THE ZEBRA. 



Tins is one of the most beautiful of animals, but, like 

 many others which are beautiful, it is of no use to mankind, 

 except to afford pleasure to the eye. In shape and size it 

 resembles the mule ; and with the same capacity for ren- 

 dering service to mankind as the horse, it is found useless, 

 since all attempts to subjugate it to labor have failed. It 

 is therefore chiefly prized for the exquisite beauty of its 

 skin, the smoothness of which nothing can surpass. Nor 

 can anything exceed the beautiful regularity of its colors, 

 which, in the male, are white and brown, and in the female, 

 white and black, ranged in alternate stripes over the whole 

 body, in a manner so beautiful and ornamental, that at first 

 sight it would seem rather the effect of most exquisite art, 

 than the genuine production of nature. Such is the beauty 

 of the Zebra, but it has hitherto been esteemed absolutely 

 untameable. Resembling the horse in its form as well as 

 manner of living, we would suppose that it possesses a 

 similar nature ; and some naturalists have thought, that 

 with proper management, it might be converted to the 

 same uses. This opinion, however, is but ill supported by 

 experience ; for those that have been taken to Europe have 

 shown a degree of viciousness which has rendered it unsafe 

 to approach them. The Zebra which was long kept in the 

 Royal Menagerie, at Paris, was exceedingly wild at his 



