THE MANATI.

This animal is called in French lamantin, and supposed by some to have

derived that name from the lamentable cries it makes, but which is

merely fabulous, as it is only a corruption of the real word _manati_,

which in the Spanish indicates an animal with hands.

This animal may either be called the last of beasts or the first of

fishes, for, in fact, it cannot positively be pronounced either the

one or the other. The manati (_fig. 194._) partakes of the nature of

the former, by its two fore-feet, or hands; but the hind legs, which

are almost wholly concealed in the bodies of the seal and walrus, are

entirely wanting in the manati; instead of two short feet and a small

narrow tail, which the walrus carries in an horizontal direction, the

manati has only a large tail, which spreads out like a fan, so that at

first sight it seems as if the tail of the first was divided into three

parts, and that in the latter they were all united into one; but from

a more attentive inspection, and particularly by dissection, we find

that there is no such union, that there are no vestiges of the bones

which form the thighs and legs, and that the tail of the manati is

composed of simple isolated vertebræ, like those of cetaceous animals,

who have no feet. Therefore this animal partakes of the cetaceous

nature in the hinder parts of its body, and of a quadruped by the

two fore-feet, or hands, on each side of the breast. Oviedo seems to

be the first author who has given any sort of history or description

of the manati; he says, "This is a very clumsy and mishapen animal,

having the head thicker than that of an ox, with small eyes, and two

feet, or hands, placed near the head, which serve him for the purpose

of swimming. He has no scales, but is covered with a skin or rather a

thick hide: he is a peaceable animal, and feeds upon the herbage by the

river sides, which he can reach without entirely quitting the water. To

take the manati they row themselves in a boat, or on a raft, as near

the animal as possible, and then dart a very strong arrow at him, to

the end of which a long cord is fastened: feeling himself wounded he

instantly swims away, or plunges to the bottom; but the cord has a

cork, or piece of wood, fastened to the end of it, which serves as a

buoy, and directs them which way he takes. When the animal begins to

grow weak through the loss of blood, he swims towards the shore; the

cord is then wound up, and the animal drawn within arm's length of the

boat, where they dispatch him with spears, &c. He is so heavy that he

requires two oxen to draw him. His flesh is excellent eating, is much

esteemed when fresh, but more so when cut in pieces and pickled; in

which state it acquires the flavour of the tunny fish. Some of these

animals measure more than fifteen feet in length by six in thickness;

the body becomes narrow towards the tail, and then spreads gradually

broader towards the end. He has no external ears, but only two holes

for the sense of hearing: his skin is tough and hard, an inch thick, of

an ash colour, and has a few scattered hairs, or bristles, on it. The

female has two paps on her breast, and generally brings forth two young

ones at a time, which she suckles."[J] All these facts mentioned by

Oviedo are true, and it is remarkable that Cieça, and many others after

him, should affirm, that the manati leaves the water very often to feed

upon land. They have been led into this error, from the analogy of the

walrus and seals, which have this natural habit; but it is certain,

that the manati never quits the water, and that he prefers fresh water

to salt.

[Footnote J: These paps are very prominent during the time of

gestation, and of suckling the young; but at other periods they are

discernible only by the nipple.]

Clusius saw and measured the skin of one of these animals, and found it

sixteen feet and a half long, and seven feet and a half broad; the two

feet were very broad, and the claws short. Gomara asserts, that he has

sometimes met with them twenty feet long; and adds, that these animals

frequent fresh-water rivers as well as the sea. He says, a young one

was reared in a lake in the island of St. Domingo for twenty-six years;

that he was so docile and tame, that he came quietly for the food which

was offered to him; that he was so intelligent as to come out of the

water when called, and crawl to the house to receive his victuals; that

he seemed delighted with the human voice; that he was fond of children,

would suffer them to sit upon his back, and carry them from one end of

the lake to the other, without plunging them into the water; and that

he had no kind of fear. These circumstances cannot all be true; some of

them seem adapted to the fable of the dolphin related by the ancients,

for the manati cannot possibly crawl on the ground.

