82 THE NARWAL. 



venturous mariners, who seek the spoils of the 

 whale amid the perils of polar ice and storms. 

 Fortunately, however, some few of these, incited by 

 hopes of gain to visit those forbidding regions, have 

 been well qualified to make accurate scientific obser- 

 vations, and owing to their zealous industry, we have 

 actually less to desire concerning the animals found 

 in the icy seas, than in relation to many others, al- 

 most within the reach of every observer. 



Among the individuals to whom science is most 

 deeply indebted, the name of Scoresby must ever 

 stand conspicuous; few persons have contributed so 

 largely to the advancement of natural history, while 

 engaged in ordinary commercial pursuits, and still 

 fewer have effected the object so well under any 

 circumstances. His mind appears to have been 

 one of that rare, but amiable composition, in which 

 genius, talent, energy and sound common sense, are 

 blended in such just proportion, as to be capable of 

 operating at all times, and upon all materials, to the 

 greatest possible advantage. From his valuable 

 researches we shall derive almost all the observa- 

 tions which remain to be made upon the cetaceous 

 animals, claiming for ourselves no other merit than 

 that of having collected and arranged them. 



The vertebral column of the narwal is about 

 twelve feet long; there are seven cervical, twelve 

 dorsal, and thirty-five lumbar and caudal vertebrae, 

 being in all fifty-four; twelve of which enter the tail 

 and extend to within an inch of its extremitv. The 



