340 NARWHALS AT PLAY. 
"Tlie hummockings of this morning had ceased; 
the wind so gentle as hardly to he perceptible : the 
lead before me was an open river of water, and in it 
were narwhals [M. monoceros), in groups of fiye or six, 
rolling over and over, after the manner of the dolphin 
trihe. They were near me; so near that I could see 
their checkered hacks, and enjoy the rich coloring 
that decorates them. The horn, that monodontal proc- 
ess which gives them their name of sea-unicorn, was 
perfectly examinable. Rising in a spirally indented 
cone, this beautiful appendage appeared sometimes 
eight and ten feet out of water ; one especially, whose 
tall curvetings astonished my body-guard. I never 
saw a more graceful, striking, and beautiful exhibi- 
tion than the unrestrained play of these narwhals.^ 
In the same open water, almost in company with the 
narwhals, were white whales (Belphinopterus albi- 
cans^ or Beluga: these cetacea have so many names, 
they puzzle me), and seal besides. 
" I was tempted to stay too long. The wind sprang 
up suddenly. The floe began to move. I thought of 
the crack between me and the ship, and started off. 
The walking, however, was very heavy, and my scur- 
vy patients stilF in the extensors. By the time I 
reached the crack, it had opened into a chasm, and 
a river as broad as the Wissahiccon ran between me 
and our ship. After some little anxiety — not much 
— I saw our captain ordering a party to our relief. 
The sledges soon appeared, dragged by a willing par- 
* I have seen many of these fish since, but never under such circumstances. 
I stood on a ledge of hummock within short gunshot. The animals were en- 
tirely unapprehensive. The non-symmetrical character of the " horn " (an un- 
duly developed tooth, say the naturalists) was not seen ; and as this long lance- 
like process played about at a constantly varying angle, it reminded me of the 
mast of some sunken boat swayed by the waves. 
