CHAP. IV. THE ZEBRA. of them often seen feeding in those THERE are but three animals of the horse kind. The horse, which is the most stately and courageous; the ass, which is the most patient and humble; and the zebra, which is the most beautiful, but at the same time the wildest animal in nature. Nothing can exceed the delicate regularity of this creature's colour, or the lustrous smoothness of its skin; but, on the other hand, nothing can be more timid or more untamable. It is chiefly a native of the southern parts of Africa; and there are whole herds extensive plains that lie towards the Cape HORSE GENUS.-The species of this genus are six, namely: the horse, the ass, common zebra, zebra of the plains, quagga, dziggtai, with the mule, which may be regarded as a sub-species. DZIGGTAI. The specific characters of the Dziggtai, are, his skin is a light bay in summer, of a redder hue in winter, the hair very long, and his tail terminated by a black tuft. He is generally the size of an ordinary wild horse; and he is most probably the wild mule of the ancients, and lives in troops in the sandy deserts of Central Asia. His air betrays extreme energy, being wild, fiery, and untameable in his disposition. The flesh of this animal is esteemed a great delicacy by the Mogols, Tungooses, and other hordes, on the borders of the Great Desert. Like the rest of the genus, he is gregarious, and is seen in troops of from twenty to thirty in number. They are considered by the natives untameable. Sonnini is of opinion, that this species will become extinct, from the circumstance of man not being able to subjugate them; and from their being such a favourite delicacy with the Asiatics. QUAGGA. The head and the neck of the quagga are dark-blackish brown. The head and neck striped with greyish white; the mane blackish and short; a longitudinal black band runs from the termination of the mane along the spine, and loses itself in the tail, which is like that of a cow, with a dark brown tuft of hair at its extremity. Quaggas associate in herds, frequently to the number of one hundred, in the most solitary regions of Southern Africa. Delalande observed great flocks of them, but they were never to be found in company with zebras, the species to which they are most nearly allied in general conformation. The cry of this animal bears a strong resemblance to the barking of a dog. He is very easily tamed, and rendered obedient to domestic purposes. Of late years they have been driven in pairs, in the curricles of the haut-ton, in Hyde Park, London. They are as obedient to the whip and reins as horses. It is a matter of surprise that this animal has not long before been domesticated; his constitution is fitted for the hottest climate: he would be extremely valuable in those regions where the great heat destroys the capabilities of the horse. In a wild state the quagga is possessed of great natural courage. The natural pliability of his disposition, his great activity, and physical strength, peculiarly fit him for the service of man. The name of this animal in his native country, expresses the sound of his voice. A Scotch nobleman, the late Earl of Morton, succeeded in engendering mules between a male quagga and a mare. They were not handsome animals, however. Some time after this quagga died, the mare which had propagated with him produced a foal, three seasons after having the mule, which had the indistinct markings of the quagga, although she had not been with that animal from the time she had the hybrid foal to him. ZEBRA OF THE PLAINS.-This animal was first ascertained by Mr. Burchell, to be different from the common or mountain zebra. The following is a specific description of the zebra of the plains, by Gray. "Body white, head with numerous narrow, brown stripes, which graduaily unite together and form a bay nose; the neck and body with alternate broad stripes of black and narrow ones of brown, the latter of which nearly fill up the interstices between the black stripes, and only leave a narrow, white of Good Hope. However, their watchfulness is such, that they will suffer nothing to come near them; and their swiftness so great, that they readily leave every pursuer far behind. The zebra, in shape, rather resembles the mule, than the horse, or the ass. It is rather less than the former, and yet larger than the latter. Its ears are not so long as those of the ass, and yet not so small as in the horse kind. Like the ass, its head is large, its back straight, its legs finely placed, and its tail tufted at the end; like the horse, its skin is smooth and close, and its hind quarters round and fleshy. But its greatest beauty lies in the amazing regularity and elegance of its colours. In the male, they are white and brown; in the female white and black. These colours are disposed in alternate stripes over the whole body, and with such exactness and symmetry, that one would think Nature had employed the rule and compass to paint them. These stripes, which, like so many ribands, are laid all over its body, are narrow, parallel, and exactly separated from each other. It is not here as in other party-coloured animals, where the tints are blended into each other; every stripe here is perfectly distinct, and preserves its colour round the body, or the limb, without any diminution. In this manner are the head, the body, the thighs, the legs, and even the tail and the ears beautifully streaked, so that at a little distance one would be apt to suppose that the animal was dressed out by art, and not thus admirably adorned by nature. In the male zebra, the head is striped with fine bands of black and white, which in a manner centre in the forehead. The ears are variegated with a white and dusky brown. The neck has broad stripes of the same dark brown running round it, leaving narrow white stripes between. The body is striped also across the back with broad bands, leaving narrower spaces of white between them, and ending in points at the sides of the belly, which is white, except a black line pectinated on each side, reaching from between the fore-legs, along the middle of the belly, two thirds of its length. There is a line of separation between the trunk of the body and the hinder quarters, on each side; behind which, on the rump, is a plat of narrow stripes, joined together, by a stripe down the middle, to the end of the tail. The colours are different in the female; and in none the stripes seem entirely to agree in form, but in all they are equally distinct; the hair equally smooth and fine; the white shining and unmixed; and the black, or brown, thick, and lustrous. Such is the beauty of this creature, that it seems by nature fitted to satisfy the pride and the pleasure of man; and formed to be taken into his service. Hitherto, however, it appears to have disdained servitude, and neither force nor kindness have been able to wean it from its native independance and margin. The belly, legs, and all quite white; the mane alternately banded with black and white." Thus this beautiful animal differs very materially from the common zebra. THE DAUW.