Note 218-1 — JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS (continued 3)

The mermaids [Spanish, “sirens”] of Columbus are the manatis, or sea-cows, of the Caribbean Sea and great South American rivers. They are now scarcely ever seen out at sea. Their resemblance to human beings, when rising in the water, must have been very striking. They have small rounded heads, and cervical vertebrae which form a neck, enabling the animal to turn its head about. The fore limbs also, instead of being pectoral fins, have the character of the arm and hand of the higher mammalia. These peculiarities, and their very human way of suckling their young, holding it by the forearm, which is movable at the elbow-joint, suggested the idea of mermaids. The congener of the manati, which had been seen by Columbus on the coast of Guinea, is the dugong. (Markham.)