130 THE NARWHAL. 



teen inches long, and from six to eight broad, their situa- 

 tion on the sides of the animal being at one-fifth of its 

 length from the snout. The breadth of the tail is from 

 fifteen to twenty inches. There is no dorsal fin, but a 

 sharp ridge runs down the centre of the back, the edge of 

 which is generally found to be rough and worn, as if by 

 rubbing against the ice. Crantz describes the narwhal as 

 being black : it is only in young specimens that this color 

 can be said to prevail; at an early age the narwhal is 

 blackish gray on the back, with numerous darker spots 

 and markings running into each other, forming a general 

 dusky-black surface. The sides are almost white, with 

 dusky and more open markings : the under surface is 

 white. In adult specimens the ground color of the back 

 is yellowish white, with markings varying from dark gray 

 to dusky-black, and of a roundish or oval figure, with in- 

 terspaces of white or yellowish white between them. The 

 skin resembles that of the common Greenland whale, but 

 is thinner. The female narwhal produces a single young 

 one at a birth, which she nourishes with milk for several 

 months : the teats are situated near the origin of the tail. 

 To the rapidity, the great powers, and the ferocity of 

 the narwhal when attacked, many writers have borne tes- 

 timony. Its form is admirably adapted for cleaving the 

 waters ; and we can well believe that the shock of its 

 weapon, driven full tilt against an enemy, must produce a 

 terrible effect. The ribs of the stoutest boat would be 

 transfixed by the dint of such a blow, far more easily than 

 was ever shield by the lance of knight in battle or tourna- 

 ment. Several instances have, indeed, been known, in 

 which the animal has plunged his weapon deep into the 

 thick oak timbers of a ship, when it has fortunately snap- 

 ped short, the fragment remaining fixed in the orifice, so as 

 to plug it up. A portion of wood taken from the hull of a 

 ship, with a piece of narwhal's tusk firmly imbedded in 

 it, came some few e*^s atro under our own inspection. It 



