Craveller.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1595, 23 September 1882, Page 6

C raveller.

THE MANATKJE. Tin: canoe had stopped to let us come up, for some purpose or other, and was just chawing ahead again, when one of the men who had been keeping his eyes fixed on a spot higher up the creek, and had beeh shouted at by George for his supposed laziness, suddenly held up his paddle and called out " Cow, cow 1" |and, looking at the place pointed out we saw one of these strange creatures under the bank, about* eighty yards ahead. We could only see its head and shoulders, to a little above the middle of the body, a*nd it appeared to be feeding on the moco-moco grass which fringed the sides of the creek. W. prepared himself for a shot with his rifle, although the men were evidently unwilling to have the " cow" interfered with, and called out to him, " No, massa, leave he to we 1" I strongly suspected at the time that their desire to have it left for them to take after their own fashion was more prompted by their superstition than the hope of being more j sure of securing him themselves ; and I am still inclined to believe I was right, as we had no harpoons with us, which are the usual means used to kill the manatee. Be that as it may, W. fired, and probably hit it, as the manatee immediately sank, but so quietly as to show he was more startled than badly hurt. The skin of the back is of great thickness, and the ball must have glanced off, which was the more likely as the rifle carried a very small ball, being not much larger than an ordinary rook rifle. The manatee is universally called water cow or " cow" in the Canje and other places in the colony where it is found ; but the Indians call it Mintje Mamma, or Mother of the Waters, and under this name Worship ifc. It alsp 'goes by other names, as lemantin, cow whale, and coemoor. My authority for these last "three names is the same gentleman to whom I referred in a former paper, I myself having always^ called it by the former names. It is Yory common in the Canje atjd is larger than those found in other V&s]M>f^jt/u^^^L have frequently, seen it Jgigh^^^^H| posed for sale at a quarfeßgajjala^^^^^^M the inhabitants, are 'jmfflßw^^^^^^^^B being y at the ,hu^fc£r|g^H|j^^^^^^^^|

length, and even more occasionally. Instead of feet, it lias two fins (like those of a turtle) near the head, the whole body tapering off to the tail. It has a round face, and breasts like a woman between the two fins, with which it holds its young when suckling, no doubt the cause of the many mamma stories and fableB current in the colony and elsewhere. There is a smaller species found in another part of the colony, with hair on the back of the head and neck, which gives the appearance of hair hanging down when the animal rises, with the water running off it. Possibly this may be the origin of the story of the mermaid combing her hair. I have never seen this latter kind, which is said to be not uncommon in the creeks of the Berbice Eiver.— The Field.