WONDERS OF THE WILD

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 11 February 1911, Page 6

WONDERS OF THE WILD

■• —; +_ . THE STRANGEST BEAST OP THE SEA. DUGONG, THE. SEA-COW. I • (Bi Will Latvsox.) (All Eights Reserved.)' The' moonlight shone brightly on the sea at the wide mouth of a Queensland tidal river ' where the mangroves grew on the muddy water-eaten banks and on the mud-banks near the shore. Below water, on tho slope of a mud-bank, a queer-looking beast was feeding on the sea-weed and other vegetable growths that flourished there, eating the sopping weeds as a cow eats long, luscious grass. Up into tho moonlight he presently thrusts his head, to take fresh air 'into his lungs through his seal-like nostrils. . This was Dugong, the Sea-Cow, first cousin to Manatee of America, and a distant relativo of all tho whales and seals in the wide ooean. His head was half seal's, half whale's, and the eyes were large and soft-looking as a seal's. His upper lip was large and thick, with some short bristles on it, and between the nostrils there was a crease as though at some distant time there bad been two sections of upper lip, as his cousin Manatee has now. Both jaws were bent downwards, and in the upper jaw were two teeth, grown long and tusk-like with levelled, cutting edges, pocket editions of walrus tusks. The Sea-Cow had no ears, just small, hardlyperceptible holes in the head. The skin of his brown body was thick and smooth, like india-rubber. His flippers were short, thick, and fleshy, lie had no hind legs or, flippers, such • as seals: have, bnt his tail was a perfect whale-tail, crescentshaped and flat. And ho had no fins of any kind on all his eight feet' of thick, round body. Inhaling a great draught of air, Dugong the Sea-Cow went down again to,his feeding. On the under surface of < his flippers were long grooves between rough ridges of skin, their purpose being to hold him steady in the sand or mud while he absorbed the -wet seaweed. His powerful > tail, too, held bis breast up to tho mud-bank. After o long ,time Dugong rose again, crawling up ,the mud-slope. As he did so, a hundred yards away, another head arose, that of -Dugong'9 mate. Tho picture she made in the'moonlight was startling, for she was in an upright position, her strange-looking head.with large eyes benf down as a mother .bends over the child on her breast. Almost a third of her i body was visible, and in, her flippers she held her suckling • calf. Her- tail was , holding her .in this position,- its flukes fluttering far, down in the water. ■"'■ From.the mud-bank Dugong watched his mate, and sho from time, to- time looked over to him. They' were an" experienced .pair of sea-monsters, true mates for. many years, for Dugong and all his kind are faithful and affectionate ' to a degree far above that ; of. most animals, particularly those - of. the sea. With scare© a ripple Dugong dived and swam swiftly to her. His ugly head' presently rose beside hers, and for a minute they seemed to speak, though no, sound came. But, .as'if* byNarrangement, both sank together, and took their way to a distant sand-bank, where a favourable turn of the tide had brought fresh supplies of weeds" within the reach of these vegetarian amphibians. Strangely enough Dugong never sought food on the land, even when the long grass grew on' the river banks right down to.-; the" tidal margin of mud;;' ..' ..'.•': .-. With the "calf held under;one flipper, and steadying herself ,'.virb fhe other, and with her tail, Dugong's mate : fed with him on the. wide bank of weed. They rose from time to time for air, and sometimes "appeared, to listen. But over all'the moonlit scene there was intense silence. And it livas a fit setting for •■these In idumbjik'inabsolutelv . yoiceless creatures, whose'actions and caresses were almost human in their expressiveness and gentleness. -... ' 'Long after midnight • Dugong's mate went off to the quiet hidden" bay in the sea-island which was their retreat. Dugong swam away in another direction, on an errand of reconnoitre, to learn whether a certain rich feeding-ground that they had long revelled in, and which had been invaded by some fishspearing natives, had yet regained '■ its former quiet.-'..Very cautiously he approached, but, meeting with one of his tribe, who reported. that all was safe, ho continued with greater confidence. Right, around tho wide mud-banks he swam. . All seemed . right. again in the weed-banks. His weak brain's reasoning went no further than that. Consequently he did not sec a wooden staging'erected closo at ,harid. Only - when he' felt a heavy,blow and a stinging, burning pain in his side did-he awake to danger. Ho dashed under water, • and set off at tremendous speed, only to be brought up blowing by the drag of some heavy thing that was.pulling at.-his wounded side." Though Dugong could, never know it. on that staging had been' crouching a Native armed- with a long-handled harpoon." All: night long ho had heard tho other sea-cows blowing and feeding around his ambush, but none had approached near .chough for" attack. His • harpcon had a detachable head, which buried itself in Dugong's side, and "the line fastened to it was tied sis feet away, to the middle of tho long handle of the harpoon. As soon as Dugong took to flight this pole, dragged its length across his line of travel like a- huge brake, and Dugong, in a terrible panic, was' practically a captive. ■ A Vcanoo" : came - slipping from' behind.a clump of mangroves, with four men in it. They shouted at Dugong, who dived and struggled for liberty, only exhausting himself by his efforts. Again and again they terrified the beast with shouts, and again and again' poor < Dugong nearly burst his heart to get away to that lonely isle", where, in his sweet ignorance, he fancied ho would be safe. When he was almost dead from exhaustion, a man dived overboard and swam to Dugong's head. In his hand was a piece of wood. Seizing the sea-cow by the upper lip, he thrust the wooden plug cruelly into the delicate nostrils intending to suffocate Dugong. It was a great struggle, but Dugong, by fearful efforts, . succeeded .in ' breaking away from the, clutch, and once more strained at the rope. Then the native got back into the canoe while another jumped overboard and made a rope fast round the sea-cow's tail, and dragged the helpless beast under water suddenly, be-' fore he was prepared ,to dive. Several times this was done, and tKo sea-cow was very nearly dead. In a little time' ho would have been quite .dead, but 'an. impatient; hunter seized.a spear and aimed to harpoon Dugong through the nostrils, thereby closing them and hastening the end. The spear sped and sliced through the soft flesh. an' inch wide of the mark. it touched a nervecentre, for it certainly put new vigour into Dugong. With supernatural strength ho lashed - and fought. The rope at his tail broke on the gunwale of the boat and the harpoon handle having come adrift from the harpoon-line ho was away.'from his tornienters, before one of th'em'could 6eize the line,-with twenty; feet of rope trailing behind him. Very weakly he swam, and often, rested on tho bottom where it was deep. Day had broken and the sun was hot when he reached , the harem in the sea where his mate and young one had long since come. Sho fondled his tortured side, and tried to bite tho rope away, but .having no teeth made little impression upon it. So all day he rested securo from attack for the E resent. But he had a grudge againstis follow sea-cow who told him that all Has well in the weed-beds. Eor weeks when ho went to the feeding grounds the rope trailed behind him till . one day, being rotten, it chanced to catch on a rock and broko.ofi"; and tho-flesh about the harpoon grew round it, sound and well. Dugong and his mate, soon forgetting this alarming affair, 'continued their heedless, happy existence, having in their simplo brains scarcely a suspicion of such a thing as danger from man- or beast, though their tribe diminished one by ono at frequent intervals, in fact at such a rato that it is surprising that there are any sea-cows left to flounder anion* tho weed-beds and make startling pictures in tho moonlight, on the Northern Queensland coast. ;, ■