bottom of the inlets of the sea. It browses on these vegetables in the same manner as a cow in a meadow. Its flesh resembles young beef, and is very delicate and palatable. Sir T. Raffles's words are "It afforded much satisfaction on the table, as the flesh proved to be most excellent beef."

According to the natives of Sumatra, the Dugong is never found on land, or in fresh water, but generally in the shallows of the sea, when the water is only two or three fathoms deep. "During our short possession of Singapore," says Sir Thomas, (for six *months,) "four of these animals were taken; but the greatest number is said to be caught during the opposite, or Northern Monsoon, where the sea is calmest, near the mouth of the Johore River. They are usually taken by spearing, (at which the natives are peculiarly dexterous,) during the night, when the animals give warning of their approach by the snuffling noise they make at the surface of the water. The first object is to secure and elevate the tail, when the animal becomes perfectly powerless, and at their disposal. They are seldom caught in Singapore above eight or nine feet in length; but how much larger they grow is not ascertained, as, when they exceed this size, their superior strength enables them to make their escape when attacked."

The Ikan Dugong is considered by the Malays as a royal fish, and the king is entitled to all that are taken. The flesh is highly prized, and considered by them as superior to that of the buffalo or The affection of the mother for its young is

COW.

strongly marked; and the Malays make frequent allusion to this animal as an example of maternal affection. When they succeed in taking a young one, they feel themselves certain of the mother, who follows it, and allows herself to be speared and taken almost without resistance. The young have a short sharp cry, which they frequently repeat, and it is said that they shed tears. These tears are carefully preserved by the common people as a charm, the possession of which is supposed to secure the affections of those to whom they are attached, in the same manner as they attract the mother to her young; 66 an idea," remarks Sir Thomas, "at least poetic, and certainly more natural than the fable of the siren's song."

There seems little doubt that there are many species of this curious animal inhabiting the Eastern Seas. Ed. Ruppel has given a description of the Dugong of the Red Sea. He considers it different from that of the Indian Seas, and has named it Halicore tabernaculus, in consequence of his historical researches having led him to the conclusion, that it was with the skin of this species that the Jews were ordered to veil their Tabernacle. The Arabians esteem it for its flesh, teeth, and skin. Ruppel observed it swimming among the coral banks on the coast of Abyssinia, near the Dalac Isles. The fishermen call it Dauila. They harpooned a female ten feet long, which our traveller dissected

*See Phil. Trans. for 1821

and described. He was informed by the Arabs that these Dugongs live in pairs or small families— that their voices are very feeble-that they feed on algæ-and that, in the months of February and March, bloody combats take place among the males. The females produce in November and December. The former sex attains the length of eighteen feet, the latter never equals these dimensions.*

The respectable voyager, Lequat, describes the Dugong as occurring in great numbers in the Isle of France in 1720. He states they were twenty feet long, and were captured with the greatest facility. They feed in troops like sheep, in three or four fathoms water, and did not attempt to escape when approached, so that a selection could be made, and they were shot at the end of the musket; or sometimes two or three of the party seized hold of one and forced it on shore. Three or four hundred were occasionally encountered together; and they were so little shy, that they allowed themselves to be handled at pleasure, and thus were the fattest selected. The natives here avoided, as we have noticed the Malays also do, a contest with the larger animals, on account of the great trouble which they occasioned, and also because they were not such good eating as the smaller ones.

It is the popular belief of the Malays, that two species frequent their coast; and M. F. Cuvier states, that there are considerable differences between the Malay

* See Encyc. Brit. art. Mammalia.

varieties and one which had been procured from the Philipines. It would appear that the animal is also known on the coast of New Holland, and there it is supposed, according to Quoy and Gaimard, to differ from those of the Indian Archipelago. It is occasionally also found in the Pacific.

We now proceed to

307

THE STELLER US.

GENUS STELLERUS.-CUVIER.

Having a single and peculiar kind of tooth in each jaw; paws without any appearance of nails; skin remarkably thick and hard.

Stellerus Borealis, Desm. Less. Manatus Steller, Pen. Maskaia, or Sea-Cow of the Russians.

THERE is, perhaps, less known of this animal than of any of its congeners: scarcely any thing has been added to our information since the publication of Steller's account,* so that some have been led to entertain doubts of its existence. Such scepticism, however, is quite unwarrantable, after the patient labours of the celebrated naturalist of the Rurick. Something like a corroboration of Steller's account may, we think, be found in "Cook's Voyages." The celebrated navigator, when dwelling upon one of the Fox Islands, at no great distance from Behring's Straits, after mentioning the Seals and Walrus there encountered, adds" We sometimes saw an animal with a head like a Seal's, which blew after

• See Nov. Comment. Acad. Petrop. t. ii. p. 294.