l8o NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



sio-ht far in advance of his ao-e he uro-ed the 



o o o 



domestication of the species, pointing out that in 

 his day it could be even more easily obtained than 

 the horse, that it would of course eat the harsh 

 grass of the country — its natural food — and that it 

 would probably be immune from the horse-sickness. 

 This excellent advice has been seconded by 

 subsequent writers. Almost in Sparrman's own 

 words, Harris says : " Doubtless it might readily 

 be subdued by bit and bridle, and if not capable 

 of universal distribution, would in its native 

 regions at least, where food and climate are 

 congenial, reward fourfold by its services, the 

 trouble attendant upon its education." Would 

 that his counsel had been heeded ! The relations 

 of white men with the true quagga during the 

 long years that have elapsed between 1772 and 

 1879 are summed up in one word — extermination 1 

 A few half tame specimens have been brought 

 to Europe. The list is as follows : 



1. A quagga was kept at Windsor during the 

 eighteenth century : it was the property of the 

 then Prince of Wales — probably Frederick, son 

 of George II. As this individual is said to have 

 been striped with black (not brown), it has been 

 thought that the animal may have been a Burchell 

 zebra. 



2. The Royal collection of the Palais de 

 Versailles once contained a quagga : after the 



