THE NARWHAL 415 



the Cachalot it is a very different matter. Most Whales 

 in their death-throes eject the contents of the stomach, 

 and a dying Cachalot will frequently vomit masses of 

 cuttlefish as big as a fair-sized feather bed. But even 

 if we accept the rendering ' fish ' we shall still be in as 

 good case. There still exist sharks that can swallow a 

 man whole, and certain extinct species are known to have 

 attained a length of a hundred and twenty feet. Such a 

 monster would not have hesitated at Jonah, but would 

 have welcomed the greater part of the crew that threw 

 the prophet overboard. 



There are other large and almost equally interesting 

 species of the Cetacea of which space alone forbids any 

 detailed description. Various economic products of the 

 Whale have been referred to, but there is no Cetacean 

 that does not serve for food in many countries, and 

 especially in the Arctic regions. The Eskimo will eat the 

 raw flesh of the Whale with immense relish. In Barbadoes 

 and other West Indian islands the Humpback flesh is 

 preferred to beef. In the South Pacific the natives view 

 a stranded Whale as a special dispensation of Providence. 

 An Australian traveller describes the feast of a whole tribe 

 of aborigines upon a Whale, which had come ashore in a 

 region where perhaps food was none too plentiful. ' It was 

 a sorry sight/ he says, ' to see a pretty young woman enter- 

 ing the belly of the Whale, then gorging herself with 

 blubber, and issuing forth anointed from head to foot, 

 and bearing in each hand a trophy of the delicacy in 

 question.' 



FAMILY DELPHINIUM. 



NAB WEAL (Monodon monoceros). 



Coloured Plate XXX. Fig. 3. 



The Narwhal, which is now limited to one species, 

 attains a length of fourteen or fifteen feet. In the 

 walrus was noted an exceptional form of the canine 

 teeth, which in the case of the left tooth of the Narwhal 



