ZEBRAS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 163 



formation concerning both the zebra and quagga in 

 Cape Colony. Then Burchell, in 1812, penetrated 

 with his wagons beyond the Orange River, and 

 discovered the zebra of the plains, ever since known 

 as Burchell's zebra, roaming the vast plateaux-lands 

 of the Bechuana country in immense herds ; and the 

 striped equidce of Southern Africa were at last 

 established and known to science. Curiously enough, 

 it was not until nearly seventy years later that the 

 mountain zebra of North-East Africa (JEquits grevyi), 

 from the highlands of Shoa, was identified by 

 naturalists — a very singular lapse, considering the 

 marvellous opening up of Africa in recent times, and 

 the fact that Abyssinia — which adjoins Shoa — has 

 been long known to Europeans. 



The true or mountain zebra {Equus zebra), the 

 hijypotigris of the Romans, the daow of the Hottentots, 

 the wilde jKcard oi the Boers, is essentially a mountain 

 dweller, and loves the wildest, roughest, and most 

 inaccessible parts of the rugged mountains of South 

 Africa. It is, so far as we know at present, unrepre- 

 sented in Central Africa, and in North-East Africa 

 is replaced by a somewhat similar form in Grevy's 

 zebra. From constant persecution this species is 

 becoming very scarce, and promises not long hence 

 to become, like its much-lamented cousin, the quagga, 

 extinct altogether. In the old days this handsome 

 and remarkable beast ran plentifully in large troops 



