THE NARWHAL, OR 8EA UNICORN. 189 



was, as it only occurred when they reared their 

 horns, with the front part of the head and mouth 

 out of the water. Several of them followed the 

 ship, and seemed to be attracted hy the principle of 

 curiosity, at the sight of so unusual a body. The 

 water being perfectly transparent, they could be 

 seen descending to the keel, and playing about the 

 rudder for a considerable time/' 



Narwhals are quick, active, inoffensive animals. 

 They swim with considerable velocity. When re- 

 spiring on the surface, after blowing repeatedly 

 with much force, they frequently lie motionless for 

 several minutes with their back and heads just 

 appearing above water. When harpooned, they 

 dive in the same manner, and with almost the 

 same velocity as the mysticetus, but not to the 

 same extent. They generally descend about two 

 hundred fathoms, then return to the surface, and 

 are despatched with the lance in a few minutes. 

 Near the coast, according to Giesecki, they are always 

 seen in flocks, in the severest winter, amidst the 

 fissures of the fixed ice, in the bays from 70 

 north latitude to the extremest north. The Green- 

 landers drive them with their sledges to fissures of 

 the ice, where the animals generally come up to 

 take air, and there kill them with their harpoons 

 iind guns. 



By the Greenlanders the Unicorn is regarded as 

 the precursor of the mysticetus, and as soon as it is 

 noticed, they prepare in right earnest for the fishing, 

 having learned by experience that wherever the 



