^$ 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. [Sept. 



inhale air, which is essential to 

 its existence. Assistance being 

 procured, it was quickly cut to 

 pieces, and the blubber was car- 

 ried to shore in carts. This whale 

 seems to have been of the Nar- 

 whcil or Monodon genus; differ- 

 ing, however, in some particulars 

 from any that we have yet seen 

 described. Its skin was about 

 the eighth of an inch in thickness, 

 of a glossy and dusky black, in 

 appearance somewhat icsembling 

 Indian rubber, but of a darker 

 hue. Its length from the tip of 

 the snout to the extremity of the 

 tail was 36 feet j its height at 

 the shoulder about S feet ; and 

 its greatest Iwrizontal thickness 

 about four feet and a half. The 

 head was not easily to be distin- 

 guished from the rest of the body, 

 and ended in a snout, about two 

 feet long, projecting rather ab- 

 ruptly, and tapering gradually 

 towards the extremity. The back 

 was ridged, and had a fin issuing 

 from it, about five or six feet from 

 the extremity of the tail. This 

 fin was triangular, a little hollow- 

 ed in the back part, inclined to- 

 wards the tail, and a foot in 

 height. The swimming paws were 

 nearly of the same size. There 

 was only one blow-hole situated 

 over the nape of the neck. The 

 mouth was very small, not larger 

 than would have easily admitted a 

 man's arm, and entirely destitute 

 pf teeth or horny plates. The 

 lobes of the tail, which were 

 horizontal, had a direction away 

 from the body, uid were blunt 

 and rounded at the tip. The 

 blubber was from one inch to 

 four, and even six inclies in thick- 

 ness, and seemed to be full of very 

 fine oil. The Narwhal species. 



usually, have one tooth or horn, 

 sometimes even two, growing out 

 of the forepart of the upper jaw, 

 whence they derive the name of 

 Monodon ; but no such peculiarity 

 was to be discovered in this animal. 

 23. A most extensive fraud on 

 the revenue has been detected at 

 Liverpool. The particulars de- 

 tected are these : — A large lighter 

 was fitted out as a foreign mer- 

 chantman, with false deck and 

 sides, with masts, sails, and rig- 

 ging : she Avas entered out at the 

 Custom-house for another conn- 

 try, and a very valuable cargo 

 shipped on board ; the goods se- 

 lected were those on which the 

 greatest drawbacks are given, or 

 rather the whole duties paid on 

 importation were to be returned. 

 The vessel sailed round the rock 

 or point of land into the Irish 

 channel ; her false sides were 

 knocked in, her masts struck, and 

 having every appearance of a 

 lighter, she sailed again up the 

 river Mersey to Runcorn (a short 

 distance from Liverpool), where 

 the cargo was landed and sent by 

 different conveyances to London. 

 The officers have got notice of the 

 transaction, and have traced the 

 goods to town, and several seiz- 

 ures were made in the city on 

 jNIonday. It is not known to 

 what extent this fraud has been 

 carried, or what length of time it 

 has continued ; but it is believed 

 that the parties concerned had 

 practised it with ports in the Irish 

 channel for such a length of time 

 without meeting interruption, that 

 they were emboldened, and brought 

 the goods to a short distance from 

 Liverpool, being more convenient 

 for them. The detection is stated 

 to have taken place in the most 



simple 



