196 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



the repeated recommendations of naturalist after 

 naturalist were allowed to pass practically un- 

 heeded. Sparrman's advocacy of the domestica- 

 tion of the species has already been noticed : in 

 1801 Sir John Barrow observed of the quagga 

 "It is . . . . well shaped and strong limbed, not 

 in the least vicious, but on the contrary is soon 

 rendered by domestication mild and tractable : yet, 

 abundant as they are in the country, few have 

 given themselves the trouble of turning them to 

 any kind of use/' Burchell's vivid description of a 

 quagga foal which voluntarily followed a horse into 

 Klaarwater, allowing itself to be freely handled, 

 demonstrates clearly enough that taken young the 

 species might easily have been domesticated. 

 Cuvier expressed the hope nay, the expectation 

 that it would soon be regularly broken to 

 harness. He justly observed, "when we consider 

 that this species is capable of highly beneficial 

 services in a domesticated condition .... we 

 may naturally be surprised that the Couagga 

 has been suffered by us to retain its liberty 

 so long." His hopes were not realised. Harris 

 in recommending the subjection of the quagga 

 remarked on the indolence of the colonists in not 

 essaying so tempting a task. And so on to the 

 end of the chapter : save for the laudable but 

 isolated efforts of Lord Morton, Sheriff Parkins, 

 and one or two others, no attempt was made to 



