Where does the name Pentaho come from?
Allegedly from the Pentaho Indians, who might have settled in Florida in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and may or may not have been responsible for domesticating the West Indian Manatee. According to some reports, prior to the mid-nineteenth century, manatees were aggressive animals; faster than a porpoise, with a belligerent nature and a penchant for grabbing oars and tipping canoes. Some accounts assert that the manatee problem became so severe that trade and communication along the waterways of Florida became almost impossible. The alleged Pentaho Indians, in an attempt to improve communication and trade amongst Indian nations, set about to tame the wild manatees. After identifying the high caffeine content of water hyacinth as a primary factor, they invented a selective breeding program for the aquatic plant to remove the stimulant from the disruptive mammal’s diet. They were so successful that today the manatee is a slow moving, docile animal. The Pentaho Indians have n
