beneath. And now we come
to a sand bank running out some miles or so into the bay, and on which
the water is less than three fathoms. Here the surface is broken by
huge black objects, coming clumsily to the top, shooting out a jet of
spray, and again disappearing. We let the boat glide gently along
until she rests motionless above the bank, and stooping over the side
with our faces close to the water, and sheltered by our hands, we can
peer down into the placid depths, and see the huge animals grazing on
the submarine vegetation with which their favourite feeding-place is
thickly overgrown. But what animal is he talking about? the reader will
ask. It is the dugong ('Halicore Australis'), or sea-cow, from whence
is extracted an oil equal to the cod-liver as regards its medicinal
qualities, and far superior to it in one great essential, for instead
of a nauseous disagreeable flavour, it tastes quite pleasantly. It
frequents the whole of the north-eastern coast of Australia, and when
the qualities of the oil first became known, it was eagerly sought
after by invalids who could not overcome their repugnance to the
cod-liver nastiness. The fishermen, however, spoilt their own market,
for greed induced them to adulterate the new medicine with shark oil,
and all kinds of other abominations, so that the faculty were never
quite certain what they were pouring down the throats of their unhappy
patients. Thus the oil lost its good name, though I am convinced from
personal observation that fresh, pure dugong is quite equal, if not
superior, in nourishing qualities to cod-liver oil, and do not doubt
that a time will come when it will enter largely into the
Pharmacopoeia. The animal itself is so peculiar, that a brief
description of it may not be here amiss. Its favourite haunts are bays
into which streams empty themselves, and where the water is from two to
five fathoms in depth, feeding on the 'Algae' of the submerged banks,
for which purpose the upper lip is very large, thick, and as it turns
down suddenly at right angles with the head, it much resembles an
elephant's trunk shorn off at the mouth. Its length averages from
eight to fourteen feet; there is no dorsal fin, and the tail is
horizontal; colour blue, and white beneath. Its means of propulsion
are two paddles, with which it also crawls along the bottom, and
beneath which are situated the udders, with teats exactly like a cow's.
Its flesh is far from bad, resembli