128 THE NARWHAL 



this horn to get at the sea-grass, which is hisjproper food ; 

 and also to bore a hole in the ice with it wb^i he wants 

 fresh air ; possibly, also, as a weapon against his enemies. 

 Another little horn, a span long, lies concealed in 'the right 

 side of his nose, which probably is reserved for a fresh 

 supply, if some accident should deprive him of the long 

 one ; and they say that as a ship was once sailing at sea, 

 it felt a violent shock, as if it had struck upon a rock, and 

 afterwards one of these horns was found fastened in it. 

 Formerly these horns or tusks were looked upon to be the 

 horns of the fabulous land-unicorn, and therefore they 

 were valued as an inestimable curiosity, and sold exces- 

 sively dear, till the Greenland fishery was set on foot, 

 when they found them in the northern parts of Davis' 

 Straits, in greater plenty than anywhere ; yet for some 

 time they carried on the cheat. They are so common in 

 the north of Greenland, that the natives, for want of wood, 

 make rafters for their houses of them ; yet how unknown 

 and valuable they were, even towards the close of the last 

 century, may be seen, with several particular remarks, 

 from La Peyrere. Some have been caught with two 

 horns of an equal length, but these must be very rare. 

 This fish has two nostrils in the bone, but they run into 

 one aperture in the external skin. It has good blubber, 

 swims with great velocity, though it has only two small 

 fins, and can be only struck when there are a great num- 

 ber together, and they hinder one another with their horns." 

 The use assigned to the tusk of the narwhal by Crantz, 

 viz. : that of uprooting marine vegetables on which to 

 feed, is altogether a supposition. As the male only has 

 this instrument developed, or generally the male, the fe- 

 male must be reduced to sad difficulties in the procuring 

 of food ; but, in truth, the position of the tusk renders 

 such a use as is here attributed to it impossible. More- 

 over, it does not appear to subsist on marine fuci, or algae, 

 but on soft animal matters, as mollusks and fish. Capt. 



