THE UNKNOWN. 



following account of an animal new to European 

 science, which account he had received from Baron 

 Von Mtiller, who had recently returned to that 

 city from Kordofan: — "At Melpes, in Kordofan,"' 

 said the Baron, 'where I stopped some time to 

 make my collections, I met, on the 17th of April, 

 1848, a man who was in the habit of selling to 

 me specimens of animals. One day he asked me if 

 I wished also for an A'nasa, which he described 

 thus :— It is the size of a small donkey, has a 

 thick body and thin bones, coarse hair, and tail 

 like a boar. It has a long horn on its forehead, 

 and lets it hang when alone, but erects it imme- 

 diately on seeing an enemy. It is a formidable 

 weapon, but I do not know its exact length. The 

 A'nasa is found not far from here, (Melpes,) to- 

 wards the S.S.W. I have seen it often in the wild 

 grounds, where the negroes kill it, and carry it 

 home to make shields from its skin. 



"N.B.— This man was well acquainted with the 

 rhinoceros, which he distinguished, under the 

 name of Fetit, from the A'nasa. On June the 14th 

 I was at Kursi, also in Kordofan, and met there 

 a slave- merchant who was not acquainted with 

 my first informer, and gave me spontaneously the 

 same description of the A'nasa, adding that he 

 had killed and eaten one not long ago, and that 

 its flesh was well flavoured.'"* 



Almost as little known as the heart of Africa are 

 the depths of ocean. The eye penetrates in the 

 clear crystalline sea a few fathoms down, and 

 beholds mailed and glittering forms flitting by; 

 the dredge gathers its scrapings; divers plunge 

 out of sight, and bring up pearls ; and the sound- 

 ing-lead goes down, down, down, hundreds of 

 fathoms, and when it comes up, we gaze with 

 * Athenaeum, January, 1849. 

 18 273 



