280 Flint's natukal histoht. [Book VIIL 



colour.^^ It has also the jaws of the wild boar, and horns that are 

 moveable, and more than a cubit in length, so that, in fighting, 

 it can employ them alternately, and vaiy their position by pre- 

 senting them directly or obliquely, according as necessity may 

 dictate. But the wild bulls which this country produces are 

 the fiercest of all ; they are larger than our domestic bull, and 

 exceed all the others in swiftness ; are of a tawny colour, with 

 azure eyes, and the hair turned the contrary way ; while the 

 jaws open as far as the ears, and the horns are as moveable 

 as those of the eale. The hide of this animal is as hard as 

 flint, and effectually resists all wounds. These creatures pursue 

 all the other wild beasts, while they themselves can only be 

 taken in pitfalls, where they always perish from excess of rage. 

 Ctesias informs us, that among these same Ethiopians, there 

 is an animal found, which he calls the mantichora ;^^ it has a 

 triple row of teeth, which fit into each other like those of a 

 comb, the face and ears of a man, and azure eyes, is of the colour 

 of blood, has the body of the lion, and a tail ending in a sting, 

 like that of the scorpion. Its voice resembles the union of 

 the sound of the flute and the trumpet ; it is of excessive 

 swiftness, and is particularly fond of human flesh. 



CHAP. 31. THE TEERESTEIAL ANIMALS OF INDIA. 



There are in India oxen also with solid hoofs ^^ and a 

 single horn f^ and a wild beast called the axis, which has a skin 



51 Perhaps the eale may have been the two-horned rhinoceros, as some 

 naturalists say that there is a degree of mobility in the horns of that 

 animal ; the same observation has been made with respect to the wild or 

 forest bulls, the description of which animal, in Pliny, is probably from 

 Diodorus Siculus. — B. 



52 This description of the mantichora appears to be taken from the 

 Indica of Ctesias ; it has been also adopted by Aristotle and JElian, but 

 they have qualified their accounts by some expressions of doubt, which are 

 omitted by Pliny. It has been conjectured, that Ctesias took his descrip- 

 tion from the hieroglyphic figures in his time, probably common in the 

 East, and still found in the ruins of the Assyrian and Persian cities, Ni- 

 neveh and Persepolis, for instance. — B. 



5^ Probably meaning, " not cloven." 



^ Cuvier conjectures, that this is from Ctesias, and says, that a similar 

 animal is to be seen on one of the sculptures of Persepolis. — B. 



