THE MANATI.
The araguatoes, with dried plantains and cassava, were the food of our
travellers for several days after. On the evening of the third day they
had a change. Guapo succeeded in capturing a very large turtle, which
served for relish at several meals. His mode of taking the turtle was
somewhat curious, and deserves to be described.
The balza had been brought to the bank, and they were just mooring it,
when something out on the water attracted the attention of Leon and
Leona. It was a small, darkish object, and would not have been observed
but for the ripple that it made on the smooth surface of the river, and
by this they could tell that it was in motion.
"A water-snake!" said Leon.
"Oh!" ejaculated the little Leona, "I hope not, brother Leon."
"On second thoughts," replied Leon, "I don't think it is a snake."
Of course the object was a good distance off, else Leon and Leona would
not have talked so coolly about it. But their words had reached the ear
of Doña Isidora, and drawn her attention to what they were talking
about.
"No; it is not a snake," said she. "I fancy it is a turtle."
Guapo up to this had been busy with Don Pablo in getting the balza made
fast. The word "turtle," however, caught his ear at once, and he looked
up, and then out on the river in the direction where Leon and Leona were
pointing. As soon as his eye rested upon the moving object he replied to
the remark of Doña Isidora.
"Yes, my mistress," said he, "it is a turtle, and a big one too. Please
all keep quiet--I think I can get him."
How Guapo was to get the turtle was a mystery to all. The latter was
about thirty paces distant, but it would be difficult, if not
impossible, to hit his small snout--the only part above water--with the
arrow of the blow-gun. Moreover, they thought that the arrow would not
penetrate the hard, bony substance, so as to stick there and infuse its
poison into the wound.
These conjectures were true enough, but his gravatána was not the weapon
which Guapo was about to use. He had other weapons as well--a fish-spear
or harpoon, and a regular bow and arrows, which he had made during his
leisure hours in the valley.
The latter was the weapon with which the tortoise was to be killed.
Taking the bow, and adjusting an arrow to the string, Guapo stepped
forward to the water's edge. All watched him, uttering their hopes of
his success. It was still not clear with them how the turtle was to be
killed by an arrow shot from a bow any more than by one sent from a
blow-gun. Would it not glance from the shell even should he succeed in
hitting it under water! Surely it would!
As they stood whispering their conjectures to one another, they observed
Guapo, to their great astonishment, _pointing his arrow upward_, and
making as if he was going to discharge it in the air! This he, in fact,
_did_ do a moment after; and they would have been puzzled by his
apparently strange conduct, had they not observed, in the next instant,
that the arrow, after flying high up, came down again head-foremost and
stuck upright in the back of the turtle!
The turtle dived at once, and all of them expected to see the upright
arrow carried under water. What was their surprise as well as chagrin to
see that it had fallen out, and was floating on the surface! Of course
the wound had only been a slight one, and the turtle would escape, and
be none the worse for it.
But Guapo shared neither their surprise nor chagrin. Guapo felt sure
that the turtle was his, and said nothing; but, jumping into the canoe,
began to paddle himself out to where the creature had been last seen.
What could he be after? thought they.
As they watched him, they saw that he made for the floating arrow. "Oh!"
said they, "he is gone to recover it."
That seemed probable enough, but, to their astonishment, as he
approached the weapon it took a start, and ran away from him! Something
below dragged it along the water. That was clear, and they began to
comprehend the mystery. The _head_ of the arrow was still sticking in
the shell of the turtle. It was only the shaft that floated, and that
was attached to the head by a string! The latter had been but loosely
put on, so that the pressure of the water, as the turtle dived, should
separate it from the shaft, leaving the shaft with its cord to act as a
buoy, and discover the situation of the turtle.
Guapo, in his swift canoe, soon laid hold of the shaft, and after a
little careful manoeuvring, succeeded in landing his turtle high and dry
upon the bank. A splendid prize it proved. It was a "jurara"
tortoise--the "tataruga," or great turtle of the Portuguese, and its
shell was full three feet in diameter.
Guapo's mode of capturing the "jurara" is the same as that generally
practised by the Indians of the Amazon, although strong nets and the
hook are also used. The arrow is always discharged upwards, and the
range calculated with such skill, that it falls vertically on the shell
of the turtle, and penetrates deep enough to stick, and detach itself
from the shaft. This mode of shooting is necessary, else the jurara
could not be killed by an arrow, because it never shows more than the
tip of its snout above water, and any arrow hitting it in a direct
course would glance harmlessly from its shell. A good bowman among the
Indians will rarely miss shooting in this way,--long practice and native
skill enabling him to guess within an inch of where his weapon will
fall.
