Queer Game 



island of Tristan da Cunha have been seen carrying 

 off small birds; and at other islands rabbits have been 

 caught by them, showing that they are the hunters of 

 the tribe. 



" Regarding the myths and romances of the sea," 

 said an angler, " it is very easy to see where they all 

 arise. As an example, take the unicorn in the English 

 coat of arms ; there is no doubt at all but that this is a 

 distorted narwhal, which, to my mind, is quite as 

 remarkable as the supposed unicorn. 



4 The latter was supposed to be a horse with fins 

 or webbed feet, possessing a horn that projected from 

 the forehead several feet. This animal plowed the 

 ocean in olden times, and, according to old histories, 

 was a common sight. It was, in reality, the creation 

 of some scientist, who had heard the unicorn described 

 by a sailor. It looked like a horse, and from the fore- 

 head extended a long horn, a terrible weapon that 

 no man or fish could front. 



4 The sailor had seen a narwhal, a small whale with 

 a rounded forehead, from which projected a remark- 

 able spiral horn, and sometimes two. No wonder the 

 old seamen were astonished. The present unicorn 

 is nearer the actual truth than one might expect, con- 

 sidering the times and the ignorance regarding natural 

 history. 



" Some years ago," continued the speaker, " I was 

 in the North Atlantic on a government vessel. We 

 went up to Iceland around the coast of Newfound- 



3 11 



