THE UNICORN.
A belief in the unicorn, like that in the dragon, appears to have obtained
among both Eastern and Western authors, at a very early period. In this
case, however, it has survived the revulsion from a fatuous confidence in
the fables and concocted specimens of the Middle Ages, and even now the
existence or non-existence of this remarkable animal remains a debateable
question.
Until within a late period occasional correspondents of the South African
journals continued to assert its existence, basing their communications on
the reports of hunters from the interior, while but a few hundred years
since travellers spoke of actually seeing it or of passing through
countries in which its existence was absolutely affirmed to them. Horns,
generally those of the narwhal, but occasionally of one species of
rhinoceros, were brought home and deposited in museums as those of the
veritable unicorn, or sold, under the same pretext, for large sums, on
account of their reputed valuable medicinal properties.[281] The animal is
variously described as resembling a horse or some kind of deer; this
description may possibly refer to some animal of a type intermediate to
them, now almost, if not quite, extinct. In some instances it is supposed
that a species of rhinoceros is indicated.
There has been much discussion as to the identity of the animal referred
to in many passages of the Bible, the Hebrew name of which, _Reem_, has
been translated "unicorn." Mr. W. Smith considers that a species of
rhinoceros could not have been indicated, as it is spoken of in one
passage as a sacrificial animal, whereas the ceremonial ritual of the Jews
forbade the use of any animal not possessing the double qualifications of
chewing the cud and being cloven-footed. The qualities attributed to it
are great strength, an indomitable disposition, fierce nature, and an
active and playful disposition when young. He considers that the passage,
Deut. xxxiii. 17, should be rendered "his horns are like the horns of a
unicorn," and not, as it is given, "horns of unicorns"; and is of opinion
that some species of wild ox is intended.
Among profane Western authors we first find the unicorn referred to by
Ctesias, who describes it as having one horn, a cubit long. Herodotus also
mentions it in the passage,[282] "For the eastern side of Libya, where the
wanderers dwell, is low and sandy, as far as the river Triton; but
westward of that, the land of the husbandmen is very hilly and abounds
with forests and wild beasts, for this is the tract in which the huge
serpents are found, and the lions, the elephants, the bears, the aspicks,
and the horned asses"; and again, "Among the wanderers are none of these,
but quite other animals, as antelopes, &c. &c., and asses, not of the
horned sort, but of a kind which does not need to drink."
Aristotle[283] mentions two unicorn animals. "There are only a few
[animals] that have a solid hoof and one horn, as the Indian ass and the
oryx."
Pliny[284] tells us that the Orsæan Indians hunt down a very fierce animal
called the monoceros, which has the head of the stag, the feet of the
elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like
that of the horse. It makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black
horn, projecting from the middle of its forehead, and two cubits in
length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive. In speaking of the
Indian ass, he says,[285] "the Indian ass is only a one-horned animal";
and of the oryx of Africa,[286] "the oryx is both one-horned and
cloven-footed."
Ælian[287] transfers the locality back again from Africa to Asia, and it
may be presumed, in the following quotation, that he indicates the country
north of the Himalaya, Thibet, and Tartary, which still has the reputation
of being one of the homes of the unicorn.
"They say that there are mountains in the innermost regions of India
inaccessible to men, and full of wild beasts; where those creatures which
with us are domesticated, such as sheep, dogs, goats, and cattle, range
about at their own free will, free from any charge by a shepherd or
herdsman.
"Both historians, and the more learned of the Indians, among whom the
Brahmins may be specified, declare that there is a countless number of
these beasts. Among them they enumerate the unicorn, which they call
cartazonon, and say that it reaches the size of a horse of mature age,
possesses a mane and reddish yellow hair, and that it excels in swiftness
through the excellence of its feet and of its whole body. Like the
elephant, it has inarticulate feet, and it has a boar's tail; one black
horn projects between the eyebrows, not awkwardly, but with a certain
natural twist, and terminating in a sharp point.
