MR. M. CHRISTY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE NARWHAL. 205 
no way remarkable ; for, at the time, the tusks of the Narwhal 
were accounted of enormous value. The Unicorn of Fable was 
supposed to be an animal of immense strength and vital power, 
these virtues being especially concentrated in its single frontal 
“ horn.” To this horn, therefore, marvellous virtue was ascribed, 
and it was in consequence much sought after ; but, as the animal 
did not exist, no such thing as its horn was really obtainable. The 
beautiful twisted tusks of the Narwhal were, however, often 
supposed to be the real article : lienee it came about that, in 
mediaeval times, the Unicorn of Heraldry [ which figures as one of 
the “supporters” of the Royal Arms of England) was represented 
as having a Narwhal’s tusk in the centre of its forehead. Though 
the Narwhal (now often called the “Sea-Unicorn”) must have been 
known to the mariners of the extreme north from very early times, 
it was only at the time when Purchas wrote (the beginning of the 
seventeenth century) that the animal and its tusk became known 
to the world at large through the narratives of the Arctic explorers 
and whale-fishers. The so-called “ Unicorn’s Horn ” was, therefore, 
practically a new discovery, and a prodigious value was set upon it. 
There are instances on record at the period in which a tusk was 
valued at £6000 or £7000, while small fragments were sold for large 
sums. Although Purchas does not mention the amount obtained 
for the one he says was sold to Constantinople (see -post), it was 
probably very large indeed. Among the marvellous properties 
attributed to the horn were the protection it was supposed to afford 
against all poisons and noxious creatures, which is probably what 
is meant by the mention of Spiders having died when put into the 
horn Frobisher found. It was long before it came to be generally 
known that the so-called “ Unicorn’s Horn ” was in reality nothing 
more than the tusk of the Narwhal. 
To his description of the finding of the dead Narwhal, as 
quoted above, Purchas adds a side-note, which contains the 
information with which we are here more especially concerned. It 
reads as follows : — 
“ Such a home was brought home two yeres since, found on 
Shore in a desolate Island ; and such an one was taken up A. 1588 
in the coast of Norfolke, and sold by an ignorant woman for 
18 pence, which proued effectuall against poisons, as I was told by 
Mr, Roll. Salmon, of Leegh, who had a peece of it.” 
