[Illustration: NARWHAL.]
The Narwhals have no teeth, but are furnished with an enormous tusk,
that projects from the upper jaw, and becomes a most formidable weapon.
The Narwhal is an inhabitant of the Arctic seas, where it sometimes
attains a length of from twenty to twenty-five feet. Its skin is
beautifully marbled with brown and white; its muzzle is round, and its
mouth, unlike that of other Cetaceans, is disproportionately small. Its
single tooth, or horn-like tusk, projects from the head in a line with
the body, sometimes to the length of nine or ten feet. It is spirally
twisted, tapering to a point, and as it is composed of the hardest
ivory, is capable not only of transfixing the body of a Whale, but when
impelled by such momentum as is derived from the speed of its ponderous
owner, has been known to penetrate the oaken ribs of a British
man-of-war to the depth of nearly a couple of feet, and probably has
thus caused the loss of many ships incapable of resisting the shock.