To maintain the claim of its ocean character, the Amazon possesses that
huge, whale-like creature the manatee, or cow-fish, called by the
Brazilians _peixe boi_, or _vacca marina_. It is generally about seven
or eight feet long, though it attains a length of ten feet or more, and
nine feet and upwards in girth. On the upper part the body is perfectly
smooth, and of a lead colour. It tapers off towards the tail, which is
flat, horizontal, and semicircular, without any appearance of
hind-limbs. The head is in reality small, and the neck
undistinguishable; though it has an enormous mouth, with fleshy lips
like those of a huge cow, with an ugly countenance. On the lips are
stiff bristles, while a few hairs only are scattered over the body.
Just behind the head are two powerful oval fins, beneath which, in the
female, are the breasts. The ears are very minute holes, and the eyes
are extremely small. The skin of the back is fully an inch thick; and
beneath it is a layer of fat, also an inch or more in thickness. The
fins of the fore-limbs consist of bones exactly corresponding to those
of the human arm, with five fingers at the extremity--every joint
distinct, although completely encased in its thick inflexible skin.
The manatee ranges from the mouth of the Amazon to the upper waters. It
feeds on the grass growing on the borders of the lakes and rivers. It
swims at a rapid rate, moved by the tail and paddles. The creature is
hunted and killed by the natives with harpoons, the flesh being much
sought after. The taste is somewhat between that of pork and beef. The
natives dress it by cutting the meat into small pieces and sticking them
on skewers, which they place in a slanting position over the flames to
roast.
The female produces one, though sometimes two at a birth, which she
holds in her paddles while giving suck. From twenty to twenty-five
gallons of oil are obtained from each sea-cow. The poor manatee, little
able to defend itself, has other enemies besides man. The jaguar lies
in wait for it on the trunk of a tree overhanging the placid pool, and
seizing it with his powerful claws as it swims by, holds it in a
vice-like grasp, from which in spite of its strength it in vain
endeavours to escape.
Those who have voyaged on the ocean, know the solemn feeling and the
idea of vastness which is conveyed during a calm at night, when monsters
of the deep are heard far and near as they come to the surface to inhale
the air, or "blow," as it is called. The same feeling is experienced by
the traveller up the Amazon when on board his montaria at anchor, when
he hears the splashing and snorting sounds of its numerous inhabitants,
as they rise through the mirror-like plain, in which countless thousands
of bright stars are reflected. Here fresh-water dolphins roam in great
numbers. In the Lower Amazon are two species; one of which,--the
tucuxi,--when it comes to the surface to breathe, rises horizontally,
showing first the back of its fin, and then, drawing an inspiration,
generally diving down head-foremost; and another, called the bonto by
the natives. When it rises, it first shows the top of the head, and
then floating onwards, immediately afterwards dips its head downwards,
its back curving over--exposing successively the whole dorsal ridge
without showing the tail-fin; the well-known mode in which the
sea-porpoise swims, which makes it appear to pitch head over heels. The
natives regard the bonto or largest species with especial awe, and will
never kill one voluntarily. Though their fat yields an excellent oil
for lamps, they believe that blindness would result from its use.
The bonto is supposed to possess the characteristic of the malign
water-nymphs of the Old World. They have a legend that a bonto was in
the custom of assuming the shape of a beautiful woman, with hair hanging
loose down to her heels; who, going on shore, endeavoured to entice
young men to the river. When any unhappy youth, smitten with her
charms, was induced to follow her to the water's edge, she would grasp
her victim round the waist, and plunging beneath the waves with a
triumphant shriek, disappeared with him for ever.