THE DOLPHINS. 107 



band would be seen leaping clear of the water, taking with it long sprays of the 

 fuGiis. All our efforts to capture one proved unavailing ; but enough was seen to 

 convince us that they were an undescribed species. 



SECTION XVI.— THE NARWHAL. 



MoNODON MONOCEEos, Linn. 



Although the Narwhal is but rarely met with in that part of the Arctic Ocean 

 accessible to the whalemen who pass through Behring Strait, yet, bej^ond question, 

 it is an occasional visitor to those icy waters, and even to the neighboring shores 

 of eastern Siberia. We have it authentically stated by a trader and traveler in 

 Siberia, that the aborigines of that frozen coast have a superstitious dread of the 

 casual visits of the Narwhal, and when one is seen by a single native, it is regarded 

 as an ill omen, and the beholder either immediately puts an end to his existence, 

 or he becomes a prey to evil forebodings, which ultimately bring the poor victim 

 to an untimely end. The tusks of the Narwhal have been exchanged in barter by 

 the inhabitants of that portion of north-eastern Asia bordering the Arctic Ocean, 

 and, as articles of traffic, have passed from one party to another, till they have 

 finally reached the trading -posts on the northern shores of the Okhotsk Sea. Cap- 

 tain Arnold, who was engaged in a trading expedition from San Francisco to the 

 Okhotsk coast, in 1868, obtained at Tavisk Bay a very fine tusk of a Narwhal, 

 which measured eight feet in length, including the root, which was fifteen inches. 

 The tusk at its base was seven and a half inches in circumference, and tapering 

 to its extremity, where its diameter was one -half of an inch. From its junction 

 with the head, its whitish and polished surface exhibits a uniform twist, which 

 adds much to its symmetrical beauty. Relative to the natural history of the Nar- 

 whal, we can state nothing from our own observations, but make the following 

 extracts from Godman's monograph of the animal, which is based entirely upon the 

 observations of the renowned Scoresby : "The Narwhal, when fully grown, measures 

 from thirteen to fourteen feet in length, exclusive of the tusk, and at the thickest 

 part, which is two feet behind the fins, the circumference is about eight or nine 

 feet. The part of the body anterior to the fins and head is paraboloidal ; the 

 middle portion of the body is almost cylindrical ; the posterior portion, to within 

 three or four feet of the tail, is somewhat conical ; thence a ridge, commenciug 

 both at the back and belly; the section becomes first an ellipse, and then a rhom- 

 bus at the junction of the tail. The back and belly ridges run half-way or more 



