UNICORN, Greek, Monoceros; Latin, Unicornis; Hebrew, Reem.1 This Animal is well known both in sacred and profane Authors: But these latter have given such odd and extraordinary Descriptions of it, as to have brought it into Question, whether ever there were true Unicorns or true Rhinoceros’s, or no. Travellers, even to this Day, are but little agreed as to their Descriptions of the Unicorn. Marmol says, that it is like a Foal of two Years old, except that it has a Beard like a Goat, and in the middle of its Forehead a Horn three Foot long, smooth, white, and streaked with Stripes of Yellow. Father Jerome Lobo says, that in Ethiopia there is an Animal called Arvocharis, which is extremely swift, has but one Horn, and much resembles a Roebuck. John Gabriel, a Portugese, tells us, that in the Kingdom of Damor he saw an Unicorn, which had a beautiful white Horn on his Forehead, of the length of a foot and a half: The Hair of his Neck and of his Tail was black and short, and the Animal was of the Shape and Bigness of a Bayard. Vincent le Blanc relates, that he saw a Unicorn in the Seraglio of the King of Pegu, whose Tongue was very long and rugged. Its Head was rather like that of a Stag than of a Horse. Louis de Bartheme says, that at the Soldan’s of Mecca in Arabia, he saw two Unicorns, which had been sent him for a Present by a King of Ethiopia. They were as large as a Colt of thirty Months old, of a dark Colour, and had Heads much like that of a Deer, a Horn of three Fathoms long, short Mains, small Legs, the Feet cloven, and Hoofs like a Goat. ‘Tis said also, that there are Sea-Unicorns, one of which came to Shore in 1644, at the Island of Tortua, near that of San Domingo. See the Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. It follows plainly from all that has been said, either that the generality of such Accounts that mention Unicorns must be false, or that Travellers have blended and confounded several Species of Animals into one. We know that there are several Kinds of Animals in Ethiopia and the Indies, which have a single Horn, some upon the Nose, others upon the Forehead, and others upon the Head. There are found Cows, Bulls, Horses, Asses, Deer, Goats, and other Animals, which have but one Horn. Dalechamp2 has observed as far as seven Species of this Sort. Pliny speaks of Asses, of the Oryx, of Bulls, which have but one Horn. Cosmas3 the Egyptian Monk has given us the Description of a Rhinoceros, as of an Animal well known in Ethiopia. The Portuguese Jesuits, who dwelt a long Time in this Country, assure us, they had not only seen of them, but that they had kept them. Mr. Chardin4 saw a Rhinoceros in Persia, which had an Horn upon his Nose, nearly of the Bigness and Shape of a Sugar-loaf, that weighs about two Pound. The Colour of this Horn was a dark Grey, as also the Skin of the Animal above his Nostrils. The Snout of the Rhinoceros is round, turned like an Eagle’s Beak. He has but four Teeth, two above, and two below. His Eyes are set very low, almost over-against his Lips. His Tail is small, and made up of nine or ten Joints. His whole Hide, except his Back and Head, is covered with little Knots or Protuberances, like those of a Tortoise-shell. His Feet are short and thick, having three Forks, or stubbed Horns before, and a Callus behind.5
Job xxxix. 9, 10.We are assured that the Abyssines make use of the Rhinocoros; that they make them tame, and accustom them to Labour, as they do their Elephants. They shew us several Horns of Unicorns, of the Monoceros or Rhinoceros, in the Cabinets of the Curious; but they are neither equal in Magnitude, nor uniform as to Colour, Thickness, or Figure. The Horn of the Unicorn is white, as they pretend, and about five Spans long: That of the Fish Monoceros is pretty near of the same Colour, but something longer. Those of the Rhinoceros are brown, solid, something crooked, and a little shorter, than those of the Unicorn. I have seen several Kinds of them, and of different Thicknesses and Lengths; which persuades me, they do not belong to Animals of the same Species.
As to those mentioned in the Bible, Interpreters are not agreed that the Hebrew Word Rheem signifies either an Unicorn, a Rhinoceros, or a Monoceros. Some think it to stand for the Urus, a kind of wild Ox: Others understand by it a Deer, or the Roebuck; or the Oryx, which is a kind of Roebuck of Arabia, very large, of a white Skin, and which has very large Horns. Aristotle says, the Oryx has but one Horn; but the Arabians, who call it Rim, say it has two Horns. The Rheem was very wild; for God asks Job, if he could tame the Rheem? if this Creature would eat Meat in his Stables, like a domestick Animal? and if he could put a Yoke upon it? Moses, magnifying the Strength of Joseph, says, that his horns are Deut. xxxiii. 17. Psal. xxii. 21.like the horns of Unicorns, or of the Rheem; and the Psalmist desires of God, to preserve him from the Mouth of the Lion, and from the Horn of the Rheem. See Bochart. de Animal. sacr. p. 1. l. 3. c. 27.
Father Lobo says, that the Unicorn has a white Horn; but Father Lucas says it is black. The Animal that wears it is much less than an Elephant, but of an extraordinary Strength. See the Notes of Abbot Renaudot upon the Travels of the two Arabians to China. From the Neck downwards it much resembles a Buffalo. The Hoof of its Foot is not cloven, but all of a piece. Elephants fly away from the Unicorn. Its Bellowing is almost like that of an Ox, and something approaches also to the Cry of a Camel. They are seen in great Numbers in the Marshes of the Indies. In the Papers belonging to the House of Lorrain, towards the End of the sixteenth Century, under the Reign of the Grand Duke Charles, I find there were sixty thousand Florins given for the Purchase of an Unicorn.
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