book ii. (octavo), chapter iii. (narwhale), that is, nostril whale.—another instance of a curiously named whale, so named i suppose from his peculiar horn being originally mistaken for a peaked nose. the creature is some sixteen feet in length, while its horn averages five feet, though some exceed ten, and even attain to fifteen feet. strictly speaking, this horn is but a lengthened tusk, growing out from the jaw in a line a little depressed from the horizontal. but it is only found on the sinister side, which has an ill effect, giving its owner something analogous to the aspect of a clumsy left-handed man. what precise purpose this ivory horn or lance answers, it would be hard to say. it does not seem to be used like the blade of the sword-fish and bill-fish; though some sailors tell me that the narwhale employs it for a rake in turning over the bottom of the sea for food. charley coffin said it was used for an ice-piercer; for the narwhale, rising to the surface of the polar sea, and finding it sheeted with ice, thrusts his horn up, and so breaks through. but you cannot prove either of these surmises to be correct. my own opinion is, that however this one-sided horn may really be used by the narwhale—however that may be—it would certainly be very convenient to him for a folder in reading pamphlets.