He says that the
species, as far as his observation goes, is confined to the
neighbourhood of one group of islands. To others this is known as the
"bastard tortoiseshell." The back is not actually seamless, but age
causes the plates to cohere so closely as to present that appearance.
THE MERMAID OF TO-DAY
Dugong (HALICORE AUSTRALIS) still frequent these waters. The rapacity of
the blacks is a rapidly diminishing factor in their extermination, and
the rushing to and fro of steamers, which it was thought would scare
away those which remain, is becoming too familiar to be fearsome. Even
in the narrow limits of Hinchinbrook Channel, through which the passing
of steamers is of everyday occurrence, they still exist, though not in
such numbers as in the early days. It would seem that the waters within
the Great Barrier Reef may long continue one of the last resorts of this
strange, uncouth, paradoxical mammal.
Half hippopotamus, half seal, yet in no way related to either, something
between a pachyderm and cetacean, the dugong is a herbivorous marine
mammal, commonly known as "the sea cow," because of its resemblance in
some particulars to that useful domesticated animal.
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