228 JELJANS* WART-HOG. 



this ancient author had a not-to-be-mistaken 

 knowledge of our species. jElian de Animalium 

 Natura, liber xvii. cap 10, says : " Asysi ds Ahuv 

 v A&iVTTa ysvstf ^ai> rovg 'ogvftag rovz /j,ffvbxsgu$, xa/ 

 T^o/Sara gg/wv //-/v 'vJx/Xa *$yv& & KCC^ Xaiv e^ovra" 

 " Dinon tells us, that in ^Ethiopia, Unicorn birds, 

 and four-horned Hogs, and Sheep, are found, 

 which have no wool, indeed, but the shaggy tufts 

 of hair of Camels." The animals mentioned in 

 these few words would appear as fabulous, if we 

 were to take the words in their literal sense, 

 according to our present notions. But if we 

 compare this statement with those animals which 

 still now-a-days are found in the ^Ethiopia of 

 the ancients, we may not be wrong in suggesting 

 that Dinon, in his imperfect description, meant 

 by the Unicorn bird, the Buceros corniculatus, 

 (Le Vaillant ;) by the four-horned Hog, our Wart 

 Hog ; and by the Sheep, which was covered by 

 the shaggy tuft of Camel hair, the Ovis tragela- 

 phus, (Geoffrey.) The reporter of these strange 

 animals has, comparatively speaking, called the 

 prominence on the bill of the Buceros cornicu- 

 latus a horn. In like manner, the very large 

 corner teeth of the Wart Hog have been repre- 

 sented by him as horns ; and lastly, in using the 

 \vord * '%> he gave such an excellent descrip- 

 tion of the shaggy tuft of hair of the Ovis 

 ttqyelaphus, that we scarcely entertain any doubt 



