THE BEISA ANTELOPE 



animal charging with lowered head would account 

 for the forward inclination of the horn so familiar to 

 all students of heraldry. The unicorn of fable had a 

 slender straight horn, ringed at the base; a reversed 

 mane ; a flowing tail ; divided hoofs; the colour and 

 size of an ass, and black markings on the face 

 surely here is a veritable portrait of the beisa ! 

 Perhaps also the beatrix antelope of Arabia (much 

 resembling a small beisa in outlines) contributed its 

 share to the legends of Crusaders and others ; in 

 this connection one remembers how Sir John Barrow, 

 having found in a cave a Caffre drawing of a roan 

 antelope head, supposed himself to be on the track 

 of a true unicorn. 1 



On April 17, 1848, Baron von Miiller met at 

 Melpes in Kordofan a man who used to sell him 

 specimens of animals. One day this man asked him 

 if he wished for an A'nasa a thick-bodied beast the 

 size of a donkey, and tailed like a boar. It had a 

 single long horn on its forehead, which it raised on 

 seeing an enemy ; the negroes often killed it to make 

 shields from its skin. Here again one sees a 

 recognisable portrait of some kind of oryx, if not 

 actually the beisa. The erection of the horn is 

 readily explained by the animal raising its head to 

 stand at gaze in presence of an enemy. 2 



1. Renshaw : " Natural History Essays," pp. 76-8. 



2. Span-man relates a similar fable current in his day (1775) at the 

 Cape. The horn of the black rhinoceros was supposed to lie flat in 

 repose, the animal raising it on observing an enemy ! 



