a lettetf; from' M.!: P a l l a s , dated’ thè 14th-of Decèmber, 1778, which, : on: account of thè good fonie and initruc- tion with which it is replete, I ihall take the liberty of infecting in this place, will fervè to confirm us in the idea, that the unicorn is' a real, and not an imaginary animal. <£ Quod mohocerotem in iriterioribus. Africse partibus eti- amnum latere fufpicionem moves, id quidem mihi haud in- expeftatum ; certoque jamdudum perfuafufus fum, non ex nihilo apud veteres illam fuille famam ; fed vel càfu unicornes antilopas, de.quibus injjXII. Fafciculo Spicilegi^ orum dixi> anfam dediffe, veL peculiarem fortè fpeciem unicornem, nobis hucufque ignotam, antiquitus innotuifìè, quando interiora Africae itineratoribus Europaeis erant fre- quentiora. Si non incidifti forfan in locum relationis Ludovici Bàrthema, ubi Monocerotes duos Meccas ad templum, in theriotrophaeo vifos, defcribit ; vide illam, quaefo, in Vol. I. collection. Ramuiii, p.. 15 1 . . Nefcio quid hominem excitare potuiffet ad fingenda, quae ibiretulit, quaeque non ita male cohaerent. « sd -w: :. J : I have not as yet'been able to procure a fight o f the Colleciiones Ramufti referred to by M. P a l l a s *.— With refpedt * The paifage in V a r t h e m a here referred to is as follows : • 46 Da un altra banda del diéto tempio è una murata, nella quale, fta dentro dur unicorni vivi & li fe monftranò per cofa grandiffima come è,certo? Li quali diro copie lono.fatìi. El maggior fa&o còrno un'poliedro di trenta mefi'& hafuno corbo nella fronte, eì quale corno fie circa tre braccia di .longheza. L ’altro unicorno fie’come ferio un poliedro de uno anno, & haun corno longo^circa'qtlatro palmi. El colóre del di<fto animale fie com? un cavallo faginato fcuro: & ha la tefta come un cervo &ha el collo non molto longo con . elfchuna crina rara & curta che pen4eno ad una banda : & ha la gamfia fottile & afciuta come un capriolò i el pede fuo e un pocófeifo davanti & longia è caprina : & Via certi peli dalla banda di dietro veramsnti.quefta mjpftra de.eflexe un ferociffirpa & deferto animale. Et quefti dui animali fu fono preferitati allo 'Sòlaan'b della Mecha, per la pui bella pofa eh’ hoggi fe trovi al modi &>pet:ptu ricco, theforo jiquali furono mandati da uno Re d’e Ethiopia; fpect to other particulars, I have been informed by the co- lonifts at AgterBruntjes Hoogte, that the trad! of country lying between them and Zomo, or the 'Tambukis, confifted in a great meafure of very extenfive and barren plains; that the farther they went to the north, the lefs they knew of ,the vegetables produced by it -; that there grew in thefe parts a. kind of bloodrtree, 5 &c. that i f f one travelled from the upper part o f Vifch-rmier more tq the fouth-eaft, or the Gaffre fide o f the country, one would come to a river called Konap, which was fuppofed to run into Vifch-rivier\ but two days journey farther on, going , from Konap-rivtv towards the north-eaft, there was a river, called-. Kaifi-kamma, which derived its fource from a mountain known to the >776. January. Ethiopia ; Zoe da un ReMoro, el quale li feee quefto prefente per fare, parentato con el difto Sbldario de la M'echa.” ' Ci On tfie other fide <?f the temple .‘there is a court*-yard encompaijed with high walls, wbqre we faw two ynicorns, which were ihewn as great rarities, and indeed are fit fubje&s for adihiration. The form of them is-as follows.! The larger one refem- files a foal qf two years and a ha,lf old, and has, a horn in its forehead about three cubits in length. The other unicorn'was lefs, being nearly as fiig as a foal of a year old, and had a;horn about four palms long.; Th e colour o f this animal is that of a dark dumhqrfe >, its head is like that of a ftag, its neck of a moderate length, furniihed with fomfe thinhy feattered ihort hairs that hang down on one fide: its legs are long and ilender like thofe of a roe"; the feet are fomewhat cloven in the fore part, and the hoofs aFe like thofe of a goat. It has on the back part of its legs a great quantity of hair, a cir- cumftance which gives this animal a fierce appearance; though, in fa<5t, the beaft is tame and gentle in Its nature. Both the animals were prefenred to the Sultan of Mecca as very great rarities, and which are to'be found ih;very few parts-of the globe, by an Ethiopian King, who fought for the Sultan’s friendihip^ The preceding paifage is extrd&ed from the original, in the library of the President of the Royal'Society. The book itfelf, the tide iof- which is as follows, :Lun,erario de Liidovica.de Varthema, Bolojrngfe, tie lo Egypto, ne; lo Suria, ne la Arabia, & c. (Venezia, 1517» 8vo.) is-extremely fcarce, and*dbes not'apfiear to have been feen either by M. P a l l a s , Dr. S p a r rm a n , or his German commentator Mr. F o r s t e r . * The tranflation of this paifage is made from R am u s io , who has modernized this author, or rather re-tranflated-him from a Latin verfion, which is itfelf a tranflation only from the Spaniih; fo that the'Italian original mull have been loft for fome. time* colonifts
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