THE PORPOISE. 165

ice in the vicinity of Christianshaab, and discovered one of
those open spaces in the ice, which, even in the most severe
winters, remain open. In this hole hundreds of narwhals
end white whales were protruding their heads to breathe,
no other place presenting itself for miles around. It was
described to me as an Arctic ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’ in
the eagerness of the animals to keep at the place.” “ Neither
the narwhal nor the white whale,” he continues, are timid
animals, but will approach close to, and gambol for hours in
the immediate vicinity of the ship.” The oil is highly es-
teemed, and the flesh is very palatable. The skin of the
narwhal boiled to a jelly is looked upon, and justly so, as
one of the prime dainties of a Greenlander.
TheCommon The Porpoise resembles the dolphin in general

Porpoise. appearance. Its length, from the tip of the snout
to the end of the tail, is from five to eight feet; and the
width about two feet and a half. The figure of the whole
body is conical; the colour of the back is deep blue, inclining
to shining black; the sides are gray, and the belly white.
When the flesh is cut up, it looks very much like pork; but,
although it was once considered a sumptuous article of food,
and is said to have been occasionally introduced at the tables
of the old English nobility, it certainly has a disagreeable
flavour. Their motion in the water is a kind of circular
leap; they dive deep, but soon again rise up in order
to breathe. They are seen in nearly all seas, where they
sport with great activity, chiefly on the approach of a
squall.

The The Grampus (Orca Gladiator) is the natural

Grampus. enemy of the whale and the seal, who hold ~
him in mortal terror. His swallow is so great that he can
take a porpoise or a seal whole, and has heen known to
swallow severalin succession. The whale escapes him by getting
among the ice, whither it is said the grampus will not fol-
low him.