"It has, of all animals, the harshest and most contentious voice. It is
said to be gentle to other beasts approaching it, but to fight with its
fellows. Not only are the males at variance in natural contention amongst
themselves, but they also fight with the females, and carry their combats
to the length of killing the conquered; for not only are their bodies
generally indued with great strength, but also they are armed with an
invincible horn. It frequents desert regions and wanders alone and
solitary. In the breeding season it is of gentle demeanour towards the
female, and they feed together; when this has passed and the female has
become gravid, it again becomes fierce and wanders alone.
"They say that the young, while still of tender age, are carried to the
King of the Prasians for exhibition of their strength, and exposed in
combats on festivals; for no one remembers them to have been captured of
mature age."
Cæsar[288] records the reputed existence in his day, within the bounds of
the great Hercynian Forest, of a bull, shaped like a stag, with one horn
projecting from the middle of its forehead and between the ears.
Cosmas,[289] surnamed Indicopleustes, a merchant of Alexandria, who lived
in the sixth century, and made a voyage to India, and subsequently wrote
works on cosmography, gives a figure of the unicorn, not, as he says, from
actual sight of it, but reproduced from four figures of it in brass
contained in the palace of the King of Ethiopia. He states, from report,
that "it is impossible to take this ferocious beast alive; and that all
its strength lies in its horn. When it finds itself pursued and in danger
of capture, it throws itself from a precipice, and turns so aptly in
falling, that it receives all the shock upon the horn, and so escapes safe
and sound." It is noteworthy that this mode of escape is attributed, at
the present day, to both the musk ox and the Ovis Ammon.
Marco Polo may or may not indicate a rhinoceros in the passage, "Après
avoir descendu ces deux journées et demie, on trouve une province au midi
qui est sur les confins de l'Inde, on l'appelle Amien--on marche quinze
journées par des lieux desertes et par de grands bois où il y a beaucoup
d'éléphants et de licornes et d'autres bêtes sauvages. Il n'y a ni hommes
ni habitations aussi, nous laisserons ce lieu."
But no such inference can be attached to the descriptions of the Ethiopian
unicorn by Leo and Ludolphus.
The first says:[290]
"The unicorn is found in the mountains of high Ethiopia. It is of an ash
colour and resembles a colt of two years old, excepting that it has the
head of a goat, and in the middle of its forehead a horn three feet long,
which is smooth and white like ivory, and has yellow streaks running along
from top to bottom.
"This horn is an antidote against poison, and it is reported that other
animals delay drinking till it has soaked its horn in the water to purify
it. This animal is so nimble that it can neither be killed nor taken. But
it casts its horn like a stag, and the hunters find it in the deserts. But
the truth of this is called in question by some authors."
Ludolphus[291] says:
"Here is also another beast, called arucharis, with one horn, fierce and
strong, of which unicorn several have been seen feeding in the woods."
Coming down to later days we find the unicorn described by Lewes
Vertomannus[292]--he who, having visited, among other places, the site of
the legend of St. George and the Dragon,[293] and undergone a variety of
adventures, visits, in the course of them, the temple of Mecca, and, as
follows, gives a description "of the unicorns of the Temple of Mecha,
which are not seen in any other place."
"On the other part of the temple are parks or places enclosed, where are
seen two unicorns, named of the Greeks monocerotæ, and are there showed to
the people for a miracle, and not without good reason, for the seldomness
and strange nature. The one of them, which is much higher than the other,
yet not much unlike to a colt of thirty months of age; in the forehead
groweth only one horn, in manner right foorth, of the length of three
cubits. The other is much younger, of the age of one year, and like a
young colt; the horn of this is of the length of four handfulls.
"This beast is of the colour of a horse of weesell colour, and hath the
head like a hart, but no long neck, a thynne mane hanging only on the one
side. Their leggs are thin and slender like a fawn or hind. The hoofs of
the fore-feet are divided in two, much like the feet of a goat. The outer
part of the hinder feet is very full of hair.
"This beast doubtless seemeth wild and fierce, yet tempereth that
fierceness with a certain comeliness.
