skulls, and others more or less damaged, 
several considerable collections of bones from the same 
skeleton, &c. 
The Ehytina bones do not lie at the level of the sea, but upon 
a strand-bank thickly overgrown with luxuriant grass, at a height 
of two or three metres above it. They are commonly covered 
with a layer of earth and gravel from thirty to fifty centimetres 
in thickness. In order to find them, as it would be too trouble¬ 
some to dig the whole of the grassy bank, one must examine 
the ground with a pointed iron rod, a bayonet, or some such 
tool. One soon learns to distinguish, by the resistance and 
RECONSTRUCTED FORM OF THE SEA-COW. 
After J. Fr. Brandt (Syrnholce Sirenologicce, Faso. iii. p. 282), 
nature of the sound, whether the rod stuck into the ground 
has come into contact with a stone, a piece of wood, or a 
fragment of bone. The ribs are used by the natives, on account 
of their hard ivory-like structure, for shoeing the runners of 
the sledges or for carvings. They have accordingly been 
already used up on a large scale, and are more uncommon than 
other bones. The finger-bone, which perhaps originally was 
cartilaginous, appears in most cases to be quite destroyed, as 
well as the outermost vertebrae of the tail. I could not obtain 
any such bones, though I specially urged the natives to get 
me the smaller bones too and promised to pay a high price 
for them. 