Herrere says little with regard to this animal, and only asserts, that

although very large, the manati swims with such facility, that his

motion in the water is not heard; and that he immediately dives to the

bottom, on hearing any noise.

Hernandes, who has given two figures of the manati, one in profile,

and the other in front, adds very little to what other Spanish authors

had said of it; he only mentions that there is a deformed beast called

the _mana'i_, which inhabits the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; the

descriptions of which he has chiefly taken from Oviedo; and then adds,

that the hands of this animal have five nails like those of a man; that

its navel and anus are wide; that the vulva of the female is like that

of a woman, and the sexual organ of the male like that of a horse; that

the flesh and fat are like those of a hog; that the ribs and viscera

are like those of a bull; that they copulate on land, the female lying

on her back, and that she brings forth but one young at a time, which

is of a monstrous size at its birth. The copulation of these animals

cannot be effected on land, since they are unable to walk, but it is on

the contrary performed in shallow water. Binet says, that the manati is

as big as an ox, and as round as a tun; that his head is small, and his

tail short; that his skin is rough and thick like that of an elephant;

that there are some of these animals so large, that one of them will

yield more than six hundred weight of good eatable flesh; that his

grease is as sweet as butter; that they delight to be near the mouth

of rivers, where they browze upon the sea weeds, which grow on the

banks; that at some few leagues distant from Cayenne, they are found in

such numbers, that a few men expert in darting the harpoon, might get

sufficient to load a vessel in one day. Father Tertre, who describes

the fishery of the manati, agrees almost in every respect with the

authors we have quoted; observing, however, that this animal has only

four toes and four claws on each foot, or hand, and adding, that he

feeds on a short vegetable which grows on the sea, and which he eats

nearly in the same manner as the ox; that having pastured sufficiently,

he makes to the rivers and fresh waters, where he moistens his food;

and that his belly being full, he sleeps with his nose half way out

of the water, so that he can be seen at a distance; that the female

brings forth two young at a time, which follow her wherever she goes;

and that when the mother is taken, they are sure of having the young,

because they not only keep close to the body when she is dead, but

even go continually round the vessel which is carrying her away. This

last circumstance appears very suspicious, and is contradicted by

other travellers, who assert, that the manati never brings forth more

than one at a time; which is consistent with the nature of all other

large quadruped or other cetaceous animals, so that analogy alone is

sufficient to prevent our believing that the manati always brings

forth two. Oxmelin remarks, that the tail of the manati is placed

horizontally like that of the cetaceous animals, and not vertically

like those of the scaly brood; that he has no fore teeth, but only a

callosity as hard as a bone, with which he cuts the herbage; but that

he has thirty-two grinders; that his sight is imperfect, on account of

the smallness of his eyes, which have no iris and very little moisture;

that he has an extremely small brain; but to remedy the defect of

sight, he has a very quick ear; that he has no tongue; that the parts

of generation are more like those of the human species than any other:

that the milk of the female, which he asserts to have tasted, is very

good; that they produce but one young at a time, which they embrace

and hold with their hands; that the mother suckles it during a year,

after which it is able to provide for itself: that this animal has

fifty-two vertebræ; that it feeds like the turtle, but can neither walk

nor crawl upon land. All these facts are very exact, and even that of

the fifty-two vertebræ; for M. Daubenton in one he dissected found

twenty-eight vertebræ in the tail, sixteen in the back, and six, or

rather seven in the neck. This traveller is only deceived with respect

to the tongue, which is not deficient in the manati, but affixed to the

lower jaw almost to the extremity.

In the Voyage to the American islands, printed at Paris, 1722, we

meet with a tolerable good description of the manati, and the manner

in which it is taken by the harpoon. The author perfectly agrees with

all the principal facts we have already mentioned; but he observes,

"that this animal is become very rare in the Antilles since the coasts

have been inhabited; and that the one which he saw and measured, was

fourteen feet nine inches, from the muzzle to the tail: his head was

very thick, with a large mouth and lips, which were furnished with

coarse hairs; his eyes small in proportion to his head; and he had only

two holes in the sides instead of ears; his neck was very thick and

short, and but for the wrinkles occasioned by his motions, it would

be impossible to tell his head from his body. Some authors pretend

(he adds) that this animal makes use of his hands, or fins, to crawl

upon land: I particularly endeavoured to inform myself respecting

this fact, but could not hear of any person who had seen him out of

water; and indeed, it is impossible for him to walk or crawl, since

its fore-feet, or hands, only serve the female to hold the young while

they suckle. The female has two round breasts, which I measured; they

were each seven inches in diameter, and about four in their elevation:

