THE TRUE UNICORN. 391 



descriptions of Job, the idea of enormous strength 

 depicted in the words, "Canst thou bind the unicorn 

 with his band in the furrow ? or will he harrow the 

 valleys after thee ? " can only refer to the mighty 

 bulk and gigantic power of the rhinoceros. 



By some it has been contended that the unicorn 

 of heraldry derives its origin from the Crusaders, 

 who are said to have brought home accurate 

 descriptions of this animal of mystery. But the 

 Crusaders could only have obtained their information 

 from those Eastern sources to which I have referred, 

 or from Egyptian or Persian monuments. From 

 monuments at Persepolis — the " Takti Jamshid " 

 (throne of Jamshid), captured and destroyed by 

 Alexander the Great — it would seem that the oryx, 

 with a single horn set forward upon the forehead, is 

 clearly intended in the Cartozonon of the ancient 

 Persians. It is true that the wild ass, furnished 

 with a long horn, is actually described; but the size, 

 the colouring, the erect mane and switch tail, and 

 the clean wiry limbs, are notably similar in the oryx 

 and the wild ass. 



In short, the . investigations of distinguished 

 naturalists and historians clearly establish the fact 

 that from the monuments of old Persia and of Egypt 

 springs the unicorn, and that this long-fabled 

 creature is no other than the oryx with the horn 

 set forward, and, no doubt from the profile view 

 of the animal, represented as single. 



Before the Union, two unicorns stood as 

 supporters of the Scottish arms. The animal now 

 forming the sinister supporter of the Royal Arms of 

 Great Britain is " a unicorn argent armed, crined 

 and unguled or, gorged with a coronet composed of 



