ITS NEAREST EXISTING RELATIONS. 97 



trained to harness. A pair were driven in Hyde 

 Park, by Mr. Sheriff Parkins, in the early part of 

 the present century. The name is an imitation of 

 the shrill barking neigh of the animal u ouag-ga, 

 ouag-ga/ ? the last syllable very much prolonged. 



There can be little doubt but that, owing to the 

 great improvements in the precision and range of 

 fire-arms, and the general extension of their use into 

 countries where till lately they were unknown, all 

 wild animals which yield any production of value 

 to man, or offer temptations to the sportsman, espe- 

 cially those whose geographical distribution is lim- 

 ited, will soon cease to exist upon the earth. The 

 American bison is one of the most conspicuous 

 instances of rapid extermination of an animal 

 which flourished but very recently in vast num- 

 bers, and which, but for the causes just mentioned, 

 might in all probability have continued to exist for 

 long ages. The various species of the large game 

 of Africa are quickly following in the same course. 

 The quagga, although described by Harris in 1839 

 as existing in " immense herds," is already nearly, if 

 not quite, extinct, the value of its hide being the 

 prime cause of its destruction. Regarding its for- 

 mer geographical distribution, Mr. H. A. Bryden 

 makes the following interesting remarks : " The 

 range of the true quagga was even more arbitrarily 



