118 Defeription of the Equus Hemionus. 
wild afs. It is not improbable that the great Altai mountains 
form the boundaries of its native country on the eaft towards- _ 
the extenfive ridges of Thibet and India; for the accounts of 
travellers who have fpoken of wild affes in Syria and Perfia, 
are not accurate enough to enable us ta judge whether the 
dfhiggetai is found in thefe countries, which I very much 
doubt. 
The dthiggetai feeks the open dry plains and the decli- 
vities of mountains covered with good nourifhing herbs and 
grafs, as is the cafe with all Dauuria and the country of the 
Moguls, which are full of mountains. It is faid that they 
feldom approach the water, and that they can continue a 
long time without drinking; which, to an animal deftined 
to live in deferts, where often for a hundred werfts there is 
not to be found a drop of drinkable water, is a very neceflary 
property. 
The onager and the wild horfe have yielded to the perfever- 
ance and courage employed by man to tame them, and render 
them fit for being draught animals, and animals of burthen 5 
but the dfhiggetai, like the African zebra*, has never yet 
been tamed, though the Moguls, who are born horfemen 
and fhepherds, have often tried to breed foals of this fpecies 
which they have caught. I am however of opinion, that 
we onght not to abandon all hope of rendering the dfhig- 
getai a domeilic animal, if ferious attempts were made in 
Dauuria on foals when caught and {hut up in proper en- 
clofures, which no wandering people have an. opportunity 
of doing. Should fuch an attempt fucceed, mankind would 
procure in this animal, if broke for riding, not only the 
fleeteft and fwifieit hunter, but give to the eaftern part of 
Afia, India and China, in particular, where the common 
horfe, as is well known; does not thrive, a far more ufeful 
draught animal, becaufe thefe regions are as it were its na- 
* The opinion entertained of the impoffibility to tame the zebra has teen 
however contradiéted by the one :cared at Lifbon and taught to draw in 4 
carriage. The cafe perhaps wiil one day be the faine with the dihiggetal. 
: tive 
