ddling towards the bank, towed it after them. I was all the
while looking out for the jaguar. A movement in the shrubs among which
it had fallen showed that it was still alive. I was sure that my shot
had not injured it much, and I could scarcely suppose that those light
needle-like darts could have done it much harm. I reminded Naro of the
jaguar. He shook his head in reply. "He will no longer interfere with
us," I understood him to say. The manatee was soon hauled on shore, and
as it was too large to be taken bodily into the canoe, the Indians,
having thoroughly knocked out any spark of life which might remain,
began cutting it up.

The creature was between seven and eight feet long, and upwards of six
in circumference in the thickest part. The body was perfectly smooth,
and of a lead colour. It tapered off towards the tail, which was flat,
horizontal, and semicircular, without any appearance of hind limbs. The
head was not large, though the mouth was, with fleshy lips somewhat like
those of a cow. There were stiff bristles on the lips, and a few hairs
scattered over the body. Just behind the head were two powerful oval
fins, having the breasts beneath them. The ears were minute holes, and
the eyes very small. The skin of the back was fully an inch thick, and
beneath it a layer of fat, also an inch or more thick. On examining the
fins, or fore-limbs, as they should properly be called, we found bones
exactly corresponding to those of the human arm, with five fingers at
the extremity, every joint distinct, although completely encased in a
stiff inflexible skin. The manatee feeds on the grass growing at the
borders of the lakes and rivers. It swims at a rapid rate, moved on by
the tail and paddles. The female produces generally only one at a
birth, and clasps it, so Naro told us, in her paddles while giving it
suck.

Having cut up the cow, with which we loaded the canoe, we paddled in
towards where the jaguar had been seen. The chief and one of his
followers without hesitation leaped on shore: Arthur and I followed,
when to our surprise we saw the savage brute lying over on its side
perfectly dead. It had been destroyed by the poison on the tip of the
arrows, not by the wounds they or my bullet had produced. It was
quickly skinned, cut up, and part of the meat added to our store, while
the skin, which I thought was the most valuable part, was at my request
taken on board.

On emerging from the inl