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Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be a sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as the armoured frigates, or the `rams' of war, whose massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time.
Their number, with a small party that came soon afterwards, was forty-two men, who brought with them a considerable quantity of the Arctic fox skins, musk-ox, and deer skins, with those of the wolf and wolverine, together with sea-horse teeth, and the horn of a sea-unicorn about six feet long for barter at the Company's Post.
The sea-unicorn is, when full grown, from thirteen to sixteen feet long, and has a long spiral horn or tusk growing rather on one side of its upper jaw, of from eight to ten feet in length. The eyes are very small, the blow-hole is directly over them, and the head is small, blunt, and round, and the mouth cannot be opened wide.
The Scandinavian relics of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with which our museums are so profusely enriched, are for the most part formed of the teeth of the walrus. The elegant spiral horn of the narwhal or sea-unicorn also produces ivory of a superior quality.
Desire of Dutch merchants to find a fresh passage into the South Sea Le Maire applies to Captain Schouten The Unity and Horn fitted out Sail Touch at Dover and Plymouth Put into Sierra Leone Fruit and water obtained The Horn struck by a sea-unicorn Make the coast of South America Attempting to enter Port Desire, the Unity strikes a rock Both vessels nearly lost The vessels put on shore to clean The Horn burnt Penguins Sea-lions Discovery of the Straits of Le Maire Cape Horn named and doubled Steer for Juan Fernandez Unable to find anchorage off it Touch at Dog, Water, and Fly Islands Fire at a double canoe Some of the natives killed The Unity anchors off an island Natives swarm around her Boat attacked Natives become friendly Their chief visits the ship The savages attack the ship Course changed to the northward Two savages killed Friendly intercourse with others The King and his courtiers take to flight at the sound of a great gun Meeting of two Kings A feast Other islands visited Coast of New Guinea reached Natives attack the ship Shock of an earthquake felt on board Sail along western coast of New Guinea Hostility of the natives Barter with the natives at the south end Touch at Gilolo and Amboyna The Unity confiscated at Batavia Death of La Maire Captain Schouten reaches Holland.
The central one represents Neptune and Amphitrite seated in an immense shell and surrounded by tritons, nymphs and sea-monsters. On the left is Oceanus resting upon a sea-unicorn, and on the right, Proteus, the son of Oceanus. There are several other groups; and from the jets of these, amounting to some 55 or 60 in all, issues a deluge of water, when the gates are opened.
Besides these there is the Narwhal, or Sea-unicorn, with a wonderful tusk, which is really a big tooth, some six feet long. Another one, the Bottle-nose Whale, has a long, narrow "beak," and is sometimes washed up on our shores. The Pilot Whale is also seen in herds in our seas. Another visitor, the Rorqual, is not welcomed by the fishermen.
The mantel-piece was ornamented with some beautiful branches of coral, several large and rare shells, and two horns of the narwhal, or sea-unicorn, fixed against the wall, and above it was the picture of a ship under all sail, with boats hoisted up along her sides, and flags flying at her mastheads and peak.
The daring assailant I distinguished to be a sword-fish, or sea-unicorn, the knight-errant of the sea, attacking every thing in its domain; his head is as hard and as rough as a rock, out of the centre of which grows horizontally an ivory spear, longer and far tougher than any warrior's lance; with this weapon he fights.
The crew of the frigate and the various scientists on board were all eagerness to meet the great cetacean, or sea-unicorn. My own opinion was that it would be found to be a narwhal of monstrous growth, for these creatures are armed with a kind of ivory sword, or tusk, as hard as steel, and sometimes nearly seven feet long by fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
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