Accounts of this animal were brought
Back by 16th-century European travellers to the Malay Peninsula Described as a female, with a single
Horn growing from it's forehead, these were probably the result of a half-glimpsed Javan or Sumatran rhinoceros. Like the
Unicorn, a powder made from the
Horn served both as an aphrodisiac and as an antidote to
Poison. However, since the
Unicorn was invariably represented as male, and since there was only ever one in existance at any time, the
Abath seems to have developed independently from the European myths of the one-horned creature. (see also Alicorn, Chio-Tuan,
Ki-lin)