26 THE ZEBRA. 



have entirely lost his native wildness, and was so gentle as to 

 suffer a child of six years old to sit quietly on his back, without 

 exhibiting the least sign of displeasure. He was familiar even 

 with strangers, and received those kind of caresses, that are 

 usually given to the horse, with evident satisfaction. The one, 

 however, that was some years ago kept at Kew, seemed of a 

 savage and fierce nature. No one dared venture to approach 

 it, except the person who was accustomed to feed it. For, what- 

 ever speculation may imagine, experience shows this animal to 

 be of a very different disposition from both the wild horse and 

 the wild ass. Both these, when once taken, are easily tamed, 

 and become tractable, which has never yet been the case with 

 the zebra. 



This animal has, by many naturalists, been erroneously con- 

 founded with the wild ass. There exists, indeed, an elegant breed 

 of wild asses in some parts of the Levant, and in the northern 

 countries of Africa, which is much more beautiful than the com- 

 mon ass, and which, like the finest breed of horses, originated 

 from Arabia. But the zebra is a very different animal from 

 these, and inhabits a different climate. It exists neither in Europe, 

 Asia, nor America, nor even in the northern parts of Africa, 

 and is only found in the southern regions of the last-mentioned 

 quarter of the globe, from Abyssinia to the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and from Mosambique to Congo. As the ancients were unac- 

 quainted with that part of the world, it is evident that the zebra 

 cannot be the species of wild ass, which they well knew by the 

 name of the Onagrus. The Dutch, of the Cape colony, have 

 employed every means to subdue and tame the zebra, without 

 success. Whole herds of these animals are sometimes seen feed- 

 ing ; but they are exceedingly difficult to take, on account of 

 their vigilance and extraordinary swiftness. We have been some- 

 what prolix in the description of this singularly beautiful quad- 

 ruped, as it constitutes a striking object in the animal creation, 

 and is esteemed a present fit to be made to the greatest prince. 

 It seems, that the Almighty Being has been willing to display to 

 our eyes the exuberance of his power, in bestowing so great a 

 profusion of beauty on the animal inhabitants of the desert, as 

 well as so remarkable an adaptation of qualities on those more 

 particularly designed for the service of man. 



