Evening star., 1901-02-02
HUNTING THE MANATEE'
A GREAT WINTER SPORT IN SOUTH
ERN WATERS.
Method of Locating and Attacking
the Quarry-silence and Quiet and
Then the Final Struggle.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

From the Pail Mall Gazette.
With the approach Of late autumn to
many lucky people. both on this and the
other side. come thoughts of winter yacht
Ing in the AntiIlano archipelago. About the
best days sport to be got out of a West
Indian cruise is a sea lion hunt although
the manatee now frequents the islands in
much smaller numbers than formerly. The
American manatee is not to be confused
with either the Steller or the Californian
sea lion, the game of the Antillano sports
man being the Manati-Australis, of which
there are only two species, the one found
in the Brazilian rivers. the other frequent
Ing the estuaries of the Antilles and the
reefs Of Florida. OF the measurements OF
all the species of sea lion grossly Munchau-
senlike tales have been told. No account of
West Indian sea lion exceeding seven, or
perhaps eight, feet has been authenticated:
indeed, a manatee that has attained this
length Is freak. Yet, though the game
be rarer and of less heroic proportions than
in the days of fernando de Soto, when. on
account Of its unpalatably f1shy taste. the
Franciscan fathers of Habana partook of
it with ''penitential grimaces'' on 1ours
maigres, who that has ever caught up his
spear under the tempered glare of the wan
ing year in the tropics, and has strolIed
along the amber sand that edges one of the
IiNeF- CTcehS Ol HI lSlduQ III the SdTlUDedl
can forget the stimulus to his sporting in
stincts Of the slow, low snort, as, lying at
the bottom of a shallow, the manatee sup-
ports himself by the extremity OF his tail.
raising only his snout above the surface At
intervals of two or three minutes, in order
to breathe?
Difficult of Location.
1t may not, however, be the snort that the
sea lion hunter hears. If he be experienced
in the sport, his trained ear detects the
soft lashing, under the gently swishing
water, of the forelimbs, which are of great
fieXibility in swimming, and which. from
the handlike use that 1t makes of them,
caused the early Spanish colonists to chris
ten the creature the manali. From the
shoulder Joint the manatee can move these
fore limbs in all directions. the elbow and
wrist permitting particularly free action.
This striking of it's arms against the water
is, when the game is in mdstream. almost
the only clue to a find" since, excepting
the soft, seal-like bleat of the COW when
gamboling with her pups. the American
manatee, unlike it's relative of the north,
with its deep, grand roar is pretty nearly
voiceles. and therefore very difficult of To-
cation by the sportsman, whose season in
the Leeward Islands is from November to
January, inclusive, during which months
the water is generally tepid enough for the
sport for the creature is fastidious about
temperature, disliking extremes. Along the
coasts of Cuba and San Domingo the
"northers''-the cold winds blowing inter-
mittently from the north from November
to February-interfere occasionally, but
these are seldom of more than forty-elght
hours duration. In the Windward Islands
and Florida sport can be had from Decem-
ber to February.
For a November hunt 1t is advisable to
call the meet for, at latest. about o'clock
At that hour the sun is not oVerpoWerlnS
though strong enough to duh the scent OF
the sea lion, which has, however, acute
hearing. and although its hold has been
detected by the sportsman as he came
shoreward by the time that the boats, their
oarlocks swathed in strips of palm leaf to
muffie the click of the oars have pushed
off-being. of course between the game ana
the seattle manatee has generally betaken
itself to his feeding ground. Sea lions feed
in families and upon aquatic plants chiefly,
pushing the food toward the mouth with
one or both hands. From these character
istics probably arose the fabe-favored by
that doyen of chivalry Ponce de Leon. who
did some manatee hunting when on his
never-t e-forgotten quest for the foun-
tain Of youth-that the manatee carries It's
Young in It's arms. If the chronicles are
to be relied Ponce seems to have been
deferred from making a big haul only py
consideration for the human qualities he
attributed to the object of his sport. NOW
adays the manatee hunter does not find
things SO easy. 1t is not that, on escaping
from his hold, the game has probably mucn
outdistanced his pursuers, for ne IS & ex-
tremely inactive of habit; the difficulty lies
in hitting upon the particular one or Tile
often alligator-infested creeks running on
these interminably indented Antillano rivers
black as night, some OF them, beneath
their eroined roofs of cedar and mango
and Caoba-in which he has sought refuge
under.
Soundless and colorless water that knows
not the sense Of the SUM-
In this emergency the plan adopted three
hundred years ago was, Lasagra tells US,
to nlace a line of blacks, crawling on all
along each bank OF the
creek At given signal the negroes sprang
up in a body, waved their arms franticaily
and yelled to correspond. AS the manatee
Is either too stupid or too lazy TO move IN
any other direction than that which he
faces he was inevitably netted. shot or
speared.
Where Silence is Golden.
For us there Is too much of the drive
about this Moreover, he of the creek is
but one of a family Out on to the bosom
Of the river shoot our boats. The ripples,
ouiyering under haze Of heat, flash back
the light like mirrors, 80 that while the
colored boatman softly rows the white
sportsman, standing spear and glass In
hand at the PROV, Is fain to refresh his eyes
for a moment or two with the cool ollVe OF
the forest wall on either bank ere he turn
them again on the glittering bit or water
which each boat is beating as nolselessly as
possible Never Is silence more golden than
during q sea lion hunt, for, II second
manatee has been browsing in the deeper
reaches, at the faintest echo Of pursuit ne
floats. the body arched and the rounded
chestnut-colored back sufficiently under the
surface to be undesirable until close upon
the creature, whose lungs obviously act in
the same manner as the air sack OF fishes.
The instant in which he catches a glimpse
of that red-brown hump, barely two feet
under the clear surface, is the psychological
moment for the manatee hunter. The rope
has been unloosed, ready; the harpoon
speeds through the sunlit air and water:
there is a convulsive wrthing and pulling
and jerking; the negro boatman is on his
knees in the boat. steadylng the tiny craft
with hands and feet wide apart: the ner-
vous fingers of the sportsman are reeling in