232 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



The name Monodon is not strictly correct, as the narwhal 

 possesses two of these tusks, one each side of its head. Only 

 the left tusk projects, the other remaining within the head. 

 Sometimes a specimen has been found with both tusks pro- 

 jecting, and some think that when the left tusk has been 

 broken off by accident, the right one becomes large enough 

 to supply its place. 



The use of these tusks is not known ; some supposing that 

 they are employed to dig up sea-weeds, &c., on which the 

 narwhal feeds, and some imagining that the living prey is 

 first transfixed and then eaten. Be this as it may, as a weapon 

 the tusk is not to be despised, as the strength and rapidity 

 of the Narwhal are very great. Instances are on record, of 

 the thick oak timbers of a ship being pierced by the ivory tusk 

 of this creature. The Greenlanders employ this ivory in the 

 manufacture of spears, arrows, hooks, &c. They take the 

 narwhal by a kind of harpoon attached to a line, with a buoy 

 at its extremity. The use of the buoy is to harass and retard 

 the narwhal when struck, and to give notice when about to 

 rise. Immediately that it reaches the surface, a lance is thrust 

 into it, which generally proves its death-blow. The adven- 

 turous Greenlander finds it a most welcome prey, as he obtains 

 from it oil, food, weapons, and ropes. Its body is from thirty 

 to forty feet in length. 



The most entertaining account of hunting the whale which 

 we have seen, is in the " Narrative of a Journey Round the 

 World," by F. Gerstaecker, just published by the Harpers. 

 This intelligent and observing German thus describes a 

 whaling cruise. 



With a good breeze, the next day Hawaii, or Owhyhee, 

 where Captain Cook was slain, hove in sight. We could notice 

 the gigantic volcano masses, and the smoke curling up from 

 the furnace of the goddess Tele : and I watched this moun- 

 tain a long, long while as it rose on the horizon, with its sharp 

 outline against the clear blue sky, a wonderful rock and lava, 



