60 ABORIGINAL MONUMENTS.
The engraving does not do full justice to the original, which is exquisitely carved and polished, every feature being clearly made out. The sculpture answers very well to the descriptions of the manitus given by naturalists. It has the obtuse head (not well shown in the engraving) ; thick, fleshy snout; semi-lunar nostrils; tumid upper lip, furrowed in the middle ; scarcely distinguishable ears ; the singular moustaches mentioned by Desmoulin; short, thick neck, and rudimental paws, or, as as they were called by the Spaniards, hands. The general form also corres- ponds with the descriptions given. But one of the sculptures exhibits a flat, truncated tail, the rest are round, and rather long. There isa variety of the lamantin, however, known as the round-tailed manitus, to which they may bear a closer resemblance. This animal is only found in tropical regions; it occurs, though rarely, on the Peninsula of Florida, and, it is believed, nowhere else within the limits of the United States. The inhabitants of San Christophers. Guadaloupe, and other of the Barbadoes, formerly used it for food, and the Southern Indians made use of its hide for thongs, and its bones for implements. The sculptures of this last of animals or first of fishes are all of the same style of workmanship, and of like materials, with an entire class of sculptures found in the mounds. Consequently, either the same race of men, possessing throughout a like mode
