. The animals of the world. Brehm's life of animals;. Mammals. THE MANATEES. 557 ica and its rivers as far south as Cape North, occur- ring principally in Surinapi. Probably it' is the only member of the order to be found in the Gulf of Mexico. A. von Humboldt observed that the Lamantins prefer those places in the sea in which there are fresh water inlets or springs; in rivers they penetrate far inland and in times of inundation they also wander into lakes and swamps. "In the evening," says A. von Humboldt, "we passed the •estuary of the Cano del Manati, which derives its name f
. The animals of the world. Brehm's life of animals;. Mammals. THE MANATEES. 557 ica and its rivers as far south as Cape North, occur- ring principally in Surinapi. Probably it' is the only member of the order to be found in the Gulf of Mexico. A. von Humboldt observed that the Lamantins prefer those places in the sea in which there are fresh water inlets or springs; in rivers they penetrate far inland and in times of inundation they also wander into lakes and swamps. "In the evening," says A. von Humboldt, "we passed the •estuary of the Cano del Manati, which derives its name from the enormous number of Lamantins or Manatis which are annually caught there. They are plentiful on the Orinoco below the waterfalls, in the Meta and the ; The habits of the Lamantin are much like those of other Sirenia. Several travelers have affirmed that it sometimes leaves the water to graze on land; but as early as the last century others most decid- edly refuted this. It browses only on the grass arrows, which have ropes and light wooden floats fastened to them to indicate the direction the ani- mal takes, or he harpoons and kills and then flays and dresses it in one of those light, raft-like boats, which are used for travel on South American rivers. This latter operation is sometimes done in the mid- dle of the stream, the hunters first filling the boat two-thirds full of water, pushing it under the Laman- tin and then causing it to float by baling the water out with a gourd. The thick hide of the beast is cut into strips and used for whips and cords, the latter are of no service in the water as they soon rot. THE DUGONG. The Chinese and Arabs have for centuries known one of the most important representatives of the family of which we received but scant, occasional in- formation up to the beginning of the present cen- tury; we mean the Dugong {Halicore dujong).. THE SUGOITG. In the Red Sea and on the eastern coast of Africa and all coasts of southern Asia
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectmammals, bookyear1895
