The animals of Abyssinia; the elephant, unicorn, their horses and
cows; with a particular account of the moroc.
There are so great numbers of elephants in Abyssinia that in one
evening we met three hundred of them in three troops: as they
filled up the whole way, we were in great perplexity a long time
what measures to take; at length, having implored the protection of
that Providence that superintends the whole creation, we went
forwards through the midst of them without any injury. Once we met
four young elephants, and an old one that played with them, lifting
them up with her trunk; they grew enraged on a sudden, and ran upon
us: we had no way of securing ourselves but by flight, which,
however, would have been fruitless, had not our pursuers been
stopped by a deep ditch. The elephants of Aethiopia are of so
stupendous a size, that when I was mounted on a large mule I could
not reach with my hand within two spans of the top of their backs.
In Abyssinia is likewise found the rhinoceros, a mortal enemy to the
elephant. In the province of Agaus has been seen the unicorn, that
beast so much talked of, and so little known: the prodigious
swiftness with which this creature runs from one wood into another
has given me no opportunity of examining it particularly, yet I have
had so near a sight of it as to be able to give some description of
it.
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