NATURAL HISTORY. 101 



Esquimaux, is not agreeable to the palate of an English 

 epicure of the present day. 



The voracity of the Porpoise is very great. It feeds on 

 various fishes, but its great feasts are held when the periodical 

 shoals of herrings, pilchards, and other fish arrive on the 

 coasts. In the pursuit of its prey, it frequently ventures 

 some distance up a river, and is then often taken in nets by 

 the fishermen. 



The teeth of this animal are very numerous, and interlock 

 when the jaws are closed, so that the fish when once seized 

 cannot escape. Its length is about five feet, its colour a rich 

 black ; becoming white on the under side. 



THE NARWHAL. 



Although the NARWHAL has not suffered from false reports 

 so much as many other animals, yet it has unwittingly con- 

 tributed to propagate a very old error. The spiral tusk of 

 the Narwhal was accustomed to be sold as the real horn of 

 the unicorn ; and as an accredited part of that animal, forming 

 direct proof of its existence, it used to fetch a very high price. 

 Of course, when the whale fishery was established, the real 

 owner of the horn was discovered, and the unicorn left still 

 enveloped in mystery. 



The name Monodori is not strictly correct, as the Narwhal 

 possesses two of these tusks, one on each side of its head. 

 Only the left tusk projects, the other remaining within the 

 head. Sometimes a specimen has been found with both tusks 

 projecting, and some think that when the left tusk has been 

 broken off by accident, the right one becomes large enough to 

 supply its place. 



The use of these tusks is not known ; some supposing that 

 they are employed to dig up sea- weeds, &c., on which the 

 Narwhal feeds, and some imagining that the living prey is 

 first transfixed and then eaten. Be this as it may, as a 

 weapon the tusk is not. to be despised, as the strength and 

 rapidity of the Narwhal are very great. Instances are on 

 record, of the thick oak timbers of a ship being pierced by the 



