146 
food of the unicorn. Perhaps it differs 
| with the parts of the ocean it inhabits. 
Small fishes, Molusca and Actinea , are 
their more general food. 
The Narwhal swims with great swift¬ 
ness, and, like the other cetacea, cannot 
remain long under the water without re¬ 
spiring. When frightened, or attacked, 
they huddle together in such numbers 
that they force their long horns into the 
body of each other, and thereby become 
ah easy prey to their pursuers. 
This animal, though seemingly harm¬ 
less, is, as already mentioned, a danger¬ 
ous enemy of the common whale; and 
has been known to dart its horn into the 
side of a ship. ■* The vessel must have 
sunk had not the horn been broke off by 
the violence of the stroke. 
The oil produced by the Monodon Mo- 
nocerost though scanty, is, in point of 
* Foot, Voy. p. 353. 
i 
