380 
NARWHAL TRIBE. 
NARWHAL TRIBE. 
This genus of animals is distinguished by the 
having one tooth., and sometimes two teeth projects 
ing' from the upper jaw, long, straight, and spiral. 
It has a spiracle or breathing place on the top of 
its head. There am but two species hitherto dis- 
covered belonging to this genus, and one of these 
is somewhat obscure. 
Narwhal, or sea unicorn. 
The narwhal is about twenty feet long% from 
the mouth to the tail, of a more slender make than 
the common Greenland whale ; and its fat is in less 
abundance. It inhabits the seas of Iceland and 
Greenland, and the northern part of Davis's straits, 
and is seen in the same northerly regions with the 
rest of the cetaceous tribes. Nature has, however, 
distinguished it from every other kind of whale, 
by that formidable weapon in the form of a toothy 
Which projects from its upper jaw. Amongst all 
that variety of armour which she has conferred 
upon her different tribes in the animal kingdom, 
she has, perhaps, contrived no instrument of de- 
struction so dreadful as the horn of the narwhal. 
This extraordinary instrument generally springs 
from the upper jaw on the left side ; into the 
socket of which it reaches a foot and a half. It is 
striated, and twisted in spires, as we sometimes see 
a bar of iron ; its length is from seven to eight 
feet, and of the thickness of a man’s arm : it is 
of a white colour, harder and heavier than ivory. 
From the size of this weapon, most naturalists 
consider it as an horn., rather than a tooth ; but it 
