Popular Adventure Tales

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER XLIX.

  THE MANATI.

  The araguatoes, with dried plantains and cassava, were the food of ourtravellers for several days after. On the evening of the third day theyhad a change. Guapo succeeded in capturing a very large turtle, whichserved for relish at several meals. His mode of taking the turtle wassomewhat curious, and deserves to be described.

  The balza had been brought to the bank, and they were just mooring it,when something out on the water attracted the attention of Leon andLeona. It was a small, darkish object, and would not have been observedbut for the ripple that it made on the smooth surface of the river, andby this they could tell that it was in motion.

  "A water-snake!" said Leon.

  "Oh!" ejaculated the little Leona, "I hope not, brother Leon."

  "On second thoughts," replied Leon, "I don't think it is a snake."

  Of course the object was a good distance off, else Leon and Leona wouldnot have talked so coolly about it. But their words had reached the earof Dona Isidora, and drawn her attention to what they were talkingabout.

  "No; it is not a snake," said she. "I fancy it is a turtle."

  Guapo up to this had been busy with Don Pablo in getting the balza madefast. The word "turtle," however, caught his ear at once, and he lookedup, and then out on the river in the direction where Leon and Leona werepointing. As soon as his eye rested upon the moving object he replied tothe remark of Dona Isidora.

  "Yes, my mistress," said he, "it is a turtle, and a big one too. Pleaseall keep quiet--I think I can get him."

  How Guapo was to get the turtle was a mystery to all. The latter wasabout thirty paces distant, but it would be difficult, if notimpossible, to hit his small snout--the only part above water--with thearrow of the blow-gun. Moreover, they thought that the arrow would notpenetrate the hard, bony substance, so as to stick there and infuse itspoison into the wound.

  These conjectures were true enough, but his gravatana was not the weaponwhich Guapo was about to use. He had other weapons as well--a fish-spearor harpoon, and a regular bow and arrows, which he had made during hisleisure hours in the valley.

  The latter was the weapon with which the tortoise was to be killed.

  Taking the bow, and adjusting an arrow to the string, Guapo steppedforward to the water's edge. All watched him, uttering their hopes ofhis success. It was still not clear with them how the turtle was to bekilled by an arrow shot from a bow any more than by one sent from ablow-gun. Would it not glance from the shell even should he succeed inhitting it under water! Surely it would!

  As they stood whispering their conjectures to one another, they observedGuapo, to their great astonishment, _pointing his arrow upward_, andmaking as if he was going to discharge it in the air! This he, in fact,_did_ do a moment after; and they would have been puzzled by hisapparently strange conduct, had they not observed, in the next instant,that the arrow, after flying high up, came down again head-foremost andstuck upright in the back of the turtle!

  The turtle dived at once, and all of them expected to see the uprightarrow carried under water. What was their surprise as well as chagrin tosee that it had fallen out, and was floating on the surface! Of coursethe wound had only been a slight one, and the turtle would escape, andbe none the worse for it.

  But Guapo shared neither their surprise nor chagrin. Guapo felt surethat the turtle was his, and said nothing; but, jumping into the canoe,began to paddle himself out to where the creature had been last seen.What could he be after? thought they.

  As they watched him, they saw that he made for the floating arrow. "Oh!"said they, "he is gone to recover it."

  That seemed probable enough, but, to their astonishment, as heapproached the weapon it took a start, and ran away from him! Somethingbelow dragged it along the water. That was clear, and they began tocomprehend the mystery. The _head_ of the arrow was still sticking inthe shell of the turtle. It was only the shaft that floated, and thatwas attached to the head by a string! The latter had been but looselyput on, so that the pressure of the water, as the turtle dived, shouldseparate it from the shaft, leaving the shaft with its cord to act as abuoy, and discover the situation of the turtle.

  Guapo, in his swift canoe, soon laid hold of the shaft, and after alittle careful manoeuvring, succeeded in landing his turtle high and dryupon the bank. A splendid prize it proved. It was a "jurara"tortoise--the "tataruga," or great turtle of the Portuguese, and itsshell was full three feet in diameter.

  Guapo's mode of capturing the "jurara" is the same as that generallypractised by the Indians of the Amazon, although strong nets and thehook are also used. The arrow is always discharged upwards, and therange calculated with such skill, that it falls vertically on the shellof the turtle, and penetrates deep enough to stick, and detach itselffrom the shaft. This mode of shooting is necessary, else the juraracould not be killed by an arrow, because it never shows more than thetip of its snout above water, and any arrow hitting it in a directcourse would glance harmlessly from its shell. A good bowman among theIndians will rarely miss shooting in this way,--long practice and nativeskill enabling him to guess within an inch of where his weapon willfall.

