336 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



a colored plate of a female, which he supposed to be the female of the 

 Mountain Zebra. Buffon in 1782 (Hist. Nat., Suppl, vol. 6, p. 85) 

 was the first to give an authentic account of the animal on the basis 

 of notes supplied him by Allamand, from Colonel Gordon, a South 

 African resident. Subsequently Edwards' description became the 

 basis of Gmelin's name Equus quagga. So far as the records show, 

 the Quagga always had a somewhat restricted range and was con- 

 fined chiefly to the southeastern corner of the Cape region, from 

 Algoa Bay westward at least to Prince Albert (where Barrow reports 

 it in 1801), and Swellendam, some 100 miles east of Cape Town, 

 where Sparrman first saw it, northward to the Orange Free State and 

 the Vaal River, and coastwise to the Kei River. There is practically 

 no record of travel in South Africa between the days of Kolben in 

 1705 and the visit of the Swedish naturalist Sparrman in 1775. The 

 latter, however, found the Quagga as near the coast of Algoa Bay as 

 Uitenhage. He secured a foal which is still preserved in the Riksmu- 

 seum at Stockholm. Quaggas were apparently still plentiful in the 

 first quarter of the last century, especially in the districts of Aberdeen 

 (Lichtenstein, in 1804) and in Fraserburg and Hanover where Bur- 

 chell in 1812 found them abundant, in troops of 30 to 50 on the plains. 

 These made an impressive sight traveling in single file as was their 

 curious habit, or when startled, wheeling in unison like a squad of 

 cavalry. It was said that they frequently associated on the plains 

 with the White-tailed Gnu or with ostriches; whereas the Burchell's 

 Zebras preferred the companionship of the Brindled Gnu. Where, 

 as in the Orange Free State, the range of the Quagga met or over- 

 lapped that of Burchell's Zebra, it is said the two did not mingle. 

 The Boer farmers evidently took heavy toll of them in these years, 

 greatly reducing their numbers, and using the meat to feed their 

 workers although themselves preferring more tasty kinds of game. 

 The result of this constant persecution was that by the late 50's the 

 Quagga was practically extinct south of the Orange River. According 

 to Bryden (1889) the last known instance was of two shot in 1858 

 near the Tygerberg, a solitary mountain rising abruptly from the 

 plains near Aberdeen. His informant, the successful hunter, recalled 

 the affair well. Farther north, however, in the Orange Free State, 

 Quaggas were still numerous. About 1865, the Boers of this state 

 began the exploitation of the large game of the region for their hides. 

 With characteristic industry and deadly skill they gathered and 

 shipped to the coast hides by the wagonload, among which those of 

 Quagga and Burchell's Zebra were especially in demand. They also 

 made use of Quagga hides for grain sacks, and Bryden (1889) men- 

 tions seeing old Quagga-skin sacks still in use at the time of his visit. 

 The exact date of the final extermination of the Quagga is unknown, 

 but it is generally believed that the species continued well into the 



