History of the Rhinoceros 141 



as in swine. There are one-horned, two-horned, and three-horned 

 ones." 1 



the rhinoceros on Java, says, "They do no mischief, however, with the horn, but with 

 the tongue alone; for this is covered all over with long and strong prickles [and when 

 savage with any one they crush him under their knees and then rasp him with their 

 tongue]." Yule comments that the belief in the formidable nature of the tongue of 

 the rhinoceros is very old and widespread, though he can find no foundation for it 

 other than the rough appearance of the organ. Dr. Parsons (p. 9 in the pamphlet 

 quoted above, p. 83) observes, "As to the tongue of the rhinoceros, the scribes assure 

 us that it is so rugged that it can lick off with it the flesh from the bones of a man, 

 but the tongue of the live animal examined by me is as soft and mild as that of a calf; 

 whether it will grow rougher with the advancing age of the animal, I am unable to 

 say." It is easy to see how the fable of the prickly tongue arose. The animal mainly 

 feeds on herbage, and the alleged or real observation of its inclination for brambles 

 led to the conclusion that its tongue must be thorn-proof and prickly. A similar 

 belief seems to obtain in Siam: "On dit que ce monstrueux quadrupede fait ses 

 delices des opines de bambou" (Mgr. Pallegoix, Description du royaume Thai ou 

 Siam, Vol. I, p. 156, Paris, 1854). 



1 Now follows in the Pen ts'ao the quotation from the Erh ya translated above 

 (P- 93) • The text then following in the Pen ts'ao is purported to be a quotation from Ling 

 piao lu i; but it is in fact abridged, and intermingled with extracts from Yu yang tsa 

 tsu. For this reason I have abandoned at this point the text of the Pen ts'ao, and 

 given separately translations of the two documents, as they are published in T'u shu 

 tsi ch'eng (Chapter on Rhinoceros, hui k'ao, p. 4). In evidence of my statement, 

 the text of the Pen ts'ao here follows; the main share in the confusion will probably 

 be due to Su Sung, not to Li Shi-chen. "The Ling piao lu i by Liu Sun (of the T'ang 

 period) says, 'The rhinoceros has two horns: the one on the forehead is called se si, 

 the other, on the nose, is called hu mao si. The male rhinoceros also has two horns 

 both of which are comprised under the name mao si (' hairy rhinoceros '). At present 

 people uphold the opinion that it has but a single horn. These two kinds of horn are 

 provided with grain patterns, and their price largely depends upon the finer or coarser 

 qualities of these desr.,,3. The most expensive is the horn with floral designs of the 

 rhinoceros ' communi airing with the sky.' The animals with such horns dislike their 

 own shadow, and constantly drink muddy water in order to avoid beholding their 

 reflection. High-grade horns bear likenesses of all things. Some attribute the 

 qualities of the t'ung t'ien horn to a pathological cause, but the natural reason cannot 

 be ascertained. The term tao ch'a means that one half of the lines pass through in 

 the direction downward; the term cheng ch'a means that one half of the lines pass 

 through in the direction upward; the term yao ku ch'a means that the lines are inter- 

 rupted in the middle, and do not pass through. Such-like are a great many. The 

 Po-se designate ivory as po-ngan, and rhinoceros-horn as hei-ngan, — words difficult to 

 distinguish. The largest rhinoceros-horn is that of the to-lo-si, a single horn of which 

 weighs from seven to eight catties. This is identified with the horn on the forehead of 

 the male rhinoceros. It has numerous decorations conveying the impression of scattered 

 beans. If the specks are deep in color, the horn is suitable to be made into plaques 

 for girdle-ornaments; if the specks are scattered here and there, and light in color, 

 the horn can be made only into bowls and dishes. In the opinion of some, the animal 

 called se is the female of the si. [It resembles the water-buffalo, and is of dark 

 color. Its hide is so hard and thick that it can be worked into armor.] I do not know 

 whether this is the case or not." (There is here a confusion in Li Shi-chen's text. 

 The passage enclosed in brackets does not occur in the text of the Ching lei pen ts'ao, 

 where it runs, "In the opinion of some, the animal called se is the female of the si; 

 I do not know whether this is the case or not." The rest is evidently interpolated, 

 and is derived from the Shuo wen and its commentaries; at all events, it cannot be 

 ascribed to Su Sung.) "Wu Shi-kao, a physician of the T'ang period, tells the fol- 

 lowing story: 'The people near the sea, intent on capturing a rhinoceros, proceed by 

 erecting on a mountain-path many structures of decayed timber, something like a 

 stable for swine or sheep. As the front legs of the rhinoceros are straight, without 

 joints, it is in the habit of sleeping by leaning against the trunk of a tree. The rotten 



