MULES AND ZEBRAS. 301 



brittleness of the ribs showed the animal to be consider- 

 ably older than was supposed, and his death casts no 

 reflection upon your skill, judgment and gentleness." 

 One of the keepers subsequently informed my wife that the 

 zebra had been ailing for some time. If I had been aware 

 of this fact, I need hardly say that I should not have attemp- 

 ted to break an animal so infirm. 



The Prjevalsky wild horse, as we can see by Salensky's 

 Russian book, is supposed by the large majority of Contin- 

 ental naturalists to be untameable, and I was delighted to 

 have the opportunity of disproving this assumption, when 

 staying recently with Professor Cossar Ewart at Penicuik. I 

 met with much the same passive stubborn resistance as 

 I had experienced with mules and zebras, and after an 

 argument of a couple of hours duration, I got no striking 

 reply out of Prjevalsky, except a sharp kick on my left 

 shin. He husbanded his strength all through the inter- 

 view, and finally concluded in a very logical manner that 

 submission was the best policy. Although he consented 

 to be ridden, he refrained from cantering, and imitated 

 the trot only by a very lazy form of shuffle. The chief 

 distinguishing characteristics of the Prjevalsky horse are 

 absence of forelock ; short mane, which in summer is 

 erect like that of the donkey, and partly hangs down in 

 winter ; and a tail, which for about four inches down the 

 back of the dock (solid portion of the tail) has short and 

 bristly hairs. 



The Russian naturalists G. E. and M. E. Groom- 

 Grjeemailo tell us that " The Mongolians have made many 

 attempts to tame these wild horses,- but have always been 

 unsuccessful. These animals refuse to obey man, whom 

 they fear, and consequently they cannot be utilised. The 

 Mongolians capture these horses in a very simple manner. 

 At foaling time, each of the Kalmucks goes with two horses 