  In the towns of the Lower Amazon, where turtles are brought to market, asmall square hole may be observed in the shells of these creatures. Thatis the mark of the arrow-head.

  Guapo lost no time in turning his turtle inside out, and converting partof it into a savoury supper, while the remainder was fried intosausage-meat, and put away for the following day.

  But on that following day a much larger stock of sausage-meat wasprocured from a very different animal, and that was a "cow."

  "How?" you exclaim,--"a cow in the wild forests of the Amazon! Why, youhave said that no cattle--either cows or horses--can exist there withoutman to protect them, else they would be devoured by pumas, jaguars, andbats. Perhaps they had arrived at some settlement where cows were kept?"

  Not a bit of it; your conjecture, my young friend, is quite astray.There was not a civilised settlement for many hundreds of miles fromwhere Guapo got his cow--nor a cow neither, of the sort you are thinkingof. But there are more kinds of cows than one; and, perhaps, you mayhave heard of a creature called the "fish-cow?" Well, that is the sortof cow I am speaking of. Some term it the "sea-cow," but this is animproper name for it, since it also inhabits fresh-water riversthroughout all tropical America. It is known as the _Manati_, and thePortuguese call it "_peixe boi_," which is only "fish-cow" done intoPortuguese.

  It is a curious creature the fish-cow, and I shall offer you a shortdescription of it. It is usually about seven feet in length, and fiveround the thickest part of the body, which latter is quite smooth, andtapers off into a horizontal flat tail, semicircular in shape. There areno hind-limbs upon the animal, but just behind the head are two powerfulfins of an oval shape. There is no neck to be perceived; and the head,which is not very large, terminates in a large mouth and fleshy lips,which are not unlike those of a cow: hence its name of "cow-fish." Thereare stiff bristles on the upper lip, and a few thinly scattered hairsover the rest of the body. Behind the oval fins are two _mammae_, orbreasts, from which, when pressed, flows a stream of beautiful whitemilk. Both eyes and ears are very small in proportion to the size of theanimal, but, nevertheless, it has full use of these organs, and is noteasily approached by its enemy.

  The colour of the skin is a dusky lead, with some flesh-coloured markson the belly, and the skin itself is an inch thick at its thickest part,on the back. Beneath the skin is a layer of fat, of great, thickness,which makes excellent oil when boiled. As we have said, the manati hasno appearance of hind-limbs. Its fore-limbs, however, are highlydeveloped for a water animal. The bones in them correspond to those inthe human arm, having five fingers with the joints distinct, yet soenclosed in an inflexible sheath that not a joint can be moved.

  The cow-fish feeds on grass, coming in to the borders of the lakes andrivers to procure it. It can swim very rapidly by means of its flat tailand strong fins, and i
s not so easily captured as might be supposed. Allthe art of the hunter is required to effect its destruction. The harpoonis the weapon usually employed, though sometimes they are caught instrong nets stretched across the mouths of rivers or the narrow arms oflakes. The flesh of the manati is much esteemed, and tastes somewhatbetween beef and pork, altogether different from "fish." Fried in itsown oil, and poured into pots or jars, it can be preserved for manymonths.

  As already stated, on the day after Guapo shot the turtle--in fact, thenext morning--just as they were going to shove off, some of the party,in gazing from the edge of the balza, noticed a queer-looking animal inthe clear water below. It was no other than a "fish-cow;" and, as theycontinued to examine it more attentively, they were astonished toobserve that, with its short paddle-like limbs, it hugged two miniaturemodels of itself close to its two breasts. These were the "calves" inthe act of suckling, for such is the mode in which the manati nourishesher young.

  All the others would have watched this spectacle for a while, interestedin the maternal and filial traits thus exhibited by a subaqueouscreature, but while they stood looking into the water, somethingglanced before their eyes, and glided with a plunge to the bottom. Itwas the harpoon of Guapo.

  Blood rose to the surface immediately, and there was a considerablesplashing as the strong manati made its attempt to escape; but the headof the harpoon was deeply buried in its flesh, and, with the attachedcord, Guapo soon hauled the animal ashore. It was as much as he and DonPablo could do to drag it on dry land; but the knife soon took it topieces; and then several hours were spent in making it fit forpreservation. Its fat and flesh yielded enough to fill every sparevessel our travellers had got; and, when all were filled, the balza waspushed off, and they continued their voyage without any fear of shortrations for some time to come.