met with in Abyssinia. Among these, he has very accurately described the two-horned rhinoceros, which appears to be peculiar to Africa; and he mentions, that the Ethiopians called it in their own dialect ἄρου η ἅρισι, or aru e hareese, aspirating the second alpha, and adding to it the ρισι, or reese; that by ἄρου was expressed the generic term of wild beast (θηριόν,) and that the epithet ἅρισι, was subjoined, on account of the furrowed shape of the nostrils, together with that of the skin.[1] Now it is very remarkable, that the name of this animal, used throughout Abyssinia at the present day, is precisely similar to that given by Cosmas. In the Geez character it is written አርዌ፡ኃሪስ፡ Arwê hàris,[4] and it is pronounced with a strong aspirate on the "ha," and a slight one, peculiar to the language, after the final syllable, as I have remarked in a copy of Ludolf's History, which I took
- ↑ Τουτο τὸ ζῶον καλειται Ῥινόκερος, διὰ τον ἐν τοῖς μυκτηρσι τὰ κέρατα ἔχειν, ὅτε δὲ περιπατεῖ σαλέυονται τὰ κέρατα[2] ὅτε δὲ ὁρᾶ μετὰ θυμοῦ αποτεινει ἀυτὰ, καὶ ἀσάλευτα εὑρισκονται, ὥϛε και δένδρα δυνάσθαι ἐκριζοην, τὰ εν ἀυτοῖς μάλιϛτα τὸ ἔμπροσθεν. τοις δε οφθαλμοὶς κάτω περὶ τὰς γνάθοις ἔχει—οἱ πόδες δε καὶ τό δερμα παραπλησιά ἐϛι τῶ ἐλέφαντι. ἔχει δε καὶ το πάχος τοῦ δέρματος ἀυτου ξηραινόμενον δακτύλοις τέσσαρας—καλουσι δὲ ἀυτοι οἱ Αἰθίοπες τη ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ, ἄρου η ἅρισι, δασυνόντες τὸν δεύτερον ἀλφα, καὶ οὕτω προϛιθέντες τον ῥισί ἵνα διὰ τοῦ μὲν ἄρου, η τον θηρίον, δια δὲ τοῦ ἅρισι, ἀροτρῖαν εκ τοῦ σχηματος τοῦ περὶ τοὶς ῥώθωνας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῦ δέρματος την ἐπωνομίαν ἀυτῳ τεθεικότες. τεθέαμαι δὲ καὶ ζῶντα ἐν τη Αἰθιοπίᾳ ἀπὸ πακρὰν ἱϛαμενος, καὶ νεκρὸν εκδαρέν καὶ καταγγισθὲν ἄχυρα καὶ ἱϛἄμενον ἐν ὄικῳ βασιλικῶ, ὅθεν ἀκριβως κατέγραψα.[3]
- ↑ This power of relaxing the position of the horns is mentioned by Sparman, who says, that the Hottentots told him, "que quand il marche tranquillement on les voit balotter, et on les entend de heurter et claquer l'une contre l'autre," (see Voyage au Cap de Bonne Esperance, Vol. II. p. 307:) and this was certainly confirmed to me by several natives of Africa who had seen the animal alive, one of whom in particular (a Somauli) gave me the following description of it, "that when feeding in the fields undisturbed, the horns are often depressed (which he shewed with his hand on his head, inclined in an angle of about forty-five;) but when alarmed, (raising his hand to a perpendicular over his head) the animal erects them thus."
- ↑ Vide p. 334. Cosmæ Indicopleustæ Christian. Opinio de Mundo, L. i. in Montfaucon.
- ↑ In Amharic it is አውሬ፡ኃሪስ—aweer haris. Vide Ludolf, l. 1. c. 10, 78.
