E X P E D I T I O N TO S U R I N A M , *77
River Marawi’na; and .Major Abdfcromby^ of the fame fer- c H a P.
vice, declared', t'hat' a merm&icTwas lately feen in the Ri- , XXIIL t
ver Surinam, Lord Mdnbodd'o - allb pofitively affirms- the
exiftence^ of-jf^-woihen and fea-men, while he , afferts
ithat t^^xyeffe/.ieen fo late as 1720. But, however re-
fpe<$tabl£ his lordffiip-’s judgment and authority may he
on other fubjh£ts*j yl-lcan | no more, a'gjfpi with him? as to
men and women , haying fins, and fcales^than to their
having tails. '
The plaiticfa^ in my humble;opinions is-this, that in
many.rivers between the Tropics, ^bot-h on the coaft of
Africa^nd;,Sduth Amqricli^ a.fiffifometimes.appear^half
abpVe ;the \T^nfolance<jif the
human fpecks»* but, is, fmaller,. nearly fuch as in 1794 was
exhibited in London,* The-cbkmr is_ o-f a blackiffi green-;
-the head - is- i round, with a- 4eforme^, kind of a face.;- a
ftrong fin runs, from near the eyesjtso. the middle/of the
back, which fomething -refembles flowing hair: andi the
.two fuppofed:^tias';and -haiidsyj3*® two fins*, or
rather digitated fwimmer.s; the female has breafts affur-
edly, like a wopaan’s* being: -viviparous animal'; while
the, tail is exactly that of a fifh, in moft of which properties
it agrees with the foal, but this lafl: has no fin along
the back, and is confiderably larger,,whileit never appears
ereft above the water, like the’ former. The above
informatipn Iliad from feveral,old, negroes and Indians,
who, all agreed, perfedily in the description, ;j feme added,,
that they fang, which I apprehend to; be no qther than a
Y ql, II, A a, grunting I