454 



UXGULATA. 



The Dauw is capable ot a partial domestication, and can be tamed to 

 a considerable extent. It is, however, considered as possessing an un- 

 certain temper, and is of too obstinate a disposition U) be of much use to 

 man. By the Kaffirs it is called Peet-sey, and the Dutch colonists have 

 given it the name of Bontcquagga. 



Respecting its habits in its wild state, Captain Harris writes; 

 " Fierce, strong, fleet, and surpassingly beautiful, there is perhaps no 

 animal in creation, not even excepting the mountain zebra, more splen- 

 didlv attired, or presenting a picture of more singularl)- attractive 

 beauty, than this free-born of the desert. A dark pillar of dust rises from 

 the plain, and, undisturbed by any breath in heaven, mounts upward in 

 the clear azure sky like a wreath of smoke — three ill-omened vultures 

 soaring in circles above it. Nearer and more near rolls on the thickening 

 column, until several dark living objects are perceived dancing beneath 

 it. Emerging from the obscurity, their glossy and exquisitely variegated 

 coats glittering in the sun's rays, the head of a column of Burchell's 

 zebras appears, and instantly afterward the serried horde sweep past in 

 gallant array, their hoofs clattering on the hard gravel like a regiment 

 of dragoons. Tearing by at racing speed, straining neck and neck with 

 their shaggy, whimsical-looking bovine allies, the gnus, their own striped 

 and proudly curved necks seem as if they were clothed with thunder, 

 and their snowy tails are streaming behind them. Now the troop has 

 wheeled and halted for an instant to reconnoitre the foe. A powerful 

 stallion advances a few paces with distended nostrils and stately gait, his 

 mane newly hogged, and his ample tail switching his gayly checkered 

 thighs. Hastily surveying the huntsmen, he snorts wildly, and instantly 

 gallops back to his cohort. Away they scour again, neighing and toss- 

 ing their striped heads aloft, switching their mule-like tails in all the 

 pride of fleetness and freedom." 



THE ZEBRA. 



The Zebra, Er/i/ns Zebra (Plate XXXIII), is the most conspicuous 

 and beautiful of the whole tribe. The general color is a creamy white, 

 marked regularly with velvety black strijjcs that cover the entire head, 

 neck, body, and limbs, and extend down to the very feet. It is worlliy 

 of note, that tiie stripes are drawn nearly at right angles to the part of 

 the body on which they occur, so th ;t the stripes of the legs arc horizon- 



