286 THE UNKNOWN. 



zoology of South Africa, has collected a good deal of in 

 formation about a one-horned animal which is yet unknown 

 to Europeans, and which appears to occupy an interme- 

 diate rank between the massive rhinoceros and the lighter 

 form of the horse. Cavassi, cited by Labat, heard of such 

 a beast in Congo under the name of A bada ; and Ruppel 

 mentions it as commonly spoken of in Kordofan, where it 

 is called Nillekma, and sometimes A rase that is, uni- 

 corn. Mr Freeman, the excellent missionary whose name 

 is so intimately connected with Madagascar, received the 

 most particular accounts of the creature from an intelli- 

 gent native of a region lying northward from Mozambique. 

 According to this witness, an animal called the Ndzoo- 

 dzoo is by no means rare in Makooa. It is about the 

 size of a horse, extremely fleet and strong. A single horn 

 projects from its forehead from two feet to two and a-half 

 feet in length. This is said to be flexible when the animal 

 is asleep, and can be curled up at pleasure, like an ele- 

 phant's proboscis ; but it becomes stiff and hard under 

 the excitement of rage. It is extremely fierce, invariably 

 attacking a man whenever it discerns him. The device 

 adopted by the natives to escape from its fury, is to climb 

 a thick and tall tree out of sight. If the enraged animal 

 ceases to see his enemy, he presently gallops away ; but, if 

 he catches sight of the fugitive in a tree, he instantly com- 

 mences an attack on the tree with his frontal horn, boring 

 and ripping it till he brings it down, when the wretched 

 man is presently gored to death. If the tree is not very 

 bulky, the perseverance of the creature usually succeeds 