-(Equus Montanus)—"This beautiful animal has hitherto been confounded by naturalists with the zebra. When these were first described by modern writers the Couagga or Quagga was considered to be the female zebra, while both that and the true zebra bore in common among the colonists the name of Quakka. The Wild Paarde, named Dauw by the Hottentots, and a much scarcer animal than the other two, was never suspected to be a different species, though it be far more distinct from the quakka and zebra, than these are from each other." "The hoofs of animals destined by nature to inhabit rocky mountains, are, as far as I have observed, of a form very different from those intended for sandy plains; and this form is in itself sufficient to point out the Dauw as a separate species. The stripes of the skin will answer that purpose equally well, and show at the same time the great affinity and specific distinction of the ass, which may be characterized by a single stripe across the shoulders. The quakka has many similar marks on the head and fore part of the body: the zebra is covered with stripes over the head and the whole of the body, but the legs are white; and the wild paarde is striped over every part down to the feet. The zebra and wild paarde may be further dis tinguished from each other, by the stripes of the former being brown and white, and the brown stripe being double, that is, having a paler stripe within it; while the latter, which may be named Equus Montanus, is most regularly and beautifully covered with single black and white stripes: added to this, the former is never to be found on the mountains, nor the latter in the plains."-BURCHELL. ferocity. But this wildness might, perhaps, in time, be surmounted; and, it is probable, the horse and the ass, when first taken from the forest, were equally obstinate, fierce, and unmanageable. Buffon informs us that the zebra, from which he took his description, could never be entirely mastered, notwithstanding all the efforts which were tried to tame it. Yet still it is most probable that this animal, by time and assiduity, could be brought under subjection.* As it resembles the horse in form, without all doubt it has a similitude of nature, and only requires the efforts of an industrious and skilful nation to be added to the number of our domestics. It is not now known what were the pains and the dangers which were first undergone to reclaim the breed of horses from savage ferocity; these, no doubt, made an equal opposition; but, by being opposed, by an industrious and enterprising race of mankind, their spirit was at last subdued, and their freedom restrained. It is otherwise with regard to the zebra; it is the native of countries where the human inhabitants are but little raised above the quadruped. The natives of Angola, or Cafraria, have no other idea of advantage from horses but as they are good for food; neither the fine stature of the Arabian courser, nor the delicate colourings of the zebra, have any allurements to a race of people who only consider the quantity of flesh and not its conformation. The delicacy of the zebra's shape, or the painted elegance of its form, are no more regarded by such, than by the lion that makes it his prey. For this reason, therefore, the zebra may hitherto have continued wild, because it is the native of a country where there have been no successive efforts made to reclaim it. All pursuits that have been hitherto instituted against it, were rather against its life than its liberty; the animal has thus been long taught to consider man as its most mortal enemy; and it is not to be wondered that it refuses to yield obedience where it has so seldom experienced mercy. There is a kind of knowledge in all animals, that I have often considered with amazement; which is, that they seem perfectly to know their enemies, and to avoid them. Instinct, indeed, may teach the deer to fly from the lion; or the mouse to avoid the cat: but what is the principle that teaches the dog to attack the dog-butcher wherever he sees him? In China, where killing and dressing dogs is a trade, whenever one of these people moves out, all the dogs of the village, or the street, are sure to be after him. This I should hardly have believed, but that I have seen more than one instance of it among ourselves. I have seen a poor fellow who made a practice of stealing and killing dogs for their skins, pursued in full cry for three or four streets together, by all the bolder breed of dogs, while the weaker flew from his presence with affright. How these animals could thus find out their enemy, and pursue him, appears I own unaccountable, but such is the fact; and it not only obtains in dogs, but in several other animals, though perhaps to a less degree. This very probably may have been, in some measure, a cause that has hitherto kept the zebra in its state of natural wildness; and in which it may continue, till kinder treatment shall have reconciled it to its pursuers. The Portuguese pretend that they have been able to tame them, and that they have sent four from Africa to Lisbon, which were so far brought under as to draw the king's coach; (g) they add, that the person who sent them over, had the office of notary conferred upon him for his reward, which was to remain to him and his posterity for ever: but I do not find this confirmed by any person who says he saw them. Of those which were sent to Brasil, not one could *THE ZEBRA CAPABLE OF BEING RECLAIMED. Mr. Barrow also seems to think that the zebra might be tamed, notwithstanding its vicious and obstinate character, if proper means were resorted to. More skill, perseverance, and patience than the Dutch peasant possesses, are necessary to subdue an animal naturally haughty and courageous, or to tame one that is naturally timid. It is not by whips, nor goads, nor spurs, that a vicious animal in a state of nature is to be conquered. Wounds and ill-treatment only increase its resistance and obstinacy. In corroboration of this, Mr. F. Cuvier cites an instance of a female which was perfectly tame and gentle, and suffered herself to be mounted without difficulty. (g) Dapper. |