, 1882-04-05
The DUg0Dg and it's Uses.
FROM the ENr0peaA M0lL.l

Amongst many promising industries
that await future development IN the
thriving young colony OF Queensland,
there is one, says a writer in the Gentle
mans Magazine, {" that should especially
commend Itself to young gentlemen OF ad-
YenturOuS disposition aud moderate capt.
tai. | refer to the utilisati0n OF the
strange creature known as the dugong.
AS will presently be shown, every part
of it is marketable, and its capture may
ba effected with but a small percentage OF
the dangers and hardshipS of the some
what kindred pursuit Of whaling. The
existence Of this marine mamma need not
hcIe be announced as a discovery, though
III truth not much is known about 1t.
Within the past twenty years it has been
occasionally and briefly treated OF In books
aud pamphlets ANA it may, | suppose, be
assumed that the ordinary reader is aware
that our dugong is the Hcjicore G%UStTdji$
of Cuvier and succeeding naturalistS, the
sea COW Of the Australian cOi0niStS, and
the behemoth Of one or two fanciful Wri-
tiers, who have claimed at least as much
right to beStoW the S|criptHgal cognomen
az the friends Of the hipp0potamuS, which
We were in onr Youthful days taught to
consider the lineal descendant of the pa
trlarchal beast that ate grass like an OK,
and whose bones we're as bars OF iron. 1t
is true that the dugong does Craze upon
submarine pastures, and that his bones
ring hard as steel when struck but the
reference might be held to apply equally
we'll to the Heljc0re M5elRdcUij Of the Red
Sea, which bears d rough family reSem-
blance to its Australian relation. We
we're shown a hide that was an inch and
a half thick at the back, though the thick
ness gradually diminished towards the
under part of the body. The dugong hide
is not, as might be supposed from It's So
lldlty, composed of gross material, for its
delicate nature is such that, properly boil
ed down, it yields a Jelly as acceptable and
beneficial to inyalidS as calfS-f0Ot. The
gentleman who conducted us over the de
pot at StradbrOke Island had b0updIess
faith in dugOng hide, and believed that
reduced by machinery, it would make
excellent leather for general purposes.
The flesh of the dugOng next claimed our
attention. 1T is cut off the carcaSe in
bitches and slabs, and from the same ami
mai is taken meat resembling beef, veal,
and bacon. / have eaten it in each form
and can testify to its excellence, and to
the way in which it has been palmed off
upon knowing men as prime tilletS of beef,
outlets OF veal, and raSherS of superior ba-
con. Ii the duGOng is not properly tat, luis
turned chiefly into bacon should it hOWev-
er, present a layer nearly two inches thick,
the snow-white fat is used for a more i'm
portant purpose, to be presently describ-
ed. The lean flesh, beeflike in the ma
ture, and veal-like in the young animals,
is eaten fresh or sailed for food. The ba-
con fitch in size, colour, and streakiness,
if hung in an English pork butchers shop,
might easily be taken for a section of the
side of a true Wiltshire hog and the
only difference detected in the eating
would be, in the dugong, an absence of
the strong favour too often found in the
pork. And a mature dugoDg, II feet long
or thereabouts, would weigh nearly a ton.
1t is worthy of mention, too, before pass
ing from the flesh of this animal, that the
meat from the calf is always the best, and
that it is recommended by the faculty to
co%nsumptive persons by reason of its
undoubted strengthening qualities. From
the dugong's head the fishermen get their