Note 13 — X.—SERPENTS, DRAGONS, FABULOUS ANIMALS AND MONSTERS.

and still “supporting” our royal arms. The ki lin, or Chinese unicorn, has a stag’s body, a horse’s hoofs, the tail of an ox and a parti-coloured skin, while from its forehead proceeds a single horn with a fleshy tip. In this case there is however but little mystery in the resemblance. So far from agreeing with Dr. Williams as to “the independent origin of the Chinese account,”13 there can, I fancy, be no question that, both we and the Chinese alike derived the idea of the unicorn from Central Asia, where we have almost historical proof such an animal once actually existed, if indeed it does not still inhabit the vast steppes of the continent.14 The chief superstition connected with the unicorn in China proper is that one makes its appearance when a sage is about to be born.