{"id":"01KFNR88A146YWV6JXK1H5YKMZ","cid":"bafkreihe73fwlzx6jtinr6ttgrf3gmjeeeuogik3wyaisjcfmwimbmc2te","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5972,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.412Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":5922,"text":"in swimming, which looks something like a Roman nose. When not more\r\nprofitably employed, the sperm whale hunters sometimes capture the\r\nHyena whale, to keep up the supply of cheap oil for domestic\r\nemployment—as some frugal housekeepers, in the absence of company, and\r\nquite alone by themselves, burn unsavory tallow instead of odorous wax.\r\nThough their blubber is very thin, some of these whales will yield you\r\nupwards of thirty gallons of oil.\r\n\r\nBOOK II. (_Octavo_), CHAPTER III. (_Narwhale_), that is, _Nostril\r\nwhale_.—Another instance of a curiously named whale, so named I suppose\r\nfrom his peculiar horn being originally mistaken for a peaked nose. The\r\ncreature is some sixteen feet in length, while its horn averages five\r\nfeet, though some exceed ten, and even attain to fifteen feet. Strictly\r\nspeaking, this horn is but a lengthened tusk, growing out from the jaw\r\nin a line a little depressed from the horizontal. But it is only found\r\non the sinister side, which has an ill effect, giving its owner\r\nsomething analogous to the aspect of a clumsy left-handed man. What\r\nprecise purpose this ivory horn or lance answers, it would be hard to\r\nsay. It does not seem to be used like the blade of the sword-fish and\r\nbill-fish; though some sailors tell me that the Narwhale employs it for\r\na rake in turning over the bottom of the sea for food. Charley Coffin\r\nsaid it was used for an ice-piercer; for the Narwhale, rising to the\r\nsurface of the Polar Sea, and finding it sheeted with ice, thrusts his\r\nhorn up, and so breaks through. But you cannot prove either of these\r\nsurmises to be correct. My own opinion is, that however this one-sided\r\nhorn may really be used by the Narwhale—however that may be—it would\r\ncertainly be very convenient to him for a folder in reading pamphlets.\r\nThe Narwhale I have heard called the Tusked whale, the Horned whale,\r\nand the Unicorn whale. He is certainly a curious example of the\r\nUnicornism to be found in almost every kingdom of animated nature. From\r\ncertain cloistered old authors I have gathered that this same\r\nsea-unicorn’s horn was in ancient days regarded as the great antidote\r\nagainst poison, and as such, preparations of it brought immense prices.\r\nIt was also distilled to a volatile salts for fainting ladies, the same\r\nway that the horns of the male deer are manufactured into hartshorn.\r\nOriginally it was in itself accounted an object of great curiosity.\r\nBlack Letter tells me that Sir Martin Frobisher on his return from that\r\nvoyage, when Queen Bess did gallantly wave her jewelled hand to him\r\nfrom a window of Greenwich Palace, as his bold ship sailed down the\r\nThames; “when Sir Martin returned from that voyage,” saith Black\r\nLetter, “on bended knees he presented to her highness a prodigious long\r\nhorn of the Narwhale, which for a long period after hung in the castle\r\nat Windsor.” An Irish author avers that the Earl of Leicester, on\r\nbended knees, did likewise present to her highness another horn,\r\npertaining to a land beast of the unicorn nature.\r\n\r\nThe Narwhale has a very picturesque, leopard-like look, being of a\r\nmilk-white ground colour, dotted with round and oblong spots of black.\r\nHis oil is very superior, clear and fine; but there is little of it,\r\nand he is seldom hunted. He is mostly found in the circumpolar seas.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84A9QXWBKCWCK87YB232","peer_label":"32","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84A9QXWBKCWCK87YB232","peer_label":"32","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR889R2XRM51BP3ASG53ZG","peer_label":"Chunk 8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR88BRF8TGZGEQ4FAEH1QN","peer_label":"Chunk 6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.775Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:16.499Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}