132 WHALE. 



and less adipose. Its most distinguishing character, how- 

 ever, is its horn, which projects forward from the upper 

 jaw about twelve feet in length. 



Of all the variety of weapons with which nature has 

 furnished her animal offspring, none is more formidable 

 than this. It is perfectly straight, about three or four 

 inches in diameter, tapering to a point, and wreathed in 

 the most curious manner. It is whiter, harder, and hea- 

 vier, than ivory ; and is capable of piercing the hardest 

 substances ; but, when the animal ventures to strike this 

 instrument, which it has received for its defence, against 

 other tenants of the deep, into the side of a ship, it gene- 

 rally loses its life for its temerity. 



Nevertheless, the narwal is naturally inoffensive : it lives 

 chiefly on marine insects, associates in large herds in the 

 northern seas of Europe and America, and is frequently 

 killed by the Greenland whalers. 



THE WHALE. 



There are several species of this genus ; the common, 

 the pike-headed, the round-lipped, and the beaked; but I 

 shall confine my description to the former. 



The common, or Greenland whale is the largest animal 

 of which there is any authentic information; being fre- 

 quently ninety feet long in the northern seas, where it is 

 annually molested in its haunts; and upwards of a hundred 

 and fifty, in places where it is suffered to acquire its full 

 natural size. 



The whale is an unwieldy, ill-shaped animal, the head 

 constituting one-third of its length. There are two ori- 

 fices in the middle of the head, from which it spouts water 

 to a prodigious distance, and with great noise, especially 

 when disturbed. The eyes, which are not larger than 

 those of an ox, are placed far back in the head, which 

 enables it to see objects both before and behind. The 

 tail is broad and semilunar. 



The colour of the whale is not uniform, but admits a 

 great variety of shades, which may be occasioned by age 



