206 



Our North Land. 



sea-unicorn, as the animal is popularly called. The head of the 

 narwhal is round and convex at the front. There are no teeth in 

 the lower jaw, and the upper jaw, which is wide and of a peculiar 

 shape, contains teeth. From the front of the head projects the long, 

 curious, straight weapon, or horn, or tusk, whatever you please to call 

 it. This weapon is about three inches in diameter at the base, and 

 tapers to a sharp point, and is about six feet long, perfectly straight. 

 The force of this horn or tusk is very* great when urged with 

 the impetus of the narwhal passing swiftly through the water ; for 

 the whole weight and velocity of the animal is directed along the 



A BEVY OF SEALS. 



line of the tusk. " A narwhal," says one writer, " has been known 

 to encounter a ship and to drive its tusks through the sheathing and 

 deeply into the timbers." 



The ivory of this tusk is of a very fine quality and susceptible of 

 an exceedingly high polish. A full sized horn is valued at from $60 

 to $80. " In the upper jaw," says Dr. Wood, " of the young, or 

 female narwhal, are found two small or hollow tusks imbedded in 

 the bone, which, in the female, are generally undeveloped throughout 

 the whole of the animal's existence, but in the male narwhal are 

 strangely modified. The right tusk remains in its infantile state, 



