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Show 6z l.lOOK T. ~ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. thornbacks, barbels, flying-fi.!h, iliad, lobfters, foles, and a great ma4 ny others, together with feveral fpecies of tortoifes, polypus, crabs, fpunges, &c. · The Mexican gulf, befides thofe already mentioned, affords 11:ur4 gcons, pike, congers, turbot, lampreys, cuttle-fi.fh, anchovies, carp, eels, nautilufes, &c. In the Pacific Ocean, befides thofe common to the two feas, there are falmon s, tunnies, fea fc01·pions, herrings, and others. In 'the lakes and rivers, are three or four kinds of white fi{h, carp, mullet, trout, barbels, eels, and many others. As the particular defcription of thefe fi{h would be foreign to the objeCt of our hifiory, and of little ufe to the Europea? read~r, we !l~a.ll only take notice of a few of the more remarkabl~ c1rcum:fhmces w1th .. refpeCt to them. The Tiburon belongs to that clafs of fea-animals called by the an-cients Cmziculre. Its great voracity, its fize, 11:rength, and fwiftnefs, arc well known. It has two, three, and fometimes more rows of {harp 11:rong teeth, and [wallows whatever is thrown to it whether eatable or not. A whole :fheep's {kin, and even a large butcher's knife, has been found in its belly.· This fi{h frequently accompan.ies veffels, and by Oviedo's account there have been Tiburoncs, which have kept · up with a veffel in full fail with a fair wind, for five hundred miles, and often fwimming round the !l1ip to catch any filth that was thrown from it. The Manati or Lamentin, as it is caJled by fome, is a larger fi01 than the Ti6ttro?1, and of a very different difpofition. Oviedo f.1ys, that Mcmatts have been catched of fuch a fize as to require a cart, with two pair of oxen to draw them. It is like the Tiburon viviparous, but the female brings only one young one at a time, which, however, is of a great fize ( r). The fle{h of this animal is delicate, and fomething like (r) Duffon agrees with Hernandez in f:tying that the Manaii brings but one youn•r one a~ a rime ; but ?thcr ~>erfons affirm th .tt {he brings two. Perhaps the fame thing tak es 0 placc \~'llh the Man:111 as With the hllman fpecics ; which is commonly to have only one, but fameames to have two or more. Hcrnancle1, def~.:ribc s the copulation of there animals in thd u wonls! f{u !Nano more coil, .ftt:m~na j 11pina frrc lola in lit! ore procumbe~~tc, et cdrriltrtr quadrtm Jtt· f!Jrvmmlle mar(, We do uot wuh fomc modcmnaturali!ls rank the M:mati among C)ltadru .. peds, .,~ . HISTORY OF MEXICO. like veal. Some authors place the Manati in the clafs of amphibious animals, but improperly, as it is never upon land; but only raifes its head, and a part of its body, out of the water, to broufe upon the herbage which grows along the banks of the rivers ( s). The Manta is that flat fiih mentioned by Ulloa and others, which is fo hurtful to the pearl-fi.!l1ers, and which I have no doubt is the fame with that which Pliny has defcribed, though he feems not to have been very well acquainted with it, under the name of N ubes or Nebula ( t). It is not improbable, that this fi.ili has made its v>ay into thefe feas fi·om thofe of the old world in the tune manner as fome others appear to have done. The ftrength of this fi.lh is fo great that it will not only il:rangle a man whom it embraces or winds itfclf abon t, but it has even been feen to take the cable of an anchor and move it from the place where it had been call:. It has been called Manta, becaufe when it lies il:retched upon the fea, as it frequently docs, it feems like a fleece of wool floating upon the water. The fword-fi{h of thefe feas is quite different from that of Greenland. The [word is larger, and in its figure more nearly refembling a real fword ; and ill not placed in the f:m1e manner }Vith that · of the Greenland fi!l1 upon the hinder part, but upon the fore part of the .,.. : l'eds, although it is viviparous; becaufc every one by the name of quadruped un der Rands an ani1nal with four feet, but the Manati has only two, nnd tb cfe imperfe t.lly fo rmed. (s) .. Mr. de Ia Condaminc confirms our ob fcrva tion with tcfp c~ to t he Manar i's lil'ing conOantly in water, and the fame thing had been faid two centuries before by two eye-wit'· nelfes Oviedo ana Hernandez. It is tru e, that Hernand ,'/, docs fccm to fay the contrary; . but this is owing merely to a typographi c:~ ! error, whic h is obv~o u s to every reader. J fhould mention likewifc, that the Manari, alt hough properly a fca- :111 imal, is frcq ncnrly to be found in rivers, ( t ) Ipji firtlllt (U rinatorcs) ct t1ubem qurt11dm11 craffif.-crc J upet· crtpitrt, plrworum pij'cium Jimilem, pt·cmt lltem co;, arccntemq11e a ,·er:iprocmldo et ob irl jlilos /Jl'd!acutos line is aw1r.-ros httba e J/ji! ; IJuia i11ji perfqff~ ita, 11011 ,·ccedallt, crtligit1is ct pav ot·is, 11t nrbitro r, npcrc. Nt1bem e~~im jive 11elmfam ( c11j Ns 11omim irlmalum appclla111) i11ter auimalia hatul ul/,rm t"rjm ·it 1f71if'!Ju rtm. Plin. Hiflor. Nat. lib. ix. cap. 46. The account given of this clo 11rl by thol'c divers is much the fame with th at· which the divers in the American fcas give of th cmantn, and the nnmc of the clo~td is perfctl ly applicable to it, as it really feema to be a cloud to tltore who arc in the water b:low it; ou; fwimmer~ likcwifc ~;!r ry l~n g knives, or {harp fiicks, fCJr the pmpofc of di rperfing this antmal. Tll!S obfcrvn tton wluch has cfcaped all the intcr'prctc rs of 1' liny, was made by my countrym:111 and friend the Abb~ D. Jof. Raf. Campoi, a man not lefs diil in"'uiOted by his mann e r~ and. integrity, than bf his eloquence nnd eruditio n, partiCLtlarly in° the Latin Japguage, 111 Htltory,, in ~ri~iciftn, and in Gr.ogmphy. His death upon the 29th of Decembe r, 177 7, prevcntcJ hts fimllung fev ernl very uft.:ful works wh ich he had bl·gun. body, l.lj BOOK L • -• |
