THE MERMAID.
43
fore obliged to come to the surface at frequent inter\-als
for respiration. As they breathe through nostrils at the
end of the muzzle, instead of, like most of the whales,
through a blow-hole on the top of the head, their habit is
to rise, sometimes vertically, in the water, with the head
and fore part of the body exposed above the surface, and
often to remain in this position for some minutes. When
seen thus, with head and breast bare, and clasping its
young one to its body, the female presents a certain re-
FIG. i6. — THE DUGONG. Fvom Sir J. Emcrsoii Tcnucnt's '■ dylon.^
semblance to a woman from the waist upward. When
approached or disturbed it dives ; the tail and hinder portion
of the body come into view, and we see that if there was
little of the " inulier fonnosa siepcrjie," at any rate " dcsinit
in piscem!' The manatee has thence been called by the"
Spaniards and Portuguese the "woman-fish," and by the
Dutch the "manetje," or mannikin. The dugong, having
the muzzle bristly, is named b\- the latter the "baard-
manetje," or "little bearded man." There are no bristles