"These unicorns one gave to the Sultan of Mecha as a most precious and
rare gift. They were sent him out of Ethiope by a king of that country who
desired by that present to gratify the Sultan of Mecha."
Visiting the interior of Arabia from Aden, and afterwards starting for
Persia, Vertomannus was driven back by a contrary wind to Zeila (in
Africa), which he describes as being an important city with much
merchandise--when again he says, "I saw there also certain kyne, having
only one horn in the middle of the forehead, as hath the unicorn, and
about a span in length, but the horn bendeth backwards. They are of bright
shining red colour."
In an account of the travels of Johann Grueber, Jesuit (about 1661),
contained in Astley's collection of voyages, we find:--
"Sining[294] is a great and populous city, built at the vast wall of
China, through the gate of which the merchants from India enter Katay or
China. There are stairs to go a-top of the wall, and many travel on it
from the gate at Sining to the next at Soochew, which is eighteen days'
journey, having a delightful prospect all the way, from the wall, of the
innumerable habitations on one side, and the various wild beasts which
range the desert on the other side.
"Besides wild bulls, here are tigers, lions, elephants, rhinoceroses, and
monoceroses, which are a kind of horned asses.
"Thus the merchants view the beasts free from danger, especially from that
part of the wall which, running southward, approaches Quang-si, Yunnan,
and Tibet; for at certain times of the year they betake themselves to the
Yellow River, and parts near the wall which abound with thickets, in order
to get pasture and seek their prey."
Father Jerome Lobo, a Portuguese Jesuit, who embarked for Abyssinia in the
year 1622,[295] states that--
"In the province of Agaus has been seen the unicorn; that beast so much
talked of and so little known. The prodigious swiftness with which the
creature runs from one wood into another has given me no opportunity of
examining it particularly; yet I have had so near a sight of it as to be
able to give some description of it.
"The shape is the same with that of a beautiful horse, exact and nicely
proportioned, of a bay colour, with a black tail, which in some provinces
is long, in others very short; some have long manes hanging to the ground.
They are so timorous that they never feed but surrounded with other beasts
that defend them.
"Deer and other defenceless animals often herd about the elephant, which,
contenting himself with roots and leaves, preserves the beasts that place
themselves, as it were, under his protection, from the others that would
devour them."
There is a somewhat doubtful story contained in the _Narrative of a
Journey from St. Petersburg, in Russia, to Peking, in China, in
1719_,[296] to the effect that between Tobolsky and Tomski--
"Our baggage having waited at Tara till our arrival, we left that place on
the 18th, and next came to a large Russian village sixty versts from Tara,
and the last inhabited by Russians till you pass the Baraba and come to
the river Oby.... One of these hunters told me the following story, which
was confirmed by several of his neighbours, that in the year 1713, in the
month of March, being out a-hunting, he discovered the track of a stag,
which he pursued. At overtaking the animal he was somewhat startled on
observing it had only one horn, stuck in the middle of its forehead. Being
near this village, he drove it home, and showed it, to the great
admiration of the spectators. He afterwards killed it, and ate the flesh,
and sold the horn to a comb-maker in the town of Tara, for ten alteens,
about fifteen pence sterling.
"I inquired carefully about the shape and size of this unicorn, as I
shall call it, and was told that it exactly resembled a stag.
"The horn was of a brownish colour, about one archæon or twenty-eight
inches long, and twisted from the root till within a finger's length of
the tip, where it was divided, like a fork, into two points, very sharp."
One of the most trustworthy of observers, the Abbé Huc, speaks very
positively on the subject of the unicorn.[297] He says: "The unicorn
really exists in Thibet.... We had for a long time a small Mongol Treatise
on Natural History, for the use of children, in which a unicorn formed one
of the pictorial illustrations.... The Chinese Itinerary says, on the
subject of the lake you see before your arrival at Atzder (going from east
to west), 'The unicorn, a very curious animal, is found in the vicinity of
this lake, which is forty _li_ long.'"
The unicorn is known in Thibet by the name of serou; in Mongolia, by that
of _kere_; while in a Thibetan manuscript examined by the late Major
Lattre, it is called the one-horned _tsopo_.
