While he was reading theology at the University of Halle, Steller studied God’s Word closely and felt the utterances of every fiery-breasted pietist in his heart most profoundly. He had no time for the Pharisaic life, for vain lip-service or haughty prelates; all he needed was a pure heart and a direct connection to the Lord. He wasn’t a bad preacher either, but the rocks, the plants and animals began to allure him, to draw him ever closer. He was closer to God at the botanical garden than in the church, and soon afterwards he found himself at botanical lectures and began spending his evenings at the library where he could pore over reports from far-off expeditions. Are not animals God’screations just like the Word – beautiful creatures that reveal the spirit of their Creator? He cut open a frog and examined the wonders he found inside it, a perfect system where every vein and tendon are in just the right place. Eventually he chose the animals, the plants and rocks, and as he studies the flora and fauna of Siberia, the wild grasses and tiny birds, he thinks of himself as a scribe writing down the Lord’s Word. And in front of him now is the greatest and most beautiful of all God’s works.
The others strip theSt Peterof her planks, while Steller strips the sea cow of its hide. The beast is so large that he cannot do this alone. The internal organs need to be removed carefully and intact, and he asks his assistants to help, asks but does not command, because the island has affected the men’s behaviour. He bribes them with tobacco. He doesn’t ask Toma Lepekhin, and the others agree only begrudgingly, extort more tobacco out of him than he’d been prepared to offer, but needs must, and Steller duly doles out his reserves. They begin with the external measurements. Steller runs the measure along the length of the sea cow’s body, tells his assistants to hold it by the animal’s snout, then on its fins and tongue, to measure the length from the upper lip to the tip of its tail. He wants to record the sea cow’s circumference too, and they try to slide the measure under its body, but this proves impossible. The animal is simply too heavy. They try to dig a trench underneath it, but the ground is rocky and hard to shift, and Steller is unable to take an accurate reading and has to settle for an estimate, and though he is annoyedat this, he realises that he cannot demand the impossible, or certainly not all the time.
He wants to open up the sea cow’s skull. The bone is thick, but Piotr Antonov strikes it with his axe, and the skull cracks open. Steller is keen to find out whether the myth is true, whether the sea cow’s head contains the famed heavy, bright-white stones known aslapis manati. Previous explorers have found these precious stones hidden inside the skulls of manatees, brought them back to Europe and sold them for a considerable price. Worn around the neck, thelapis manatiis said to prevent blood loss, though Steller doesn’t understand how a stone worn around the neck can affect the circulation. Diderot, meanwhile, writes that, ground into a powder and stirred into white wine, thelapis manatihas very great healing powers indeed, and Steller plans to test the effects that tea made from the stones might have on the men recovering from scurvy, but he is left disappointed. He goes through the skull carefully, but all he finds beneath the bone is soft, warm tissue. Perhaps the stones are only found in the species further to the south, perhaps they need warmer waters and softer light to develop fully.
Steller had dissected frogs, fish, dogs, cats and horses. At the university, there was a constant shortage of human cadavers, so he has much experience when it comes to cutting open animals, but the sheer size of the sea cow presents a whole array of new challenges. How best to remove a liver the size of a large dog from inside the sea cow in one piece, where to make theincision and with which implement – and his assistants lack a proper education in this field. Their tools are not scalpels and surgical knives but blunt axes, and the results are terrible. Steller wants to rebuke them, to show them the correct angle once again, but forces himself to hold his tongue, and they measure the kidney, the liver and the vulva, and slit open the sea cow’s stomach. The smell is overwhelming, and now he is relieved that he didn’t ask Lepekhin to assist in this task and asks the men to lay out the intestines along the shore. He has to muster all his authority, and eventually the men agree but only once Steller promises that after this they can stop, cut up the animal’s flesh and return to the camp. He remains on the shore, alone with his measuring tools, he doesn’t even notice the others leaving but measures the beast twice, gushing with excitement. What a terrific, awe-inspiring creature is this, with a full 5,968 inches of bowel in its guts!
Steller’s recorded measurements of the sea cow:
Length from the extremity of the upper lip to the extreme rightcornuof the caudal fork: 296 inches
Circumference of the body at the shoulders: 144 inches
The greatest circumference about the middle of the abdomen: 244 inches
Circumference of the head at the eyes: 48 inches
Height of the nares: 2 inches, 5 tenths
Breadth of the nares: 2 inches, 5 tenths
The diameter of the mouth at the angle (oris froenum): 20 inches, 4 tenths
Height of the end of the snout: 8 inches, 4 tenths
From the extremity of the upper lip to the nares: 8 inches
Distance between the eyes at the posterior angles: 22 inches, 2 tenths
From the anterior angle to the posterior angle of the eye: 8 tenths
Length of the tongue: 12 inches
Width of the tongue: 2 inches, 5 tenths
Length of the skull from nares to occiput: 27 inches
Width of the occiput: 10 inches, 5 tenths
Distance between the extreme points of the caudal fin (this is the breadth of the fin): 78 inches
Height of the fin: 8 inches, 8 tenths
Length of the nipples: 4 inches
Length of the vulva: 10 inches, 2 tenths
Length of the ulna: 12 inches, 2 tenths
Width of the humerus: 14 inches, 5 tenths
Width of the heart: 25 inches
Length of the kidneys: 32 inches
Width of the kidneys: 18 inches
Length of the whole intestinal tract, from pharynx to anus: 5,968 inches
