ORDER PERISSODACTYLA ! ODD-TOED UNGULATES 347 



Sir Samuel Baker (1867, pp. 55-56) writes concerning the Wild 

 Ass along the Atbara River: "Those who have seen donkeys in 

 their civilized state have no conception of the beauty of the wild 

 and original animal. . . . The animal in its native desert is the per- 

 fection of activity and courage; there is a high-bred tone in the 

 deportment, a high-actioned step when it trots freely over the rocks 

 and sand, with the speed of a horse when it gallops over the bound- 

 less desert. No animal is more difficult of approach; and, although 

 they are frequently captured by the Arabs, those taken are invari- 

 ably the foals, which are ridden down by fast dromedaries, while 

 the mothers escape." 



Matschie gives (1894, p. 73), as the northernmost locality, the 

 Wadi el Homar, a little north of Berber. 



"Their flesh is eaten by the Arabs of the Soudan. They are 

 ordinarily met with in twos and threes, or small herds." (Bryden, 

 1899, p. 70.) 



"This animal is found at the foot of the Gebel Hennah, near 

 Tokar. It is common in the Khor Sabbat parallel to the Khor 

 Baraka. Captain O'Connor informs me that he has often seen them 

 at the Khor Sabbat, on the plain of Tokar." (Anderson, in Ander- 

 son and de Winton, 1902, p. 330.) 



"Neither the wild asses nor the zebras of Africa are pursued with 

 much enthusiasm by sportsmen, and the first-named animals are 

 so shy and wild that whilst it is very difficult to get within shot of 

 them on foot, if they are hunted on horseback they are so fleet and 

 enduring that they can only be overtaken with great difficulty even 

 by a really fast horse. . . . Thus the wild ass is seldom shot, and 

 is probably of less interest to the average sportsman than any other 

 African game animal." (Selous, 1914, p. 36.) 



"The Wild Ass is found in the Sudan in the neighbourhood of the 

 Atbara River in the provinces of Berber and Kassala; it is also 

 found in the Red Sea Province south of Suakin. 



"They have been strictly protected for a number of years, and 

 although by no means common there is not, at present, any danger 

 of their being exterminated." (Brocklehurst, 1931, p. 15.) 



Some years before 1932 Wild Asses were fairly common in the 

 region of the Baraka Wadi near the border of Eritrea (Maydon, 

 1932, p. 203) . 



In all probability the very few Eritrean specimens now extant live 

 in the region- of Upper Barca (De Beaux, 1935, p. 12) . 



Powell-Cotton (in Dollman, 1935, p. 134) writes concerning Wild 

 Asses south of Tokar near the Eritrean boundary: "Beween 18 Feb- 

 ruary and 2 March 1934 we saw the animals on four occasions, as 

 follows, 1, 2, 2, 3, and secured the two specimens permitted us. 

 . . . The Arabs . . . leave the Wild Ass unmolested as they do not 



