to the side of the boat, and either cut it in pieces, and carry it home in that manner, or extract the oil from the blubber on ship-board.

Such is the manner in which these fish were taken in the beginning; but succeeding arts have improved the method, and the harpoon is now thrown by; a machine being used which inflicts a deeper wound, and strikes the animal with much greater certainty there are better methods for extracting the oil, and properer machines for cutting the animal up, than were used in the early fisheries. But as an account of this belongs to the history of art, and not of nature, we must be contented with observing, that several parts of this animal, and all but the intestines and the bones, are turned to very good account: not only the oil, but the greaves from which it is separated. The barbs also were an article of great profit; but have sunk in their price since women no longer use them to swell out their petticoats with whale-bone. The flesh of this animal is also a dainty to some nations; and even the French seamen are now and then found to dress and use it as their ordinary diet at sea. It is said by the English and Dutch sailors, to be hard and ill-tasted; but the French assert the contrary; and the savages of Greenland, as well as those near the South pole, are fond of it to distraction. They eat the flesh, and drink the oil, which is a first-rate delicacy. The finding a dead whale is an adventure considered among the fortunate circumstances of their wretched lives. They make their abode beside it; and seldom remove till they have left nothing but the bones.

Jacobson, whom we quoted before in the History of Birds, where he describes his countrymen of the island of Feroe as living a part of the year upon salted gulls, tells us also, that they are very fond of salted whale's flesh. The fat of the head they season with bay salt, and then hang it up to dry in the chimney. He thinks it tastes as well as fat bacon; and the lean, which they boil, is, in his opinion, not inferior to beef.-I fancy poor Jacobson would make but an indifferent taster at one of our city feasts!

CHAP. IV.

Of the Narwhal.

FROM whales that entirely want teeth, we come to such as have them in the upper jaw only; and in this class there is found but one, the Narwhal, or Sea-Unicorn. This fish is not so large as the whale, not being above sixty feet long. Its body is slenderer than that of the whale, and its fat not in so great abundance. But this great animal is sufficiently distinguished from all others of the deep, by its tooth or teeth, which stand pointing directly forward from the upper jaw, and are from nine to fourteen feet long. In all the variety of weapons with which Nature has armed her various tribes, there is not one so large or so formidable as this. This terrible weapon is generally found single; and some are of opinion that the animal is furnished but with one by Nature; but there is at present the skull of a narwhal at the Stadt-house at Amsterdam, with two teeth; which plainly proves

that, in some animals at least, this instrument is double. It is even a doubt whether it may not be so in all; and that the narwhal's wanting a tooth is only an accident which it has met with in the encounters it is obliged daily to be engaged in. Yet it must be owned of these that are taken only with one tooth, there seems no socket nor no remains of any other upon the opposite side of the jaw, but all is plain and even. However this be, the tooth, or as some are pleased to call it, the horn of the narwhal, is the most terrible of all natural instruments of destruction. It is as straight as an arrow, about the thickness of the small of a man's leg, wreathed in the manner we sometimes see twisted bars of iron; it tapers to a sharp point; and is whiter, heavier, and harder than ivory. It is generally seen to spring from the left side of the head directly forward in a straight line with the body; and its root enters into the socket above a foot and a half. In a skull to be seen at Hamburgh there are two teeth, which are each above seven feet long, and are eight inches in circumference. When the animal possessed of these formidable weapons is urged to employ them, it drives directly forward against the enemy with its teeth, that, like protended spears, pierce whatever stands before them.

The extreme length of these instruments have induced some to consider them rather as horns than teeth; but they in every respect resemble the tusks of the boar and the elephant. They grow, as in them, from sockets in the upper jaw; they have the solidity of the hardest bone, and far surpass ivory in all its qualities. The same error has led others to suppose, that as among quadrupeds the female

was often found without horns, so these instruments of defence were only to be found in the male; but this has been more than once refuted by actual experience; both sexes are found armed in this manner the horn is sometimes found wreathed and sometimes smooth; sometimes a little bent, and sometimes straight; but always strong, deeply fixed, and sharply pointed.

Yet, notwithstanding all these appointments for combat, these long and pointed tusks, amazing strength, and unmatchable celerity, the narwhal is one of the most harmless and peaceful inhabitants of the ocean. It is seen constantly and inoffensively sporting among the other great monsters of the deep, no way attempting to injure them, but pleased in their company. The Greenlanders call the narwhal the fore-runner of the whale; for wherever it is seen, the whale is shortly after sure to follow. This may rise as well from the natural passion for society in these animals, as from both living upon the same food, which are the insects described in the preceding chapter. These powerful fishes make war upon no other living creature; and though furnished with instruments to spread general destruction, are as innocent and peaceful as a drove of oxen. Nay, so regardless are they of their own weapons, and so utterly unmindful to keep them in repair for engagement, that they are constantly seen covered over with weeds, slough, and all the filth of the sea; they seem rather considered as an impediment than a defence.

The manners and appetites both of the narwhal and the great whale are entirely similar; they both alike want teeth for chewing, and are obliged to

live upon insects; they both are peaceable and harmless, and always rather fly than seek the combat. The narwhal, however, has a much narrower gape than the great whale, and therefore does not want the use of barbs to keep in its food when once sucked into the mouth. It is also much swifter, and would never be taken by the fishermen but for those very tusks, which at first appear to be its principal defence. These animals, as was said, being fond of living together, are always seen in herds of several at a time; and whenever they are attacked, they crowd together in such a manner, that they are mutually embarrassed by their tusks. By these they are often locked together, and are prevented from sinking to the bottom. It seldom happens, therefore, but the fishermen make sure of one or two of the hindmost, which very well reward their trouble.

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It is from the extraordinary circumstance of the teeth, therefore, that this fish demands a distinct history; and such, has been the curiosity of mankind, and their desire to procure them, that a century ago they were considered as the greatest rarity in the world. At that time the art of catching whales was not known; and mankind saw few, except such as were stranded on the coasts by accident. The tooth of the narwhal, therefore, was ascribed to a very different animal from that which really bore it. Among other fossil substances they were sometimes dug up; and the narwhal being utterly unknown, naturalists soon found a terrestrial owner. They were thought to be the horns of unicorns, an animal described by Pliny as resembling a horse, and with one straight horn darting for