Mr. Hazlitt, in his notes appended to the statement by Huc as to the
unicorn, states that Mr. Hodgson, of Nepaul, sent to Calcutta the skin and
horn of a unicorn that died in the menagerie of the Rajah of Nepaul.
It was described as being very fierce, and abundant in the plains of
Tingri, in the southern part of the Thibetan province of Tsang, watered by
the Arroun; it assembled round salt beds. The form is graceful, colour
reddish, two tufts of hair project from the exterior of each nostril, and
there is much down round the hair and mouth. The hair is rough and seems
hollow. Doctor Able designated it _Antelope Hodgsonii_.
Baron von Müller described,[298] through the medium of M. Antoine
d'Abbadie, a unicorn animal which he had received when at Melpes in
Kordofan:--
"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.
Besides these there are clear descriptions of the rhinoceros, which cannot
in any way be confounded with the above. The only one of these popularly
familiar is the Ki-Lin, the history of which is interwoven with that of
remote ages. The first mention of it is made in the Bamboo Books--only in
that part, however, of them which is apparently a commentary, note, or
subsequent addition, though some authorities hold it to be a portion of
the actual text. The work states that, during the reign of Hwang-Ti (B.C.
2697), Ki-Lins appeared in the parks.
Their appearance was generally supposed to signalise the reign of an
upright monarch, and Confucius considered that the appearance of one
during his epoch was a bad omen, as it did not harmonise with the troubled
state of the times. The name Ki-Lin is a generic or dual word, composed of
those of the Ki and the Lin, the respective male and female of the
creature.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.--THE KI-LIN. (_After a modern Chinese painting._)]
This peculiar species of word formation is adopted in other instances in
reference to birds and animals; thus we have the male Fung and the female
Hwang united in the Fung Hwang, or so-called Chinese phœnix, and the Yuen
and Yang in the Yuen Yang, or mandarin duck.
Sometimes the word Lin alone is used with the same generic meaning.
The _'Rh Ya_, in the original text, defines the Lin as having a Kiun's
body (the Kiun is a kind of muntjack or deer), an ox's tail, and one horn.
The commentary states that the tip of the horn is fleshy, and that the
King Yang chapter of the "Spring and Autumn Annals" of Confucius defines
it as a horned Kiun.
[Illustration: FIG. 80.--THE LIN (FEMALE OF THE CHINESE UNICORN). (_From
the 'Rh Ya._)]
The preface to the _Shi Shu_ quotes Li Siün to the effect that the Lin is
an auspicious and perfect beast.
Sun Yen says it is a spiritual beast. The _Shwoh Wan_ says the Lin is the
female of the K‘i and the K‘i is a beast endowed with goodness, possessing
a Kiun's body, an ox's tail, and one horn. According to the _Shwoh Wan_,
the Lin may be considered as a large female deer. Now the _Shu King_
considers that many of these beasts are comprised under the Ki-Lin, only
the characters, though retaining the sound, have become altered in form.
Cheu Nau calls it Lin-che-chi and Man Chw‘en says that the Lin is
truthful, and reducible to rule.
The _Li Yuen_ says: "If the unicorn can once be tamed, then the other
beasts will not show terror."
Ta Tai, in the _Li Ki_, quoting the _Yih_ [_King_], says there are 360
kinds of hairy creatures, and the Ki-Lin is the chief of them.
The _Li Ki_, commenting on the _King Fang I Chw‘en_, says: "The Lin has a
Kiun's body, an ox's tail, a horse's hoof, and is of five colours. It is
twelve feet high."[301]
Again, in commenting on Fuh Kien's _Ho Chwen_, it says: "The Lin springs
from the earth's central regions. It is a beast of superior integrity, is
attached to its mother, and reducible to rule. The _Shu King_, quoting Luh
Li, says the Lin has a Kiun's body, an ox's tail, a horse's feet, and a
yellow colour, round hoofs, and one horn; the tip of the horn is erect and
fleshy.