the nipple was about an inch thick; the body was eight feet two inches

in circumference; the tail was like a large battledore, about nineteen

inches long, fifteen inches broad at the widest part, and about three

inches thick at its extremity. The skin on the back was about double

the thickness of an ox's hide, but much thinner on the belly; it was

of a slate colour and of very coarse grain; the hairs, or bristles,

were of the same colour as the skin, thinly scattered, but very thick,

and long. This animal weighed about eight hundred pounds; and with it

the young one was taken, which was nearly three feet long. A part of

its tail was roasted, the flesh of which was as good and as delicate

as veal. The herb upon which these animals feed is about eight or ten

inches long, narrow pointed, tender, and of a fine green colour. This

herb is so plenty in many places on the coasts, that the bottom of the

sea has the appearance of a verdant meadow, and upon which the turtles

also feed, &c." Father Magnin de Fribourg says, that the manati feeds

on such grass on the shores, as it is able to reach without quitting

the water; that its eyes are not bigger than a filberd nut; that its

ears are so narrow, that a needle can scarcely be passed into them;

that within the ears are found two small bones, which the Indians wear

about their necks; and that its cry resembles the lowing of a cow.

Gumilla states, that there are immense numbers of manati in the Great

lakes of Oronooko, "These animals (says he) weigh from five to seven

hundred pounds each; they feed upon grass; their eyes are small, and

the holes for their ears still smaller. They pasture on the sea shores

when the river is low. The female always brings forth two young ones,

which she carries at her paps, and grasps them so strongly with her two

hands that they cannot fall off, the milk of the female is very thick.

Under its thick skin, four beds, or layers, are met with, two of which

are of fat, and the other two of a very delicate and savoury flesh,

which, when roasted, has the smell of pork and the taste of veal. These

animals, when a storm of rain approaches, leap out of the water to a

considerable height." Gumilla seems to be mistaken, as well as Tertre,

in asserting that the female brings forth two young at a time, since it

is almost a certainty, as has been already observed, that she produces

no more than one.

Upon the whole, M. de Condamine, who favoured us with a drawing, which

he himself made of the manati in the Amazon river, speaks with greater

precision than any other author on the natural habits of this animal.

"Its flesh and fat (says he) have a great resemblance to veal. Father

Acuna makes its resemblance to the ox still more complete, by giving

it horns, which Nature never provided. It is not, properly speaking,

amphibious, since it cannot entirely leave the water, having only two

flat fins close to the head, about sixteen inches long, and which

serve the animal instead of arms and hands. It only raises its head out

of the water to feed on the herbage upon the shore. That of which I

drew the figure was a female; it was about seven feet and a half long,

and its greatest breadth two feet: I have since seen some much larger.

The eyes of this animal have no proportion to the size of its body; the

orifice of its ears is still less, and only seems like a hole made by

a pin. The manati is not peculiar to the Amazon river, being not less

common in the Oronooko. It is also found, though less frequently, in

the Oyapoc, and many other rivers in the environs of Cayenne, and on

the coast of Guiana, and probably in other parts."

This is nearly all the precise matter which we can collect respecting

this animal. It were to be wished that the inhabitants of Cayenne,

among whom there are several admirers of Natural History, would

make some observations on this animal, and give us a description of

its internal parts, especially those of respiration, digestion and

generation. There seems, though we are not certain, to be a great bone

in the genital member, and a foramen ovale in the heart; that its lungs

are of a singular conformation; and that it has several stomachs, like

ruminating animals.

