All trustworthy observations indicate that the manati has not the power of voluntarily leaving the water.
Binger states that the manati was the totem of the Mande group, to which perhaps belonged originally the Susu and the Dyula.
The Mandenga are supposed to have either the manati or the hippopotamus as tanna.
The manati is not peculiar to the Amazon river, being not less common in the Oronooko.
The manati and the tortoise are commonly found in the same parts of the world, and feed on the same herbage.
Condamine, who favoured us with a drawing, which he himself made of the manatiin the Amazon river, speaks with greater precision than any other author on the natural habits of this animal.
By this description we find that the manati of Senegal does not differ in any particular from that of Cayenne; and from a comparison made of the head of the Senegal manati with that of a foetus of the Cayenne lamantin by M.
These circumstances cannot all be true; some of them seem adapted to the fable of the dolphin related by the ancients, for the manati cannot possibly crawl on the ground.
They have been led into this error, from the analogy of the walrus and seals, which have this natural habit; but it is certain, that the manati never quits the water, and that he prefers fresh water to salt.
To conclude: the species of the manati is not confined to the seas and rivers of the New World, but exists also in those of Africa.
J] All these facts mentioned by Oviedo are true, and it is remarkable that Cieca, and many others after him, should affirm, that the manatileaves the water very often to feed upon land.
As we have said, the manati has no appearance of hind-limbs.
These were the "calves" in the act of suckling, for such is the mode in which the manatinourishes her young.
The flesh of the manati is much esteemed, and tastes somewhat between beef and pork, altogether different from "fish.
The place of the manati is taken in the waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans by the dugong, which differs from the manati chiefly in having retained in the upper jaw two of the incisor teeth.
The Sirenians feed only on vegetable food, and the two surviving members of this order, the manati and the dugong, live chiefly on seaweed and the shore vegetation at the mouths of rivers.
The manati frequents the coasts of the Atlantic and the dugong those of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
The other, no way allied to fish except by living in the water, is a real mammiferous quadruped, the Trichechus Manatiof naturalists, or the sea cow.
The other fish is called Manatiby the Indians, and there is nothing of the kind seen in Europe.
The flesh of the manati is eaten by all the tribes of Indians who can procure it,--though by some it is more highly esteemed than by others.
There are manati and other kinds of fish taken at all times of the year; but the true season of the manati-fishing is when the waters of the great flood have considerably subsided, and are still continuing to diminish rapidly.
The West-Indian manati has nails well developed upon the outer edge of its fins, or forearms; while those on the other kinds are either not seen at all, or only in a very rudimentary state.
The manatiis shaped somewhat like a large seal, and has certain resemblances to a fish.
The food of the manati is grass exclusively, which it finds on the banks of the lakes and rivers it frequents.
It is divided by the Cano de la Tigrera and the Cano del Manati into three parts, the two extremes of which bear the names of Isla de Blanco and Isla de los Garzitas.
About twelve miles east, however, we have the Bay of Manati with a fairly easy entrance and an elbow-like channel that will give anchorage to vessels drawing fathoms.
On the shore of Manati Bay has been established a very fine sugar mill surrounded by thousands of acres of cane grown in the Yarigua Valley.
From this north shore chain, innumerable spurs are thrown off to the southward between Manati and Nipe Bay, reaching sometimes twenty-five or thirty miles back into the interior.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "manati" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
