 Reference Base  Prutky's travels in Ethiopia and other countries. Transl... |
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Prutky, R., 1991. Prutky's travels in Ethiopia and other countries. Translated and edited by J.H. Arrowsmith-Brown and annotated by Richard Pankhurst. London, Hakluyt Society, Works Second Series, vol. 174, pp. i-xxviii, 1-546
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| Location: |
Africa - Eastern Africa - Ethiopia |
| Subject: |
Distribution |
| Species: |
African Rhino Species |
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[1991:205]
The rhinoceros, though not found in Europe, is known to travellers, and is commonly called Abadam: the name rhinoceros is Greek in origin, taken into Latin, and is derived from the horn which he bears on his nose: the horn is four feet long and tapers to a point, which turns a little upwards at its extremity. The beast is of the colour of boxwood, and its bodily frame as large as that of three oxen together. The horn is short for the size of the body, the eye is tiny, the ear small, sharp, and standing straight upright like the ear of a horse. The head is huge, the tail hairless and short, the whole body covered with scales whose surface is so hard as to be impenetrable by weapon or musket ball. When about tofight the elephant, his natural enemy, he sharpens his horn on a stone, seeking to rip up with it his enemy's belly, his softest part. He is naturally a beast of the forest, untameable, ferocious, arrogant, and there is no art by which to capture him, once he is grown. He is found in the province of Godgiam at the foot of the Mountains of the Moon, by the source of the Nile, and nowhere else; there he is hunted and killed by the use of an ape for a bait, the body being laid out on the ground to entice and deceive the beast. The horn is sought after as an antidote to poison, and is believed to be more effective if the beast be killed at a particular time.
[also mentions Monoceros]
Godgiam = Gojjam (p.130 note): the province within the curve of the Blue Nile south of Lake Tana.
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