M A M M A L I A— Z E B R A . 



a striped iobe of black and white alternately disposed with so much regula- 

 rity and symmetry, that it seems as if nature had made use of the rule and 

 compass to paint it. These alternate bands of black and white are so much 

 the more singular, as they are straight, parallel, and very exactly divided, 

 like a striped stuff; and as they, in other parts, extend themselves not only 

 over the body, but over the head, the thighs, the legs, and even the ears 

 and the tail ; so that, at a distance, this animal appears as if he were sur 

 rounded with little fillets, which some person had disposed, in a regular 

 manner, over every part of the body. In the females, these bands are alter- 

 nately black and white. In the male, they are brown and yellow, but 

 always of a lively and brilliant mixture, upon a short, fine, and thick hair ; 

 the lustre of which still more increases the beauty of the colors. The zebra 

 is, in general, less than the horse, and larger than the ass ; and, although 

 it has often been compared to those two animals, and called the loild horse 

 and the striped ass, it is a copy neither of the one nor the other ; and might 

 rather be called their model, if all was not equally original in nature, and 

 if every species had not an equal right to creation. 



The zebra is not the animal the ancients have indicated under the name 

 onagra. There exists in the Levant, the eastern parts of Asia, and in the 

 northern parts of Africa, a beautiful race of asses, who, like the finest horses, 

 are natives of Arabia. This race differs from the common, by the size of 

 the body, the slenderness of the legs, and the lustre of the hair. They are 

 of a uniform, but commonly of a fine mouse color, with a black cross upon 

 the back and the shoulders ; and sometimes they are of a bright gray color, 

 with a flaxen cross. The zebra is also of a different climate from the 

 onagra, and is only to be met with in the most eastern and the most south- 

 ern parts of Africa, from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope, and thence to 

 Congo. It exists neither in Europe, Asia, nor America, nor even in all the 

 northern parts of Africa. Those which some travellers tell us they have 

 seen at the Brazils, have been transported thither from Africa ; those which 

 others are recounted to have seen in Persia, and in Turkey, have been 

 brought from Ethiopia; and, in short, those that we have seen in Europe 

 are almost all from the Cape of Good Hope. This point of Africa is 

 their true climate, their native country, and where the Dutch have em- 

 ployed all their care to subject them and to render them tame, without 

 having been hitherto able to succeed. That which has served for the 

 subject of our description, was very wild when he arrived at the royal 

 menagerie in France ; and he was never entirely tamed. Nevertheless, 

 he was broken for the saddle; but there were precautions necessary; two 

 men held the bridle, while a third was upon him. His mouth is very 

 hard ; his ears so sensible, that he winces whenever any person goes to 

 touch them. He is restive, like a vicious horse, and obstinate as a mule; 

 but, perhaps, the wild horse and the onagra are not less intractable ; and 

 there is reason to believe, that if the zebra was accustomed to obedience 