"Its call in the middle part thereof is like a monastery bell. Its pace is
regular; it rambles only on selected grounds and after it has examined the
locality. It will not live in herds, or be accompanied in its movements.
It cannot be beguiled into pitfalls, or captured in snares. When the
monarch is virtuous, this beast appears."
At present there are Lin existing on the frontiers of Ping Cheu. Even the
large or small Lin are always like deer, so that this species is not the
auspicious Ying Lin; although Tsz Ma Siang Su,[302] in his odes on the
shooting of the Mi and trapping Lin, says that it is.
The top of the horn being fleshy is a characteristic of the Lin, and Mao
Chw‘en says that the Lin's horn is an emblem of goodness. Ching Tsien says
that the horn has a fleshy termination, indicating the peaceful character
of the beast, and that it has no use for it.
The "Book of Rites," quoting the _Kwang Ya_, says that on account of its
elegant style it takes place, _par excellence_, among the large-horned
beasts; the existing edition of the _Kwang Ya_ omits this.
The _Kung Yang Chw‘en_ says the Kiun also has horns.
Kung Ssun Tsz, in the annals of the fourteenth year of the Duke Ngai
(State of Lu), says that the Kiun has fleshy horns.
Kwoh, in his preface, proves the Lin to have a Kiun's body.
The _'Rh Ya_ gives the drawing of a unicorn animal called the Ki; but no
reference to the horn is given in the text, which simply describes it as a
large Kiun with a yak's tail and dog's feet.
[Illustration: FIG. 81.--THE KI.]
The Ki is not defined in the _'Rh Ya_, and the only information I have as
to it is derived from Williams' dictionary, where it is stated to be "a
fabulous auspicious animal, which appears when sages are born; the male of
the Chinese unicorn. It is drawn like a piebald scaly horse, with one horn
and a cow's tail, and may have had a living original in some extinct
equine animal." But there is a very full account of an animal called the
King. It is not impossible that it is identical with the King which, in
the usual brief style of the original text of the _'Rh Ya_, is epitomised
as a large Biao (a kind of stag), with an ox's tail and one horn; and the
several commentaries on it are as follows:--
"In the time of the Emperor Wu, of the Han dynasty, during the worship of
heaven and earth at the solstices at Yung, there was captured a unicorn
beast like a Piao; it was at that time designated the Lin; it was,
however, a Piao related to the Chang (a kind of deer)."
[Illustration: FIG. 82.--THE KING. (_From the 'Rh Ya._)]
The _Shwoh Wan_ says: "The King is a large stag with an ox's tail and one
horn." It may be a large form of the Piao. The Wang Hwu Analects say that
the Piao is an object of the chase, and that it is as swift as a stag.
Kwan Tsz, in the _Ti Yuen_ volume, says that as there are Mi and Piao and
many species of deer, so also the Piao is a species of deer.
The "Shi Ki," in the book _Fung Shen_, says that during the worship at the
solstices at Yung, there was captured a one-horned beast like a Piao, and
that the local authorities assert that as His Majesty was making
reverential invocations on the country altar to the Supreme Being, he was
recompensed for the sacrifice by a beast which was a unicorn.
Wu Chao's preface to the _Loh Yiu_ says: "The body is like that of a
muntjack, and it has one horn"; while the Spring and Autumn (Annals)
allude to this animal in speaking of the horned Kiun.
The inhabitants of Ch‘u say the Kiun is a Piao. Kwoh, in his preface, says
that the capture made in the time of Wu, of the Han dynasty, was actually
a Piao, as demonstrated by the Han books. The _Chung Kiun_ narrative
states that in Shang Yung was captured a white Lin bearing one horn, of
which the tip was fleshy. At the present day nothing has been heard of a
Piao with a fleshy tip, therefore these must be different beasts.
Kwoh also says that the Piao is identical with the Chang, and the Chang
with the Kiun. This corresponds with what Wei Chao So had already stated,
that the people of Ch‘u assert that the Kiun is a Piao, and that the Piao
is certainly a kind of deer.