In the towns of the Lower Amazon, where turtles are brought to market, a
small square hole may be observed in the shells of these creatures. That
is the mark of the arrow-head.
Guapo lost no time in turning his turtle inside out, and converting part
of it into a savoury supper, while the remainder was fried into
sausage-meat, and put away for the following day.
But on that following day a much larger stock of sausage-meat was
procured from a very different animal, and that was a "cow."
"How?" you exclaim,--"a cow in the wild forests of the Amazon! Why, you
have said that no cattle--either cows or horses--can exist there without
man to protect them, else they would be devoured by pumas, jaguars, and
bats. Perhaps they had arrived at some settlement where cows were kept?"
Not a bit of it; your conjecture, my young friend, is quite astray.
There was not a civilised settlement for many hundreds of miles from
where Guapo got his cow--nor a cow neither, of the sort you are thinking
of. But there are more kinds of cows than one; and, perhaps, you may
have heard of a creature called the "fish-cow?" Well, that is the sort
of cow I am speaking of. Some term it the "sea-cow," but this is an
improper name for it, since it also inhabits fresh-water rivers
throughout all tropical America. It is known as the _Manati_, and the
Portuguese call it "_peixe boi_," which is only "fish-cow" done into
Portuguese.
It is a curious creature the fish-cow, and I shall offer you a short
description of it. It is usually about seven feet in length, and five
round the thickest part of the body, which latter is quite smooth, and
tapers off into a horizontal flat tail, semicircular in shape. There are
no hind-limbs upon the animal, but just behind the head are two powerful
fins of an oval shape. There is no neck to be perceived; and the head,
which is not very large, terminates in a large mouth and fleshy lips,
which are not unlike those of a cow: hence its name of "cow-fish." There
are stiff bristles on the upper lip, and a few thinly scattered hairs
over the rest of the body. Behind the oval fins are two _mammæ_, or
breasts, from which, when pressed, flows a stream of beautiful white
milk. Both eyes and ears are very small in proportion to the size of the
animal, but, nevertheless, it has full use of these organs, and is not
easily approached by its enemy.
The colour of the skin is a dusky lead, with some flesh-coloured marks
on the belly, and the skin itself is an inch thick at its thickest part,
on the back. Beneath the skin is a layer of fat, of great, thickness,
which makes excellent oil when boiled. As we have said, the manati has
no appearance of hind-limbs. Its fore-limbs, however, are highly
developed for a water animal. The bones in them correspond to those in
the human arm, having five fingers with the joints distinct, yet so
enclosed in an inflexible sheath that not a joint can be moved.
The cow-fish feeds on grass, coming in to the borders of the lakes and
rivers to procure it. It can swim very rapidly by means of its flat tail
and strong fins, and is not so easily captured as might be supposed. All
the art of the hunter is required to effect its destruction. The harpoon
is the weapon usually employed, though sometimes they are caught in
strong nets stretched across the mouths of rivers or the narrow arms of
lakes. The flesh of the manati is much esteemed, and tastes somewhat
between beef and pork, altogether different from "fish." Fried in its
own oil, and poured into pots or jars, it can be preserved for many
months.
As already stated, on the day after Guapo shot the turtle--in fact, the
next morning--just as they were going to shove off, some of the party,
in gazing from the edge of the balza, noticed a queer-looking animal in
the clear water below. It was no other than a "fish-cow;" and, as they
continued to examine it more attentively, they were astonished to
observe that, with its short paddle-like limbs, it hugged two miniature
models of itself close to its two breasts. These were the "calves" in
the act of suckling, for such is the mode in which the manati nourishes
her young.
All the others would have watched this spectacle for a while, interested
in the maternal and filial traits thus exhibited by a subaqueous
creature, but while they stood looking into the water, something
glanced before their eyes, and glided with a plunge to the bottom. It
was the harpoon of Guapo.
Blood rose to the surface immediately, and there was a considerable
splashing as the strong manati made its attempt to escape; but the head
of the harpoon was deeply buried in its flesh, and, with the attached
cord, Guapo soon hauled the animal ashore. It was as much as he and Don
Pablo could do to drag it on dry land; but the knife soon took it to
pieces; and then several hours were spent in making it fit for
preservation. Its fat and flesh yielded enough to fill every spare
vessel our travellers had got; and, when all were filled, the balza was
pushed off, and they continued their voyage without any fear of short
rations for some time to come.