"I met, on the 17th of April 1848, a man who was in the habit of selling
to me specimens of animals. One day he asked me if I wished also for an
_a'nasa_, which he described thus: 'It is the size of a small donkey, has
a thick body and thin bones, coarse hair, and tail like a boar. It has a
long horn on its forehead, and lets it hang when alone, but erects it
immediately on seeing an enemy. It is a formidable weapon, but I do not
know its exact length. The _a'nasa_ is found not far from here (Melpes),
towards the south-southwest. I have seen it often in the wild grounds,
where the negroes kill it, and carry it home to make shields from its
skin.' _N.B._--This man was well acquainted with the rhinoceros, which he
distinguished, under the name of _fetit_, from the _a'nasa_.
"On June the 14th I was at Kursi, also in Kordofan, and met there a slave
merchant who was not acquainted with my first informer, and gave me
spontaneously the same description of the _a'nasa_, adding that he had
killed and eaten one long ago, and that its flesh was well flavoured."
This creature is mentioned by Rupell, under the name of _Nillekma_ or
_Arase_, as indigenous to Kordofan, and, by Cavassi, as known in Congo
under that of _Abada_.
Mr. Freeman, in the _South African Christian Recorder_ (vol. i.), gives
the native account of an animal not uncommon in Makooa, and called the
_Ndzoodzoo_, described as being about the size of a horse, extremely fleet
and strong, with a single horn from two feet to two and a half feet in
length, projecting from its forehead, which is said to be flexible when
the animal is asleep, and capable of being curled up at pleasure, but
becoming stiff and hard under the excitement of rage. It is extremely
fierce, and invariably attacks a man when it discerns him. The female is
without a horn.
Our latest information as to this species comes from Prejevalski,[299]
who, speaking of it as the orongo, says that it has elegant black horns
standing vertically above the head; the back is dun-coloured; the middle
of the breast, stomach, and rump, white; seen at a distance it appears
white; it is very numerous in Northern Thibet. He adds: "Another prevalent
superstition is that the orongo has only one horn growing vertically from
the centre of the head. In Kansu and Kokonor we were told that unicorns
were rare, one or two in a thousand. The Mongols in Tsaidan deny it, but
say it may be so in south-west Thibet."
Turning to the Chinese classics and books of antiquity, we find
references, sometimes vague and mythical, sometimes exact, to several
distinct unicorn animals. These may be enumerated as:--
[300]1. The Ki-Lin, represented in Japan by the Kirin.
2. The King.
3. The Kioh Twan.
4. The Poh.
5. The Hiai Chai.
6. The Too Jon Sheu.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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