122 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
manatuj {Manatus Americanus ). 
one might fare royally upon flesh of the whale, which would never be “ as dry 
as a remainder biscuit.” 
It is stated upon sufficient authority that from the thirteenth to the sixteenth 
centuries the whale’s tongue was considered a delicacy by the Spaniards and 
Portuguese, and that the Lenten fare of the French peasant was chiefly whale 
meat. In passing, we should not fail to remark that the contribution of the 
whale to the very subsistence of the Esquimaux should be remembered when 
thinking of the 
many illustrations 
of the adaptation of 
animals not simply 
to their surround¬ 
ings, but to render 
most efficient the 
lives of men who, 
however different 
from ourselves, are 
quite as much the 
objects of Divine 
care, and quite 
as conscious of their dependence. The white whale, despite the beauty of his 
color, the large number frequently found in a school, and its fearlessness in 
approaching vessels, is generally safe from attack by the whalemen. This is 
due, of course, to the fact that its yield of oil is not sufficient to make it a 
prize. Still it is quite as well perhaps, that the hard life of the sailor should 
be tempered at times 
by a perception of the 
beauty and playfulness 
of the marine monster, 
for though “ a common 
sailor” may lack the 
most delicate sensibili¬ 
ties or the most sus¬ 
ceptible imagination, he 
must nevertheless, in a 
vague way, it may be, 
appreciate objects of 
interest which do not 
directly conduce to his profit. Doubtless much of the beauty of ancient myth¬ 
ology is due to the etherealized telling over of the experiences of the ancient 
mariners, and it is easy to understand the functions and attributes with which 
a strange and beautiful water animal would be endorsed by the superstition 
of awe-struck men. There was a time when what is now mythology was 
religious. belief, and it is not difficult to understand how the impressionable and 
imaginative Greek who believed honestly in Neptune’s sovereignty over the 
sea,. should assign to the sea king as servants the larger and more striking 
marine animals, and surround his chariot with mermaids and mermen and other 
strange conversions into human form and endowment with human attributes. 
The Sirenia were for a long time confounded with the whale, but in the 
LAMANTIN (Manatus Australis ). 
