THE UNICORN. 285 



their immediate object was not to make discoveries in 

 zoology ; nay, their interest would lie in avoiding, so far 

 as possible, the haunts of unknown savage animals ; but, 

 in the case of Dr Livingstone particularly, his frequent 

 encounters with such as were already well known, and his 

 intelligent spirit of inquiry, leave no room for supposing 

 that any conspicuous forms inhabit the regions through 

 which he penetrated, different from those. 



I am therefore inclined to believe, that whatever dis- 

 coveries of importance are yet to be made in African 

 zoology, will be in the very central district ; the region, 

 that is, which lies south of Lake Tchad and Abyssinia, 

 and extends to the equator. There is reason to suppose 

 that lofty mountain-chains exist here, and geographical 

 discovery has not yet even approached these parts. Many 

 forms of high interest, and some of them of vast dimen- 

 sions, may yet be hidden there. 



It is highly probable that an animal of ancient renown, 

 and one in which England has (or ought to have) a pecu- 

 liar interest, resides in the region just indicated. I refer 

 to one of the supporters of Britain's shield, the famed 

 Unicorn. We may not, to be sure, find him exactly what 

 the heraldic artists delight to represent him a sort of 

 mongrel between a deer and a horse, with cloven hoofs, a 

 tuft-tipped tail, and a horn spirally twisted to a point ; 

 but there may be the original of the traditionary portrait 

 of which this is the gradually corrupted copy. 



Dr Andrew Smith, an able and sober zoologist, who 

 has investigated with much enterprise and success th& 



