took a stone and threw it in the devil's face: and for this reason, when the people arrive at the said place, each one throws a stone at the said wall, and then they go to the city.' We found in the street of the said city 15,000 or 20,000 doves, which they say are of the stock of that dove which spoke to Mahomet in the form of the Holy Spirit, which doves fly about the whole district at their pleasure, that is, in the shops where they sell grain, millet, rice, and other vegetable productions. And the owners of the said articles

"Bartema alludes to the 'Shaytan el Kabir,' the "Great Devil,' as the buttress at El Munah is called. His account of Satan's appearance is not strictly correct. Most Moslems believe that Abraham threw the stone at the ‘Rajim,'—the lapidated one; but there are various traditions on the subject.”—BURTON.

This custom of maledictory lapidation prevails elsewhere in the East. In 1835, while travelling from Sidon to Tyre, not far from the former place, my muleteer and another Mussulman who accompanied us each took up several small stones, at the same time giving me a handful, and requesting me to follow their example. Shortly after, we came in sight of a conical heap of loose pebbles and stones which stood in the road, on approaching which my companions hurled their stones at it with great vehemence, uttering simultaneously a long string of curses on the memory of a famous robber and murderer, who, as I afterwards learned, had been killed and buried there half a century before. It has often occurred to me since, that the ancient practice, recorded in the Old Testament, of raising a heap of stones, or cairns, over notorious criminals, may have been analogous to that which I have just mentioned, and was, perhaps, the origin of the rite instituted by Muhammed of casting stones at the places where Satan is said to have appeared to Abraham in the Valley of Muna (more properly, Mina). The language in which Scripture describes the execution of Achan is remarkable :"And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned him with fire after they had stoned him with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones UNTO THIS DAY." Joshua vii. 25, 26. I think it may fairly be inferred from this account that the stoning on the occasion was not only general on the part of the Israelites, but that the action or ceremony was, or was intended to be, perpetuated. See also Joshua viii. 29; 2 Sam. xviii. 17.

"A Christian version of an obscure Moslem legend about a white dove alighting on the Prophet's shoulder, and appearing to whisper in his ear whilst he was addressing a congregation."-BURTON.

any

are not at liberty to kill them or catch them. And if one were to strike any of those doves, they would fear that the country would be ruined.1 And you must know that they cause very great expense within the temple.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE UNICORNS IN THE TEMPLE OF MECCA, NOT VERY COMMON IN OTHER PLACES.

In another part of the said temple is an enclosed place in which there are two live unicorns, and these are shown as

1 "Meccah generally, but the mosque in particular, abounds with flocks of pigeons, which are considered the inviolable property of the temple, and are called the Pigeons of the Beit-Allah. Nobody dares to kill any of them when they enter private houses. In the square of the mosque several small stone basins are regularly filled with water for their use."-BURCKHARDT, Travels in Arabia, vol. i. p. 227.

When Muhammed, accompanied by Abubekr, fled from Meccah, he took refuge in a cave of Mount Thor, situated about three miles to the south of that city, to which spot he was traced by the emissaries of the hostile chiefs of the Koraish; but on noticing that a dove or pigeon had laid its eggs in the narrow passage, and that a spider had spun its web across it, they discontinued the search, remarking that if the refugees had entered there, the eggs would have been broken, and the web destroyed. The reverence for the pigeon which prevails among the Moslems of the Hijâz is supposed to originate in this tradition; nevertheless, Burton states that at El-Medînah it is sometimes used as an article of food. The same is true of many other parts of the East, but, as a general rule, Moslems everywhere have a superstitious notion that illluck is associated with the killing of pigeons.

2 Burton remarks that these animals "might possibly have been African antelopes, which a lusus naturæ had deprived of their second horn," adding, "but the suspicion of fable remains." I was inclined, at first sight, to coincide in this opinion, and to conclude that Varthema saw merely two anomalous specimens of the Oryx, by no means an uncommon quadruped on the north-east coast of Africa, judging from the quantity of its horns brought to Aden by the Somalis. On further reflection, however, I am induced to believe that the "unicorns" which our traveller describes with so much exactness, and which were " shown

I will

very remarkable objects, which they certainly are. tell you how they are made. The elder is formed like a

as very remarkable objects," were living representatives of a species of the antelope family, the existence of which is very generally doubted.

The following extracts on this interesting subject are from the notes of Dr. Edward Robinson, the learned American editor of Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, under the head of " Unicorn," who, among other authorities, quotes the above testimony of Varthema.

The figure of the unicorn is depicted, according to Niebuhr, on almost all the staircases found among the ruins of Persepolis. Voyage en Arabie, vol. ii. p. 109.

Pliny (Hist. Nat. viii. 21) in speaking of the wild beasts of India says: "The unicorn (fera monoceros) is an exceedingly fierce animal, resembling a horse as to the rest of its body, but having the head like a stag, the feet like an elephant, and the tail like a wild boar; its roaring is loud; and it has a black horn of about two cubits projecting from the middle of its forehead." With the exception of the Sacred Scriptures, these seem to be the chief ancient notices of the existence of the animal in question.

