BOOK VIII. XXX. 75-xxxiii. 78 



the sound of a pan-pipe blended with a trumpet, of 

 great speed, with a speeial appetite for human 

 flesh. XXXI. He says that in India there are also Fannaof 

 oxen with solid hoofs and one horn," and a wild animal ''"*'"• 

 named axis,^ with the hide of a fawn but with more 

 spots and whiter ones, belonging to the ritual of 

 Father Liber (the Orsaean Indians hunt monkeys 

 that are a bright white all over the body) "^ ; but that 

 the fiercest animal is the unicorn, which in the rest 

 of the body resembles a horse, but in the head a 

 stag, in the feet an elephant, and in the tail a boar, 

 and has a deep bellow, and a single black horn three 

 feet long projecting from the middle of the forehead. 

 They say that it is impossible to capture this animal 

 ahve. 



XXXII. In Western Ethiopia<* there is a spring, Fa«na 0/ 

 the Nigris, which most people have supposed to be ^^'fYica 

 the source of the Nile, as they try to prove by the 

 arguments that we have stated. In its neighbour- 



hood there is an animal called the catoblepas,^ in other 

 respects of moderate size and inactive with the rest 

 of its limbs, only with a very heavy head which it 

 carries with difficulty — it is always hanging down to 

 the ground ; othervdse it is deadly to the human race, 

 as all who see its eyes expire immediately. 



XXXIII, The basiHsk/ serpent also has the same The 

 power. It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica, *''^''"** 

 not more than 12 inches long, and adorned with 



a bright white marking on the head Hke a sort of 

 diadem, It routs all snakes with its hiss, and does 

 not move its body forward in manifold coils Hke the 

 other snakes but advancing with its middle raised 

 high. It kills bushes not only by its touch but also 



i An imaginary monster. 



57 



