8th, Latitude, by observation, 79° 42´. Sea nearly clear of ice. Course W. S. W. ½ S. At seven P. M. we discovered Hackluyt’s Headland, bearing E. N. E. distant four or five leagues. The weather was hazy, and we had but an indistinct view of this black precipitous promontory. Saw several whales, but got none.
June 9th, Intense frost. Observed the freezing of salt water. Shot two seals, one of which only we brought on board.
16th, Stood in nearer the shore to the south of Hackluyt’s Headland. Several of the sea-unicorns were here observed at no great distance from the ship. I noticed two which passed close under our stern, that had double horns of a considerable size. The unicorns make a great noise in blowing, and, when at a distance, are often mistaken for whales. We fired several shots at them, and mortally wounded a small one, which we brought on board. It measured 9½ feet in length, and its horn was four feet one inch.
The Monodon monoceros, Narwhal, or Unicorn Fish, has been found twenty-two feet long, and twelve round. Head nearly one-fourth the length of the body, round, small, and terminates in an obtuse rounded snout. Mouth small; no teeth, but a large wreathed tusk or horn. Sometimes two[33], and often ten feet long, proceeds from its upper jaw, diverging to one side, and tapering gradually towards the tip. Eyes and ears very small; one respiratory orifice in the back part of the head; back broad, convex, and tapering towards the tail, which is horizontally placed, and is divided into two obtuse oval lobes. Body of an ovoidal shape; no dorsal fins, but a high ridge or projection extends from the blow-hole to the origin of the tail, and gradually diminishes in height as it approaches the tail; two pectoral fins; colour generally cinereous, dappled with numerous multiform black spots; belly a shining white, and soft as velvet to the touch.
Naturalists differ greatly as to the food of the unicorn. Perhaps it differs with the parts of the ocean it inhabits. Small fishes, Mollusca and Actinea, are their more general food.
The Narwhal swims with great swiftness, and, like the other cetacea, cannot remain long under the water without respiring. When frightened, or attacked, they huddle together in such numbers that they force their long horns into the body of each other, and thereby become an easy prey to their pursuers.
This animal, though seemingly harmless, is, as already mentioned, a dangerous enemy of the common whale; and has been known to dart its horn into the side of a ship[34]. The vessel must have sunk had not the horn been broken off by the violence of the stroke.
The oil produced by the Monodon monoceros, though scanty, is, in point of quality, superior to any other cetaceous oil.