108 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
unless it should happen to pierce the spinal cord. At the present 
time the dugong is almost invariably speared from luggers, as these 
vessels are so much more convenient to handle than canoes. 
Uses.—Numbers of dugongs are killed by the coast blacks, by 
whom their flesh is highly relished. Indeed, all along the shores of 
the bays may be seen at intervals piles of dugong bones symmetric- 
ally arranged on the beaches, the number and size of these curious- 
looking mounds indicating the abundance of the animal in their 
vicinity. The blacks employed by the beche-de-mer fishers on the 
Barrier Reef also play havoc among the herds of dugong ; and their 
meat, with that of turtle, forms the principal food for the aboriginal 
crews of the boats and schooners engaged in the fishery. In the 
more northern districts of the Barrier and in Torres Strait, the 
dugong does not form the subject of systematic hunting with a view 
to export trade in its hide and oil, but is killed almost exclusively 
by the natives for food. It is commonly speared from a canoe, or, 
in Torres Strait more particularly, from a light wooden staging that. 
is temporarily erected where the animals have been observed to 
repair to feed. The stage or ‘‘ neet ” is only employed on moonlight 
nights. A man walks the reef at low tide in day time to watch for 
traces of dugong. When he finds a patch of ‘‘dugong grass” 
which has been partially browsed, he erects the staging there, 
knowing that the dugong repairs nightly to the same spot until the 
fodder is exhausted. The stage is constructed of six bamboo poles 
lashed together, surmounted by the steering-board of the canoe ;. 
and on this the rope is coiled, and the spear put in readiness, and 
all night the men perch on this board to await the arrival of the 
dugong. When it approaches sufficiently near it is speared. 
Usually a wooden or stone image of a dugong is slung on the 
‘*neet,” to serve as a charm to ensure the approach of the animal. At 
present the dugong is of some existing value, and certainly possesses. 
avery considerable prospective commercial value, when a better know- 
ledge is obtained of its habits and a systematic method is adopted of 
catching it, curing the flesh, and refining the oil. The danger that 
was threatened of the animal becoming exterminated in the districts 
of Moreton and Wide Bays has been averted, the Queensland 
Government having taken the precaution to institute a prolonged 
close season, whenever it appears from the reports of the fisheries 
inspectors, that the herds are becoming sensibly diminished. The 
chief value of the dugong is associated with the oil it yields. A few 
years ago, it obtained for medical purposes a first-hand price ot £1 
per gallon ; recently it has receded as low as 12s., and the hunting 
is, in consequence, not nearly so remunerative. The flesh is mucly 
appreciated by many Europeans, especially at the outlying Barrier 
and Torres Strait fishing stations, where it is commonly cured and 
used as ‘*bacon.” ‘The price or value in goods paid by the station 
proprietor to the natives for each dugong captured is 5s. ; but of 
these the purchaser only requires the oil-producing livers, and the 
hides, bones, and teeth, leaving the natives the carcasses to feast 
upon. The hides, if well cured, realise a price of 44d. per lb., the 
