364 Rev. W. Haughton on the Unicorn of the Ancients. 



Various reports have been given by travellers, that an animal 

 still exists in some parts of the world which bears a marked re- 

 semblance to the one-horned animal under consideration ; and 

 although scientific men have no hesitation in regarding the Uni- 

 corn as a fabulous animal, yet from time to time travellers write 

 home that they are on the track of the veritable creature itself; 

 and I only read the other day that Dr. Baikie, the African tra- 

 veller, now in charge of the Niger Expedition, is in pursuit of 

 the animal, and thinks that he may be able to discover it in some 

 of the unexplored wastes of Central Africa ! He learned from 

 two informants that they had seen the bones of such an animal, 

 and states that they accurately describe the long, straight, black 

 horn, and carefully distinguish between the one-horned Rhino- 

 ceros and the supposed Unicorn ! Dr. Baikie gives a list of 

 native names by which this unknown animal is called in vai'ious 

 African dialects, and is quite disposed to believe that its non- 

 existence is by no means proved*. 



What are the chances of our seeing a specimen of the Unicorn 

 brought home to this country, and forming the grand object of 

 attraction to all the world ? Why should not a one-horned ani- 

 mal exist such as we see depicted on the royal arms ? Father 

 Lobo, in his ' History of Abyssinia/ actually describes the Uni- 

 corn as a beautiful horse ; and Barrow, in his ' Travels in Southern 

 Africa/ gives the figure of a head of a Unicorn which he saw 

 drawn on the sides of a cavern, and appears to entertain no 

 doubt that such an animal exists. No traveller, however, has as 

 yet succeeded in obtaining a specimen ; and I venture to affirm 

 very positively that the like result will attend Dr. Baikie' s search. 

 But let us take a brief survey of what the ancients have recorded 

 of the Unicorn, or, rather, Unicorns ; for there are at least three, 

 if not more, one-horned animals mentioned by them. 



in Bull. Soc. Linn, de Bordeaux, i. 1826 ; Feruss. Bull. Sc. Nat. x. 



1827, p. 396. 

 Laterrade, J. F. Sur la Licorne, in Actes de la Soc. Linn. Bordeaux, v. 



1832, p. 115. 

 On the Unicorn. Transl. by Jos. Porter, in Silliman's American Journ. 



xxi. 1832, p. 123. 

 Reusser, G. Sur Vexistence de la Licorne, in Millin, Mag. Encycl. iii. 5, 



1797, p. 311. 

 Reitz, K. K. Neueste Nachricht vomEinhorn, in Lichtenberg-Voigt's Mag. 



Bd. x. St. 3, 1797. 

 Sachs, P. Ldw. Monocerologia,seudegenuinis Unicornibus Diss. Raceb. 



1676. 

 Stolbergk, J. Chr. Exercitatio de Unicornu. Resp. Chr. Sagittarius. 



Lips. 1652. 

 Verster van Wulverhorst, A. II. Over den Eenhoorn, in Bijdragen tot 



de Dierkunde, 1860. 



* See the 'Athenaeum 9 for August 16, 1862. 



