THE NARWHAL. 



2G1 



iron ; it tapers to a sharp point ; and is whiter, 

 heavier and harder, than ivory. It is g 

 nerally seen to spring from the left side of the 

 head directly forward in a straight line with 

 the body ; and its root enters into the socket 

 above a foot and a half. In a skull to be seen 

 at Hamburgh there are two teeth, which are 

 each above seven feet long, and are eight 

 inches in circumference. When the animal, 



southern latitudes, or even on the European shores. 

 Besides the one mentioned above, Colonel Imrie, in 

 1793, saw two young ones which had been cast upon the 

 beach in the Pentland Frith, some miles to the east of 

 Tliurso. They were both males, between seven and 

 eight feet long; they were white, mottled with brown- 

 ish-gray. 



The Deductor or Ca'ing Whale. Egede is perhaps 

 the first author who makes mention of the Deductor, 



tinder the name of Butshead (Descrip. of Greenland, 

 75) ; and he was soon followed by Duhamel, who gave 

 a figure of one taken at Havre, under the name of " the 

 porpoise with the round snout." In 1806, Dr Neil, 

 in an appendix to his " Tour through some of the islands 

 of Orkney and Shetland," gives a more extended and 

 interesting account of them, under the name of Uyea- 

 Sound or Ca'ing Whales, than any which had previously 

 appeared ; and three years after, Dr Trail published in 

 Nicolson's Journal (1809) the first accurate description 

 of this species, giving it the appellation of Dclphinus 

 Melas, with a drawing from his friend James Watson, 

 Esq., which was republished, with additional details, 

 by Scoresby in his " Arctic regions, 1830." In 1812, 

 an interesting memoir concerning this variety, named 

 by him Globiceps, appeared from the pen of Cuvier, in 

 vol. xix. Ann. du Museum. From these sources, some 

 interesting circumstances may be detailed of this species. 

 It would appear that the Northern ocean, from the 

 56 to the C6, is the favourite resort of the Deductor. 

 Sometimes it has been witnessed in lower latitudes ; but 

 not frequently, nor in large numbers; it would also 

 seem to have been seen in the Mediterranean, but 

 whether as a mere straggler or a permanent residenter, 

 we cannot decidely affirm. Of all the cetacea, this 

 would appear to be the most sociable, often herding toge- 

 ther in innumerable flocks. We shall here supply a few 

 facts which establish this point. From an old history 

 of the Feroe islands, quoted by Scoresby, it would ap- 

 pear that the inhabitants are in the habit of hunting 

 these animals, which they designate Grind IP/tales, and 

 capture them in great numbers. In the year 16C4, on 

 two excursions on\y, they killed about one thousand. 

 In the year 1748, forty individuals of this species were 

 seen in Tor bay, and one seventeen feet long was cap- 

 tured; in 1799, about two hundred ran ashore in Fetlar, 

 one of the Shetland isles; and in 1805, as nu-ntioned 



possessed of these formidable weapons, ia 

 urged to employ them, it drives directly for- 

 ward against the enemy with its teeth, that, 

 like protended spears, pierce whatever stands 

 before them. 



The extreme length of these instruments 

 has induced some to consider them rather as 

 horns than teeth ; but they in every respect 

 resemble the tusks of the boar and the ele- 

 phant. They grow, as in them, from sockets 

 in the upper jaw ; they have the solidity of 

 the hardest bone, and tar surpass ivory in all 

 its qualities. The same error has led others to 

 suppose, that as among quadrupeds the female 

 was often found without horns^ so these in- 

 struments of defence were only to be found in 

 the male : but this has been more than once 

 refuted by actual experience ; both sexes are 

 found armed in this manner ; the horn is some- 

 times found wreathed, and sometimes smooth ; 

 sometimes a little bent, and sometimes straight; 

 but always strong, deeply fixed, and sharply 

 pointed. 



Yet, notwithstanding all these appointments 

 for combat, these long and pointed tusks, 

 amazing strength, and unmatchable celerity, 

 the narwhal is one of the most harmless and 

 peaceful inhabitants of the ocean. It is seen 

 constantly and inoffensively sporting among 

 the other great monsters of the deep, no way 

 attempting to injure them, but pleased in 

 their company. The Greenlanders call the 

 narwhal the forerunner of the whale ; for 

 wherever it is seen, the whale is shortly after 

 sure to follow. This may arise as well from 

 the natural passion for society in these ani- 

 mals, as from both living upon the same food, 

 which are the insects described in the prece- 

 ding chapter. These powerful fishes make 

 war upon no other living creature ; and 

 though furnished with instruments to spread 

 general destruction, are as innocent and as 

 peaceful as a drove of oxen. Nay, so regard 

 less are they of their own weapons, and so 

 utterly unmindful to keep them in repair for 

 engagement, that they are constantly seen 

 covered over with weeds, slough, and all the 

 filth of the sea ; they seem rather considered 

 as an impediment than a defence. 



by Dr Neil, in February, one hundred and ninety, and 

 in March, one hundred and twenty more, out of a herd 

 of about five hundred, were forced ashore on the same 

 spot in Uyea-Sonnd in Unst. In 1806, ninety-two 

 were stranded in Scalpa bay, Orkney: in the winter of 

 1809 and 181(1, eleven hundred and ten of these whales 

 approached the shore of Hvalfiord, Iceland, and were 

 captured: in 1812, seventy were chased ashore near the 

 village of Blounalzbance, on the coast of Bretagne; and 

 in 1814, one hundred and fifty were driven into Balta 

 sound, Shetland, and were there despatched. These 

 are only a few of the instances, in which, in modern 

 times, an extensive slaughter of the Deductor has taken 

 place. Naturalist's Lib., by Sir. TP . Jardine. 



