THE HARTEBEEST AND ZEBRA 



mad attempt to escape had paid no attention whatever to 

 our hunting party, before two of the animals had actually 

 been killed ! The skin of one of these was very beautiful. 

 It almost appeared as if the skin had been doubly marked, 

 the wide stripes having long, dark-yellow stripes in their 

 center. 



Many attempts have been made to tame and domes- 

 ticate the zebra, both in German and British East 

 Africa, but these attempts have not been successful from a 

 commercial standpoint. It has not been found so very 

 difficult to tame young zebras, but these liberty-loving 

 animals do not seem to survive very long when they are 

 put to work. The weak part seems to be their front legs, 

 which do not enable the animals to pull loads of any size. 

 Attempts have also been made to cross the zebra with 

 donkeys and ponies, which has resulted in a somewhat 

 hardier animal, but several deserted " zebra farms " in 

 East Africa show that at present it does not seem to pay 

 to domesticate the animal. 



Not only is the zebra killed by the natives and settlers 

 for the sake of its meat, but its hide is also often used by 

 the white man for furniture covering and for mending 

 harness and boots. By the natives of several tribes, belts 

 and straps are made of zebra skin, with which the loads 

 are generally carried by some tribes in a sling over the fore- 

 head. As the zebra is also said to spread cattle diseases, 

 and is very destructive in breaking fences and trampling 

 down the crops of the settlers, they are gradually being 

 killed or driven away from the inhabited parts of the pro- 

 tectorate. The time will perhaps not be very remote when 

 both the Grevys's and Burchell's zebras will be practically 



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