Its meat is eminently savoury.
Luh Ki says that of all four-footed creatures, the Piao is the most
excellent.
Yeu Shi states in the _Kiao Sz_ annals ("Sacrifices to Heaven and Earth"),
that the Piao is a kind of deer. Its body exactly resembles that of the
Chang.
Finally, the explanatory prefaces of many classical works, when commenting
on the _'Rh Ya_, say that the Piao is identical with the Chang and of a
black colour; and they confirm Kwoh's opinion, although the _'Rh Ya_
forgets to allude to the three characters denoting the black colour.
[Illustration: FIG. 83.--THE KI-RIN. (_From a Japanese Drawing in a Temple
at Kioto._)]
It was probably some unicorn animal which is referred to in the General
History of China, called the _Tong Kien Kang Mu_ (_vide_ Père de Mailla's
translation), as having been presented to the Emperor Yung Loh of the Ming
dynasty, in A.D. 1415, by envoys from Bengal. De Mailla says it was called
a Ki-Lin by the Chinese out of flattery.
Again, the same History says that in the succeeding year the kingdom of
Malin sent as tribute a Ki-Lin similar to that from Bengal.
The Ki-Rin, a Japanese version of the Ki-Lin, is simply borrowed from
Chinese sources. It is figured in the illustrated edition of the great
Japanese Encyclopædia _Kasira gaki zou vo Sin mou dzu wi tai sei_,[303]
and represented, as in the Chinese drawings, as covered with scales; but
it must be noted that nothing in any of the texts of either country
warrants this furniture of the body.[304]
The same encyclopædia figures another unicorn beast under the name of the
Kai Tsi, and describes it as being an animal of foreign countries,
resembling a lion, and having a single horn. It is also called the Sin You
or divine sheep. It is able to distinguish between right and wrong. When
Kau You exercised criminal jurisdiction, he handed over those whose crime
was doubtful to the Kai Tsu, and it is said that this animal destroyed the
guilty and spared the innocent.
This is described in the Chinese work _Yuen Kien Léi Han_,[305] under the
name of the Hiai Chai, and similar powers of discrimination are there
attributed to it.
[Illustration: FIG. 84.--THE SZ, OR MALAYAN RHINOCEROS. (_From the 'Rh
Ya._)]
A synonym for it was the Chiai Tung. It states that, according to the _Si
Yang Y Shu_, a one-horned spiritual lamb was born in the Ping Shen
district, and in the twenty-first year of Kai Yuen. The horn was fleshy,
and the top of the head covered with white hair. The second chapter on the
same subject says that, in ancient times, if parties were at law, the
judge brought this animal out, and it would gore at the guilty one.
The Kioh Twan is yet another unicorn animal described in the _Yuen Kien
Léi Han_,[306] which is said to have the appearance of a deer with the
tail of a horse, but to be of a greenish colour, with one horn above the
nose, and to be capable of traversing eighteen thousand _li_ in one day.
The _Li Kau Sing Sha Shao_ says that the Emperor Yuen Ti Su sent his
ambassadors to the western part of India, who procured animals several
tens of feet in height,[307] unicorn, like the rhinoceros. The rumour went
that these were inauspicious for the Emperor, and they were immediately
returned.
_The Poh._
The _Shan Hai King_ describes an animal as existing among the plains of
Mongolia, having the appearance of a horse, with a white body, black tail,
one horn, teeth and claws like a tiger, which howls like the roll of a
drum, devours tigers and leopards, and is capable of being used instead of
soldiers; it is called Poh.
The _'Rh Ya_ describes the same animal as like a horse, with saw teeth,
existing on tigers and leopards.
The "History of the North" says that in the Kingdom of Peh Chi (?) a
magistrate named Chung Wa held office, who was very equitable in his
rule. His district was invaded by some ferocious animals. Suddenly six of
the Poh came and killed and devoured them as a reward for his good rule.
