AND MANATEES 



has two of these ivory prolongations, the incisor tooth of 

 the lower jaw being lengthened out so as to rival that 

 of the upper. The animal may be found anywhere be- 

 tween the shores of Iceland and Greenland. 



The terrific power of the formidable weapon with 

 which it is provided may be gauged from the fact that 

 the narwhal on seeing a ship will make a dash at it, 

 thinking it to be some species of whale, and, if the vessel 

 be of wood, will drive its tusk right through her side or 

 stern. The result to the narwhal is not pleasant ; if it 

 should succeed in piercing the side of the ship, the tusk 

 will be snapped off by the force of her motion ; if the 

 stern, the animal will become as much a fixture as a nail 

 driven into a fence, and will be towed along and starved 

 to death. From this it may be imagined how much 

 chance a whale stands against a shoal of sea-unicorns. 

 Yet, in spite of their fierceness, they play together as 

 merrily as dolphins. 



The Icelanders use large, heavy rowing-boats in pursu- 

 ing the narwhal. " Pursuing " is scarcely the right word 

 in this case, because a boat might chase a narwhal till 

 doomsday and never come up with it, for when the animal 

 is alone its pace is something like that of a salmon. If, 

 however, he should meet a friend, though fifty boats were 

 after him he would still want to stop and fence with his 

 tusk and play about for a while. 



But as a rule they swim in enormous shoals, making 



but little progress, fishing or playing in long irregular 



lines about the Iceland fjords. The fleet of boats each 



with a crew of about five lie in hiding among the rocks, 



s 273 



