at the devil, and wounded him in the forehead; in remembrance of which traditionary story it is that the people, on passing this way, are accustomed to throw stones at the wall before going to the city.  As we went this way, the air was in a manner darkened with prodigious multitudes of stock doves, all, as they pretend, derived from the dove that spoke in the ear of Mahomet, in likeness of the Holy Ghost.  These doves are seen in vast numbers in all parts about Mecca, as in the houses, villages, inns, and granaries of corn and rice, and are so tame that they can hardly be driven away.  Indeed it is reckoned a capital crime to kill or even take them, and there are certain funds assigned for feeding them at the temple.

Beyond the temple there are certain parks or inclosures, in which there are two unicorns to be seen, called by the Greeks Monocerotae, which are shewn to the people as miracles of nature, and not without good reason, on account of their scarcity and strange appearance.  One of these, though much higher than the other, is not unlike a colt of thirty months old, and has a horn in its forehead, growing straight forwards and the length of three cubits.  The other is much younger, resembling a colt of one year old, and its horn is only four hand breadths long.  These singular animals are of a weasel chesnut colour, having a head like that of a hart, but the neck is not near so long, with a thin mane, hanging all to one side.  The legs are thin and slender, like those of a fawn or hind, and the hoofs are cleft much like those of a goat, the outer parts of the hind feet being very full of hair.  These animals seemed wild and fierce yet exceedingly comely.  They were sent out of Ethiopia by a king of that country, as a rare and precious gift to the sultan of Mecca[46].

[Footnote 46:  The unicorn is an unknown, or rather a fabulous animal, and the most charitable interpretation that can be made of the description in the text is, that Verthema was mistaken, or that one of the horns of some species of antelope had either been removed, or was wanting by a lusus naturae.  The only real Monoceros, or one horned animal, known to naturalists, is the rhinoceros monoceros, or one-horned rhinoceros, which bears its horn on the nose, a little way above the muzzle, not on the forehead.—­E.]

It may seem proper to mention here certain things which happened to me at Mecca, in which may be seen the sharpness of wit in case of urgent necessity, which according to the proverb, has no law; for I was driven to the extent of my wits how I might contrive to escape privately from Mecca.  One day, while in the market purchasing some things by the direction of our captain, a certain Mameluke knew me to be a Christian, and said to me in his own language inte mename, which is to say, “Whence are you?” To this I answered that I was a Mahometan, but he insisted that I spoke falsely, on which I swore by the head of Mahomet that I really was.  Then he