The Sung History says that a man named Leu Chang, an ambassador, arrived
at a district called Shen Su, where the mountains contained a strange
animal, in appearance like a horse, but capable of eating tigers and
leopards. The people were unacquainted with it, and asked Leu Chang what
it was, who said it was called the Poh, and referred them to the _Shan Hai
King_ for a description of it.
[Illustration: FIG. 85.--TARGET IN THE FORM OF A SPHYNX. (_From the Sun Li
T'u._). The arrows were discharged upwards and fell into the cylinder
behind the figure.]
Among other remarkable and interesting drawings which have come down from
antiquity in the _San Li T'u_,[308] or illustrated edition of the three
(ceremonial) rituals, are some representing the various targets used by
officials of different ranks in the military examinations, in which the
arrows had to be lodged by shooting upwards from a distance. These are
fashioned in the form of animals, one realising the idea of the sphynx,
and two representing unicorn animals, called respectively the Lu--which,
according to some, is like an ass with one horn, but, according to others,
differing from a donkey in having a cleft hoof--and the Sz, which is said
to be like an ox with one horn.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.--THE LU TARGET. (_From the San Li T'u._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--THE SZ TARGET. (_From the San Li T'u._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--THE TOO JOU SHEN. (_From the Ming Tombs._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 89.--THE TOO JOU SHEN. (_From the Ming Tombs._)]
The Too Jou Shen is the name of an animal with a lion-like body and head,
cloven hoofs, and a blunt short horn projecting from the centre of the
forehead. Two pairs of these form a portion of the avenue of stone figures
of animals leading up to the Ming tombs, about eighty miles north of
Pekin. I have not found it described in any book.
A writer in the _China Review_[309] endeavours to prove that the Ki-Lin is
a reminiscence of the giraffe, which he supposes may once have spread over
Asia, and, in addition to various passages included among those which I
have quoted above, adduces one from the _Wu Tsah Tsu_, which states that,
"In the period Yung Loh of the Ming dynasty (1403-1425) a Ki-Lin was
caught, and a painter was ordered to make a sketch and hand it up to the
high magistrates. According to the picture, the body was perfectly shaped
like that of a deer, _but the neck was very long, perhaps three or four
feet_." I must admit that I cannot agree with him in his conclusions.
Harris[310] has given much better arguments in favour of the unicorn being
merely a species of oryx. He appears to me, however, to speak too
absolutely, to make his facts too pliant, and to base his main belief on
the untenable theory that the myth, tradition, or theory is based on the
profile drawing of an oryx, exhibiting one horn only. We might just as
soon expect people to start stories of two-legged cows or horses, or
one-legged races of men, if so slender a basis for forging a species were
sufficient. What the zoological status of the unicorn may be I am not
prepared to show, but I find it impossible to believe that a creature
whose existence has been affirmed by so many authors, at so many different
dates, and from so many different countries, can be, as mythologists
demand, merely the symbol of a myth. There is a possible solution, which
does not appear to have struck previous writers on the subject, viz., that
the unicorn may be merely a hybrid produced occasionally and at more or
less rare intervals.
By accepting this view we could explain the extraordinary combinations of
character assigned to it, and the discrepancy which exists between the
qualities of courage and gentleness ascribed to it by Western and Chinese
authors. A valuable chapter remains to be written by naturalists and
progressionists on the limits within which hybridization exists in a state
of nature among the higher animals; its prevalence among the lower and
among plants is, of course, well known. A cross between some equine and
cervine species might readily result in a unicorn offspring, and either
the courageous qualities of the sire[311] or the gentleness of the dam
might preponderate, according to the relations of the species in each of
the instances.
As an alternative, we may speculate on the unicorn being a generic name
for several distinct species of (probably) now extinct animals; missing
links between the three families, the Equidæ, Cervidæ, and Bovidæ;
creatures which were the contemporaries of prehistoric man, and which,
before they finally expired, attracted the attention of his descendants,
during early historic times, by the rare appearance of a few surviving
individuals.
The supernatural qualities ascribed to these by various nations must be
considered merely the embroidery of fancy, designed to enrich and adorn an
article esteemed rare and valuable.