HABITS OF THE SEA UNICORN. 195 



in place of it there is an irregular, sharp, fatty ridge, two 

 inches in height, extending between two and three feet along 

 the back, nearly midway between the snout and the tail. 

 The prevailing color of the animal is bluish-gray on the back, 

 variegated with numerous dark spots, with paler and more 

 gray marks on a white ground at the sides. In old sea-horses 

 the color is wholly white, or yellowish-white, with dark-gray 

 spots. They are quiet and inoffensive in their habits, and 

 swim with great rapidity. When respiring on the surface of 

 the water, after blowing repeatedly, they frequently lie 

 motionless for several minutes with the back and head just 

 appearing above water. When harpooned, they dive to a con- 

 siderable depth, and on returning to the surface for respira- 

 tion, are readily killed in a few minutes with the lance. Near 

 the coast they are always seen in flocks in the severest win- 

 ters. The Greenlanders drive them with their sledges to 

 fissures in the ice, where they are dispatched. The blubber, 

 enwrapping the whole body, is from two to four inches in 

 thickness. 



When a number of sea-horses are together, they divert 

 themselves in gambols, when, their horns appearing above 

 the water, as if brandished about like weapons, have a singu- 

 lar effect, and the clattering noise they produce, with a kind 

 of gurgling sound of the animals themselves, would lead one 

 to suppose that some hostile proceedings were going on; but 

 it is merely a playful movement of instruments which, if ag- 

 gressively employed, would be dangerous. The force with 

 which the narwahl urges its speed may be conceived by the 

 circumstance that its tusk has been sometimes found driven 

 through the planks of vessels. 



