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Updated: August 2, 2024
When we were some miles from land I noticed a dark-looking object on the surface of the water a little way ahead. Feeling certain it was a dugong feeding on the well-known "grass," I rose and hurled my harpoon at it with all the force I could muster.
In those days he deserved the reputation of being an unrivalled maker of canoes which, during the first few weeks of their prime, were sound, neat of appearance, quite seaworthy, though of small dimensions and exceedingly light. Others might be expert fishermen and skilful in more exacting sport of turtle and dugong catching, but all acknowledged his special superiority.
Mr Sedgwick now wanted us to go back to the house, but we could not think of leaving the shore till our friends were in safety. He himself said that he would remain to watch, should any change take place. It was an anxious time, for instead of decreasing, the wind was blowing even harder than before. It seemed a wonder that the Dugong could stand so much battering.
No one regards the external similarity of a mouse to a shrew, of a dugong to a whale, of a whale to a fish, as of any importance. These resemblances, though so intimately connected with the whole life of the being, are ranked as merely "adaptive or analogical characters;" but to the consideration of these resemblances we shall recur.
The 'septum' of the nose is pierced, and the crescent-shaped tooth, of the dugong is worn in it on state occasions; large holes are also made in the ears, and a piece of wood as large as a bottle cork, and whitened with pipe clay, is inserted in them. A practise of cutting the hair off very close is followed by both sexes, seemingly once a year, and wigs are made of the hair.
"Watch out!" he said. The coxswain pronounced a few words in his bizarre language, and no doubt he alerted his men to keep on their guard. Arriving within twenty feet of the skiff, the dugong stopped, sharply sniffing the air with its huge nostrils, pierced not at the tip of its muzzle but on its topside. Then it gathered itself and sprang at us. The skiff couldn't avoid the collision.
Admiration is enhanced as one learns of the affection of the dugong for its young and its love for the companionship of its fellows. When one of a pair is killed, the other haunts the locality for days. Its suspirations seem sighs, and its presence melancholy proof of the reality of its bereavement.
I must make a long story short. We found that Captain and Mrs Davenport, after waiting at Singapore for some months, vainly expecting our return, and after having made every inquiry in their power for the missing Dugong, had at length given up the search, under the belief that we had been lost in a typhoon.
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.
He laughed, however, at that notion, and observed that we were more likely to find pig and kangaroo, as beef and mutton were articles unknown in that region. I bid him and his officers farewell, and returned to the Dugong, I felt greatly relieved at the thought that Captain Davenport would now hear of our safety, and hoped before long to meet him and his kind wife at Singapore.
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