176 COMMON SEAL. Class t 



\vhether the sAecpavTr/a ^'aXja, ivory bits, which 

 Strabo* mentions among the articles of the 

 British commerce, were made of them, or the 

 tooth of the Narhwal, or of some of the toothed 

 whales, is not at this time easy to be deter- 

 mined ; but we may here remark that Soimus^ 

 in his account of Britain^ informs us that the 

 fine gentlemen of our island adorned the hilts 

 of their swords with the teeth of sea beasts, 

 which were as white as ivory itself f 



* Strabo, Lib. iv. 200. 

 f Poll/hist. c. XXXV. 



