270 TRAVELS IN 
Nothing could be more mortifying than such an accident ; 
but the peasantry, who could form no idea of the consequence 
I attached to the drawing of such an animal, seemed to enjoy 
my chagrin. On being told, however, that a thousand, or 
even five thousand, rixdollars would be given to any one who 
would produce an original, they stood gaping with open 
mouths, and were ready to enlist for an expedition behind the 
Bambos-berg, where some of them were quite certain the ani- 
mal was to be found. Imperfect as the figure was, it was 
sufficient to convince me that the Bosjesmans are in the prac- 
tice of including, among their representations of animals, that 
of an unicorn ; and it alfo offered a strong argument for the 
existence of a living original. Among the feveral thousand 
figures of animals that, in the course of the journey, we had 
met with, none had the appearance of being monstrous, none 
that could be considered as works of the imagination, " crea- 
** tures of the brain on the contrary, they were generally as 
tfaithfui representations of nature as the talents of the artist 
would allow. A striking instance of this appeared in the ca- 
wevn we last visited. The back shell of the testudo geometrica 
was lying on the ground ; and the regular figures with which 
it is marked, and from which it takes its name, had been 
recently, and very accurately, copied on the side of a smooth 
rock. It was thought, indeed, from feveral circumstances, 
that the savages had slept in the cavern the preceding night. 
I have been told, that the figure here given of the Unicorn 
must have been made by some of the boors, from its very 
near resemblance to the fanciful animal we see painted under 
that name. It may be so, but I do not believe it to be so. 
That the unicorn, as it is represented in Europe, is a work 
