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1708 |
A new voyage to the East-Indies by Francis Leguat and his companions. Containing their adventures in two desart islands, and an account of the most remarkable things in Maurice Island, Batavia, at the Cape of Good Hope, the island of St. Helena, and other places in their way to and from the desart isles.
London, R. Bonwicke, W. Freeman, Tim. Goodwin, J. Walthoe, M. Wotton, S. Manship, F. Nicholson, B. Tooke, R. Parker, & R. Smith: xv + 248. Pls.
–Allen 164. This is a transl. of an earlier French ed. (London, David Mortier, 2 vols., 1708). Later eds.: ?1720; Hakluyt Soc. (P. Oliver, ed.), 1891. Lamentin, 67-70, pl. facing p. 67. See also G. Atkinson (1922), T. Mortensen (1933b, 1934b), and D. R. Stoddart (1972) concerning this work.
According to Allen, "The account of the Lamantin is one of the earliest descriptions of the African manatee, and is quoted by Buffon and other early naturalists. The figure of the Lamantin displays a pig-like tusk in the lower jaw. It is represented as holding its young one in its arms. 'The Lamentins, which other Nations call Manati, that is, having Hands, abound in the Sea about this Isle [Maurice], appearing often in numerous Troops....'" (67).
The illustration of a tusked "Lamentin" with a dolphin-like tail is doubtless intended to represent the dugong and not (as Allen supposed) the manatee, and is interpreted as a dugong by Durand (1983: 193-194), who reproduces it.
The work also describes an encounter with a "sea cow" on New Year's Day, 1691, between Tristan da Cunha and the Cape of Good Hope. This was presumably a pinniped, but the account is illustrated with a copy (reproduced by Durand, 1983: 208-209) of Tachard's hippopotamus-like beast, which has by now grown fins in place of toes!
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Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia 