Editing Mermaid (section)

==== Eighteenth-century Moluccas ====
{{multiple image
 | align     = right
 | direction = vertical
 | header    = Renard's illustrated book of marine life
 | width     = 300
 | image1    = Renard-2nd-ed-1754(Mich U)-Pl057-n240-monstre-ou-sirenne.jpg
 | alt1      = Mermaid in Renard's marine animal book
 | caption1  = "Monster or Siren (mermaid)"{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|p=7–9}}{{right|{{small|―Louis Renard ''Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes.. autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes'', 2nd edition, 1754}}<ref name="renard-2nd-ed-1754"/>}}
 | image2    = Renard-2nd-ed-1754(Mich U)-Fol034-n180-dugong.jpg
 | caption2  = A dugong (ditto book)
 | alt2      = Mermaid in Renard's marine animal book
}}

Allegedly captured in the Moluccas in the seventeenth century was the so-called "Amboina mermaid" (after the then Dutch [[Governorate of Ambon|Province of Ambon]]),<ref>e.g. {{harvp|Carrington|1957|pp=xi, 11}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Later it was no longer a Dutch Province. Bassett (1892) renamed her the "Molucca siren",{{sfnp|Bassett|1892|p=191}} but that name does not seem to have wide circulation.}} which its leading researcher has referred to as Samuel Fallours's "Sirenne", after the man who came into possession of it and made an original painting of it in full color.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=12–13}}

The painting was reproduced by Louis Renard on the "Fish" of the region, first published in 1719,{{Refn|Louis Renard(1678/79–1746).<ref name="burr"/>''Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires: que l'on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes'' ('Fish, [<!--Crayfish-->Lobsters], Crabs, in Various Colors and Extraordinary Shapes, as Found in the Moluccas and on the Coasts of Australia', first edition 1719, second edition 1754.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=5, 7}}{{Refn|name="hayward-fallours"|Hayward (2018), pp. 93–94,<ref name="hayward2018-ch05"/> citing {{harvp|Pietsch|1991}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|color illustrations engraved copper plates, [[Hand-coloring|hand-painted in color]].}} of various marine organisms of the Moluccas region, including this mermaid.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=5, 7}}}}

It was supposedly caught by Boeren in Ambon Province ([[Buru]], in present-day [[Maluku (province)|Maluku Province]]),{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=7, 13}} presumably around the years 1706–1712,{{Refn|name="hayward-fallours"}} or perhaps the year 1712 precisely.{{Refn|name="valentijn-apud-pietsch"|According to Valentijn/Valentyn (1726), ''Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën'', '''3''', Part 1, pp. 331–332<ref name="valentyn-deel3-1726"/> quoted in English translation in {{harvp|Pietsch|1991|p=7}}.}} During this period, Fallours served briefly as soldier for the VOC ([[Dutch East India Company]]) starting June 1706, but turned associate curate (Krankbezoeker) for the Dutch Reformed Church (September 1706 to June 1712).{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|pp=1, 15}}

Fallour's mermaid with additional details were described by [[François Valentyn|François Valentijn]] in a 1726 book.{{Refn|François Valentyn, ''Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën'', vol. 3.<ref name="valentyn-deel3-1726"/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Valentijn was also a minister of the church, mostly in the employ of the VOC; he was minister in Ambon at age 19 from 1685 for a decade, and was stationed again in Java 1705–1714.<ref name="suarez_t."/> but was minister in Dorchrecht, Netherlands by 1916 when Renard corresponded with him seeking help for his book,{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|p=7}} and he compiled his own book while in the Netherlands.<ref name="suarez_t."/>}}

The mermaid was 59 Dutch inches ({{lang|nl|[[wikt:duim|duimen]]}}) long, or 5 feet in Rhineland measures. She reportedly survived 4 days 7 hours in a water tank, and died after refusing food it was given, having uttered no intelligible sound,{{Refn|name="valentijn-apud-pietsch"}}<ref name="burr"/> or issuing sounds like screechings of a mouse.<ref name="renard-2nd-ed-1754"/> Something like a straw cape (Japanese ''[[mino (straw cape)|mino]]'') appears wrapped around her waist in the painting according to one commentator,<ref name="yoshioka1993-p38"/> but Fallours revealed in his notes that he lifted the front and back fins and "[found] it was shaped like a woman".<ref>{{harvp|Hayward|2018a|p=93}}; {{harvp|Pietsch|1991|p=5}}: "I had the curiosity to lift its fins in front and in back and [found] it was shaped like a woman. Mr. Van der Stel asked me for it and I gave it to him . I think he sent it to Holland". (English tr.)</ref>

The mermaid was suspected to be a dugong in reality, even by contemporary scholars such as [[Georg Rumphius]], although Valentijn was unable to believe they were the one and the same.{{sfnp|Pietsch|1991|p=12}} Leading researcher Theodore W. Pietsch{{efn|And editor of the English edition of Renard's work.}} concurs with the dugong identification, but an ichthyologist has opined that "I could more easily accept a small oar-fish, or another eel-like fish, rather than a dugong as a partial basis for the drawing", noting that Renard's book carries an illustration of a plausibly realistic dugong as well.<ref name="burr"/>