Don Juan Gabriel, a Portuguese colonel who lived several years in Abyssinia, assures us, that in the region of Agamos in the Abyssinian province of Damota, he had seen an animal of the form and size of a middle-sized horse, of a dark chesnut-brown colour, and with a whitish horn about five spans long upon the forehead; the mane and tail were black, and the legs short and slender. (LUDOLPH, Hist. Æthiop. lib. i. c. 10.) This account is confirmed by father Lobo, who lived for a long time as a missionary in Abyssinia. He adds, that the unicorn is extremely shy, and escapes from closer observation by a speedy flight into the forests. (Voyage Hist. d'Abyssinie, Amst. 1728, vol. i. p. 83, 291.)

Dr. Sparrman, the Swedish naturalist, who visited the Cape of Good Hope in 1772-6, gives an account of one Jacob Kock, who had travelled over the greater part of South Africa, and who had found on the face of a rock a drawing representing a quadruped with one horn. The Hottentots told him, that the animal there depicted was very like a horse, but had a straight horn on the forehead. They added that these animals were rare, that they ran with great rapidity, and were very fierce. A more definite account of a similar animal is contained in the Transactions of the Zealand Academy of Science at Flushing. (Pt. xv. Middelb. 1792. Præf. p. lvi.) The account was transmitted from the Cape of Good Hope by Mr. Henry Cloete. It states that a bastard Hottentot, named Gerritt Slinger, related that while engaged with a party in pursuit of the savage Bushmen, they got sight of nine strange animals, and shot one of them. It resembled a horse, and was of a light-gray

colt of thirty months old, and he has a horn in the forehead, which horn is about three braccia in length. The other unicorn is like a colt of one year old, and he has a horn of about four palmi long. The colour of the said animal resembles that of a dark bay horse, and his head resembles that of a stag; his neck is not very long, and he has some

colour, with white stripes under the lower jaw. It had a single horn, directly in front, as long as one's arm, and at the base about as thick. The hoofs were round like those of a horse, but divided below like those of oxen. Mr. Cloete mentions that several different natives and Hottentots testify to the existence of a similar animal with one horn.

The Quarterly Review for October 1820 (vol. xxiv. p. 120) contains a letter from Major Latter, commanding in the Rajah of Sikkim's territories, addressed to the Adjutant-General Nicol, wherein he explicitly states that the unicorn, so long considered a fabulous animal, actually exists at this moment in the interior of Thibet, where it is well known to the inhabitants, and is called by them the one-horned tso'po. They describe it as being as large as a middling-sized horse; fierce and extremely wild; seldom, if ever, caught alive, but frequently shot.

A paragraph in the Calcutta Government Gazette, August 1821, gives the following sequel to the foregoing: "Major Latter has obtained the horn of a young unicorn from the Sachia Lama, which is now before us. He expects shortly to obtain the head of the animal, with the hoofs and skin, which will afford positive proof of the form and character of the tso'po, or Thibet unicorn."

Whether Major Latter's expectation was ever realized, I am unable to say; but Professor Owen, whom I had the pleasure of consulting on the subject, regards the existence of the unicorn as mythical, to be classed with the mermaid and sea serpent, and he consequently infers that Varthema, however trustworthy on other matters of fact, was led astray in this instance, either through zoological ignorance, preconceived notions, or defective examination, or, perhaps, by a combination of these drawbacks. Not presuming, for a moment, to contest the learned professor's opinion, which is unquestionably founded on pre-eminent knowledge of this branch of science, I am still disposed, nevertheless, to rely on the credibility of Varthema, and to believe that he saw at Meccah two ordinary specimens of the famous unicorn, an animal which further research in the unexplored parts of Central Africa, or among the mountains of Thibet, may yet bring to light.

1 Varthema's scale of measurements was probably Venetian. What it was in his time I have not ascertained. The modern braccia at Venice varies from 25.08 to 26.87 inches. The palmo is 3.937 inches.

thin and short hair which hangs on one side; his legs are slender and lean like those of a goat; the foot is a little cloven in the fore part, and long and goat-like, and there are some hairs on the hind part of the said legs. Truly this monster must be a very fierce and solitary animal. These two animals were presented to the Sultan of Mecca as the finest things that could be found in the world at the present day, and as the richest treasure ever sent by a king of Ethiopia, that is, by a Moorish king. He made this present in order to secure an alliance with the said Sultan of Mecca.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING SOME OCCURRENCES BETWEEN MECCA AND ZIDA A PORT OF MECCA.

I must here show how the human intellect manifests itself under certain circumstances, in so far as it became necessary for me to exercise it in order to escape from the caravan of Mecca. Having gone to make some purchases for my captain, I was recognized by a Moor who looked me in the face and said to me: "In te menaine?" that is," Where are you from?" I answered: "I am a Moor." He replied: "In te chedeab," that is, "You are not telling the truth." I said to him: "Orazalnabi Aneymuz lemma," that is, "By the head of Mahomet, I am a Moor." He answered: "Thale beithane," that is, "Come to my house;" and I went with him.1 When I had arrived at his house, he spoke to me in Italian, and told me where I had come from, and that he knew that I was not a Moor, and he told me that he had

1 Anta min ain? Where are you from?

Anta kadh-dhâb. You are a liar.

Wa-râs en-Nabi ana Muslim. By the head of the Prophet, I am a Moslem.

Taal ila beitana. Come to our house.

E