206 MR. M. CHRISTY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE NARWHAL. 
In the second edition, although the indication of the date of 
discovery stands unaltered*, some additional information is given as 
follows : — 
“ Such a horn was brought home two yeeres since, found on 
Shore in Greenland by the carpenter of Jonas Poole's ship, seven 
foot and a half long, and sold since at Constantinople, proued good 
against poisons ; and such a one was taken up A. 1-588 in the coast 
of Norfolke, and sould by an ignorant woman for IS pence; 
which proued effectuall against poisons, as I was told by Mr. Bolt. 
Salmon, of Leegh, who had a peece of it.” 
In the third and fourth editions, the information stands exactly 
the same, except that, in the two places where the horn is said 
to have been “ proved ” effectual against poisons, an alteration has 
been made to “ reported ” in the first case, and to “ said to be ” in 
the second, as though Purchas had in the interval seen some reason 
to doubt its efficacy. 
Now, before accepting unreservedly such a record as the 
foregoing, we are bound to ask ourselves : Is it a genuine and 
satisfactory record 1 
It must, in the first place, be admitted that there is nothing 
inherently improbable in the statement that a Narwhal was met 
with on the coast of Norfolk in the year 1588. Although the 
animal habitually frequents very high latitudes, and is certainly 
very seldom met with on the British coasts, it cannot be denied 
that, if a specimen was met with on the coast of Lincolnshire one 
hundred years ago, it is equally likely that one was met with 
on the adjacent coast of Norfolk three hundred years ago. 
In the second place, Purchas is a serious writer and an historian 
of acknowledged position, whose veracity no one is likely to call 
in question. It appears, however, that Purchas derived his 
information from some one else — a certain Mr. Robert Salmon. 
We are, therefore, under the necessity of inquiring also who this 
man was. Here, again, we can find no reason to call in question 
the bond fide s of the record under consideration ; for Robert Salmon 
was a man of some eminence in his day, and not at all the kind of 
# The “ horn ” was found (as what follows will show) on Jonas Poole’s 
voyage to “Greenland” (as Spitsbergen was then called) in 1011, of which 
voyage Purchas gives an account (“ Purchas his Pilgrimes,” Loud., 1025, 
vol. iii., p. 711). 
