404 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



Here we have an early instance of a white animal preserved in a 

 park. The question may also be raised, were the "bubali" we 

 read of in our early chronicles not antelopes ? ^ Whitaker, for 

 example, states that an entry in the records shows when the 

 "bubali or wild cattle" were removed from Blakely to Gisburne 

 Park. On what grounds is "bubali" accepted as standing for 

 " wild cattle 1 " In translations from the classics it is generally 

 taken to mean buffaloes. ^ Turning again to the two versions of 

 the Bible, we find the following : — 



Authorised. Revised. 



(a) "he hath as it were the (a) "He hath as it were the 



4. 



strength of an unicorn." — Num. strength ^ of the wild-ox. 



xxiii. 22. Num. xxiii. 22. 



(b) "his horns are like the (6) "And his horns are the 

 horns of unicorns." — Deut. horns of the wild-ox." — Deut. 

 xxxiii. 17. xxxiii. 17. 



(c) " Will the unicorn be will- (c) " Will the wild-ox be con- 

 ing to serve thee, or abide by thy tent to serve thee ? Or will he 

 crib ? abide by thy crib ? 



Canst thou bind the unicorn Canst thou bind the wild -ox 



with his band in the furrow ? or with his band in the furrow ? 



will he harrow the valleys after Or will he harrow the valleys 



thee?"— /o&xxxix. 9-10. after thee?"— Jo& xxxix. 9-10. 



{d) "And the unicorn shall {d) "And the wild-oxen shall 



come down with them, and the come down with them, and the 



bullocks with the bulls." — Isa. bullocks with the bulls." — Isa. 



xxxiv. 7. xxxiv. 7. 



1 Kitto, Physical History of Palestine (p. cccxciii.), writes : — 



" The Oryx [Footnote — Abu Harb, Antelope leucori/x] and Addaxare not 

 natives of Syria, or even of Egypt, at present, although the former at least 

 was certainly found there in ancient times. It was a conspicuous object of 

 the chase. . . It was one of the animals tamed by the Egyptians and 

 kept in great numbers in the preserves of their villas. We are induced to 

 notice it in this place from the fact that this is the most celebrated of all 

 the genus, being that which appears to have given rise to the famous 

 unicorn of the ancients, and to which there are so many references in 

 Scripture." 



Also [p. cccc, footnote] " The Wild Cow, beker el luahesh, feeds on the 

 herbs in the desert of the district of Djof, fifteen days' journey from 

 Damascus. " — Burchhardt. 



2 Some Latin dictionaries state that Bubalus is "a buff or wild ox, 

 a buflfle or bugle. — Mart., 1. 23"; or "a wild ox, a buffalo. — Plin., 8. 15." 



3 Or " horns. " •* Or " ox-antelope " (Heb. Reem), 



