ZEBRAS AND QUAGGAS 213 



district. Others, in a half-domesticated state, run 

 on some of the Boer farms, where, as mentioned 

 later, they occasionally breed with the asses. 



The zebra is an adept in getting over rough 

 and rocky ground ; the course of the herds being 

 stopped only by absolutely unclimbable precipices. 

 In other respects its habits seem to be very similar 

 to those of its kindred, although there seems to be 

 no evidence of its habitually consorting with animals 

 of totally distinct kinds. The following picturesque 

 description of an encounter with a troop of zebras 

 is given by Mr. H. Bryden : ' — 



"In company with a Kafir hunter I came 

 suddenly upon a small troop guarded by a sentinel 

 — an old stallion. They were a magnificent 

 spectacle, far up in a precipitous piece of savage 

 mountain scenery. We had a long look at them 

 at two hundred and fifty yards' distance, and then 

 suddenly the stallion got our wind or espied us, a 

 wild neigh of alarm was given, and the troop, with 

 tails whisking, tore headlong over the mountain 

 and quickly disappeared." 



Whither the daow or dattw of the Hottentots 

 was the zebra or the quagga seems doubtful, and 

 the name may have been applied to both animals. 

 By some writers it is given as the designation of 

 the southern race of the bontequagga. 



The range of the zebra is, however, by no 



1 Nature aitd Sport in South Africa, p. 164. 



