168 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



interesting mountain-dweller is, on the flat, of course, 

 inferior to that of a fair horse ; but in its own habitat 

 it is as a rule utterly unapproachable : even the 

 surest-footed Basuto pony that ever clattered down a 

 mountain-side could never hope to rival this wild 

 equine mountaineer. Occasionally, however, a zebra 

 will consort with a troop of donkeys or mules running 

 among the hills, and is then sometimes driven into a 

 kraal and made prisoner. Some years ago a mountain 

 zebra, taken in this way, was photographed at Graaff 

 Reinet. I was fortunate enough to secure a copy of 

 this, I believe, the only portrait extant of a mature 

 mountain zebra captured in the wild state. 



As Grevy's zebra is rather a hill than a plain 

 dweller, and is most nearly allied to the true zebra, 

 I will deal next with that species. In 1882, Menelek, 

 King of Shoa, now King of Abyssinia and Shoa, sent 

 a living zebra as a present to M. Grevy, President of 

 the French Republic. This zebra was placed in the 

 Jardin des Plantes, where it survived only for a short 

 time. It was soon found to differ considerably from 

 any recorded species, and was at first thought to be 

 merely a variety of Eqiius zebra ; careful examination 

 of the skins of other zebras collected from North- 

 East Africa — principally Somaliland — has, however, 

 clearly established this zebra — now well known as 

 Equus grevyi — as a true species, distinct from its 

 southern relative. 



