History of the Rhinoceros 121 



recognized the original meaning of bse-ru as "rhinoceros," proceeds to 

 state that in Tibet the word is applied to the clumsy-looking deer known 

 to sportsmen as the "serow." Both lexicographers, in this respect, 

 rely on the statements of the European sportsmen, but leave us in the 

 dark as to the opinion of the Tibetans on the point. The question arises, 

 — Do those European speculations on a Tibetan unicorn identified 

 with an antelope styled se-ru have any foundation in a Tibetan tradi- 

 tion? The French Missionaries, in their Tibetan Dictionary (p. 1056), 

 give a slight intimation of the existence of such a tradition by remarking 

 that the animal bse-ru is believed in Tibet to belong to the genus of 

 goats {ex genere caprarum) , but that nobody has ever seen it; the latter 

 clause doubtless means that nobody has encountered this wild goat in 

 the shape of a unicorn which it is fabled to be. I. J. Schmidt 1 had a 

 certain presentiment of the matter when he annotated a passage in his 

 translation of the Geser Saga, that the Tibetan and Mongol name of 

 the unicorn is seru, that the existence of this animal in the wild moun- 

 tains of Tibet is asserted in Tibetan books, but that the description 

 given of it does not at all fit the rhinoceros. The unicorn which stopped 

 Chinggis Khan on his expedition to Tibet and induced him to return, 2 

 judging from the description given by the Tibetan historian, 3 is identical 

 with the Chinese k'i-lin, as already recognized by G. Schlegel. 4 

 Another association of the unicorn with Tibet appears on the tribute 

 painting ascribed to Li Kung-lin (Li Lung-mien), where Bonin 5 has 

 pointed it out among the envoys from the Kingdom of Women. In the 

 Polyglot Dictionary of the Emperor K'ien-lung 6 we find the Tibetan 



1 Die Thaten Bogda Gesser Chan's, p. 56 (St. Petersburg, 1839). Compare also 

 p. 125. 



2 G. Huth, Geschichte des Buddhismus in der Mongolei, Vol. II, p. 25. 



3 "An animal of green color with the body of a stag, the tail of a horse, and a 

 single horn on its head." 



4 T'oung Pao, Vol. VI, 1896, p. 433. According to Chinese tradition, however 

 (see the texts of Kui sin tsa chi and Ch'o keng lu, in T'u shu tsi ch'eng, Chapter kio 

 tuan, ki shi, p. 1 b), the marvellous animal opposing the conqueror belonged to the 

 class of unicorns (kio tuan), and is described as a hundred feet high, with a single 

 horn like that of the rhinoceros, and able to speak a human language. 



6 Le royaume des neiges, pp. 40, 299 (Paris, 191 1). M. Bonin's description of 

 this painting is based on a copy of it in the Musee Guimet, which is certainly not the 

 original from the hand of Li Kung-lin; it is a much later and somewhat weak copy, as 

 stated also by Tchang Yi-Tchou and Hackin (La peinture chinoise au Mus6e Gui- 

 met, p. 59). On Plate V of the latter publication, the portion of the picture illustrat- 

 ing the envoys of the Kingdom of Women is reproduced; the unicorn is a wretched 

 production. Mr. Freer of Detroit owns two copies of the same painting, both far 

 superior to the one in the Musee Guimet. One of these offers guch high qualities as 

 come very near to an original. The other is a copy of the Yuan period, executed in 

 1364. 



6 Appendix, Ch. 4, p. 53. 



