? tETTIiR XIV. 



As the ancients were unacquainted with that part of- 

 world, it is evident that the zebra cannot be the 

 species of wild ass, which they well knew by the 

 name of the Onagrus. The Dutch, of the Cape co- 

 lony, have employed every means to subdue and 

 tame the zebra without- success. Whole herds of 

 these animals are sometimes seen feeding ; but they 

 are exceedingly difficult to take, on account of their 

 vigilance and extraordinary swiftness. I have been 

 somewhat prolix in the description of this singularly 

 beautiful quadruped, as it constitutes a striking ob- 

 ject in the animal creation, and is esteemed a present 

 fit to be made to the greatest prince. It seems, that 

 the Almighty Being has been willing to display to 

 our eyes the exuberance of his power, in bestowing 

 so great a profusion of beauty on the animal inhabi- 

 tants of the desert, as well as so remarkable an adap- 

 tation of qualities on those more particularly de- 

 signed for the service of man. I am, dear Sir, 



Your's, &c. 



LETTER XIV. 



The strong, laborious Ox, of honest front." 



THOMSON. 



DEAR SIR, 



E subject of my present letter is, perhaps, the 

 most interesting that is furnished by the whole system 

 of animated nature. A very little reflection will 

 suffice to convince you, that those animals, commonly 

 called ruminating, of which the ox, sheep, and gout 

 kind, are the principal, constitute, so far as considered 

 in relation to man, the most important and intrinsic- 

 ally valuable, part of the brute creation. If, indeed, 

 indispensable necessity alone were made the criterion 

 of utility and value, the ox and the sheep would. 

 claim a superiority even over that noble animal, the 

 horse ; for the former, nourishing us with their milk, 

 sustaining us wifli their flesh, and clothing us with 

 their fleeces, are objects of the utmost importance to 



