104 Chinese Clay Figures 



The three-horned rhinoceros described by Kuo P'o is perhaps not so 

 fabulous as it may appear at first sight; for it is known to naturalists 

 that the animal has also the tendency of developing three horns. E. 

 Heller 1 states in regard to the black rhinoceros covering the whole of 

 Africa with the exception of the Congo Basin that, although the species is 

 almost invariably two-horned, occasional variations of one and three- 

 homed specimens are met with. In the light of this observation, 

 Pliny's (Nat. hist., VIII, 21) notice of oxen of India, some with one 

 horn, and others with three (Indicos boves unicornes tricornesque), is 

 apt to lose much of the legendary character with which it was formerly 

 charged. As far as I know, a three-horned specimen has not yet been 

 pointed out among the species of the Indo-Malayan region; notwith- 

 standing, the possibility remains that such may have occurred in 

 times of antiquity. However this may be, whether we assume that the 

 notion of a three-horned species was founded on a natural observation 

 or not, the fact of the coincidence between Kuo P'o and Pliny remains, 

 and hints at the existence of a tradition anent a three-horned variety in 

 the beginning of our era. 2 At any rate, whether real or imaginary, the 

 latter is but a variation of the two-horned species; and by omitting 

 Kuo P'o's illusory "horn on the head," we arrive at a fairly accurate 

 description of it, and then Kuo P'o exactly agrees with Hii Shen's 

 definition of the word si. And there can be no doubt of the point that 



ously enough, they are separated and dispersed in two different chapters. In the latter 

 work, the horn of the se is decorated with different designs, which are white on black, 

 while they are black on white in T'u shu. The si of San ts'ai is adorned with flamed 

 and fluttering bands, and the crescent of the moon is absent. 



1 The White Rhinoceros, p. 35 (Washington, 1913). Again on p. 17: "The num- 

 ber of dermal horns on the snout is of less importance. These have been found to 

 show some individual variation in the African species varying from one to three in 

 number in the same species. The front horn, however, is nearly always the better 

 developed and is never wanting." 



2 The case could certainly be argued also from a purely philological point of view. 

 Kuo P'o's creation might be explained as an ill-advised combination of the single- 

 horned and two-horned species, or even regarded as a subsequent interpolation in 

 his text, due to a scribe who meant to be sure of his definition being as complete as 

 possible. Pliny's tricornis might be rationally interpreted as the result of an arithmet- 

 ical process, providing the rhinoceros as a species of ox with two bovine horns, and 

 adding the nose-horn as the third. In this manner Damirl's three-horned rhinoceros 

 must have arisen (Ruska, Der Islam, Vol. IV, 1913, p. 164), for it has one horn 

 between the eyes and two above the ears. The natural explanation based on zoologi- 

 cal observation appeals to me to a much higher degree, for we must not be forgetful 

 of the fact that it is impossible for the human mind to invent spontaneously such an 

 observation; a feature of this kind, in order to be observed by man, must have some- 

 how pre-existed in nature. It means nothing, of course, to say that the three horns are 

 a fable; if fable it is, then how did the fable come into existence? It is not the 

 question of a mythological conception, or of a mythical monster, but plainly of a 

 really existing animal described in sober words. I feel confident that the three-horned 

 variation in a living or extinct species will be found some day also in Eastern Asia. 