To conclude: the species of the manati is not confined to the seas and

rivers of the New World, but exists also in those of Africa. M. Adanson

saw them at Senegal, whence he brought one of their heads, which he

presented to me, and at the same time communicated the following

description of this animal, which he made on the spot, and which I have

thought it proper wholly to transcribe. "I saw many of these animals,

the largest was not more than eight feet long, and weighed about eight

hundred pounds. A female, which was five feet three inches long,

weighed only one hundred and ninety-four pounds. They are of a dark ash

colour, and have hairs scattered over their bodies, very long, and like

bristles. The head is conical, and of a middling size, with respect to

the bulk of the body. The eyes are round and very small; the iris is

of a deep blue, and the pupil black. The muzzle is almost cylindrical;

its cheeks are nearly of an equal breadth, and the lips are fleshy and

very thick. The only teeth they have either in the upper or lower jaw

are grinders. The tongue is of an oval form, and joined almost to the

end of the lower jaw. It is remarkable that almost every author and

traveller have described this animal with ears. I have not been able

to perceive a hole sufficient even to admit a small probe. It has two

arms, or fins, placed close to the head, which is not distinguishable

from the rest of the body by any kind of neck, nor even any apparent

shoulders. These arms are nearly cylindrical, composed of three

articulations, the foremost of which is flat, and like the palm of the

hand, the fingers of which are only to be distinguished by four claws

of a bright brownish red colour; its tail is horizontal, like that of

the whale, and is partly of the form of a baker's shovel. The female

has two breasts, rather elliptic than round, placed near the arm-pits.

The skin is thin on the belly, thick on the back, but thickest of all

on the head. The fat is white, and two or three inches thick; the flesh

is of a pale red colour, and more delicate than veal. The lolof negroes

call this animal _lereou_; it feeds on herbage, and is to be found at

the mouth of the Black Sea."

By this description we find that the manati of Senegal does not differ

in any particular from that of Cayenne; and from a comparison made of

the head of the Senegal manati with that of a foetus of the Cayenne

lamantin by M. Daubenton, he presumes that they are of the same

species. The testimony of travellers also agrees with our opinion;

Dampier in particular speaks positively, and his observations deserve

a place in our history. "It is not only in Blewfield river, which

springs between the rivers Nicaraga and Veraga, that I have seen the

manati: I have also seen them in the Bay of Campeachy, on the coast of

Bocca del Drago, and Bocca del Toro, in the river of Darien, and in

the small southern islands of Cuba: I have heard it said that there

are a few found on the north of Jamaica, and many in Surinam river,

which is a very low country. I have likewise seen them at Mindanea,

one of the Philippine islands, and on the coast of New Holland. This

animal is fond of brackish water, therefore he most commonly inhabits

those rivers which border on the sea. This is possibly the reason why

we never meet with any in the South Seas, where the coast is generally

high, and the water very deep near land, except in the Bay of Panama;

but even there the manati is not to be met with; but the West-Indies

being, as it were, a great bay composed of a number of small ones, are

generally low land and shallow water, and consequently afford a food

which is agreeable to the manati. They are sometimes seen in salt

water, sometimes in fresh, but seldom very far from shore. Those which

inhabit the sea, and places where there are no rivers that they can

enter, come to the mouth of the nearest fresh-water rivers which they

find, once or twice in twenty-four hours. They feed on a narrow herbage

which grows on the sides of the shores, especially in places where the

tides or currents are not very strong. They never go on shore, but

always keep in a depth of water where they can swim. Their flesh is

sweet, and very good food; their skin is also of great utility. The

manati and the tortoise are commonly found in the same parts of the

world, and feed on the same herbage."[K]

[Footnote K: A great number of manatis are to be found along the low

and marshy coasts, and in the vast lakes of Moyacaré, the most southern

part of French Guiana, above the Oyapoc. Small vessels from Cayenne go

to the fishery of these animals, and bring their flesh salted, a gross

aliment which is kept for the negroes. This fishery, which might become

an object of important commerce, should be encouraged; it would require

a small establishment upon the coast, and would facilitate the means of

acquiring some knowledge of a country now unknown, and which, at the

same time that it opened new sources of commerce, would prove also an

inexhaustible mine of wealth to Natural History.]