784 HO 



much attention paid to them as they df serve, they are 

 frequently employed for doing the work of ponies iu 

 the Cape colony. 



Where that colony is thickly peopled they are not 

 found ; and they migrate, quitting the confines of the 

 colony for places farther northward, when the dry 

 season begins to burn up the pasture ; and they do 

 not return again until the rainy season has set in, 

 and vegetation again appears upon the Karoos. On 

 their pastures, and during their migrations, they keep 

 by themselves, and do not associate with the zebras, 

 which pasture nearly the same grounds, and migrate 

 in nearly the same manner. Indeed all the swifter 

 herbivorous mammalia partake more or less in this 

 migration ; and as they are exceedingly numerous, 

 they furnish abundant food to the lions, which often 

 follow them down to the fields of the settlers, com- 

 mitting depredations upon the domestic animals, and 

 not unfrequently carrying off some of the people. 



THE ONAOOA, or DAUW (E. Montanus], is another 

 African species, which has been confounded with the 

 quagga, and still more frequently with the zebra, 

 though it is perfectly distinct from both in its appear- 

 ance, and also in its localities. The quagga is never 

 found but on the plains, for which the shape of its 

 hoofs particularly adapt it ; while this species is 

 wholly a mountaineer, and seldom descends to the 

 broad pastures. The distinction between it and the 

 zebra will be best given in the words of Mr. Burchall, 

 to whom we are indebted for the first satisfactory 

 account of it as a species. " The hoofs of animals," 

 says he, " destined by nature to inhabit rocky moun- 

 tains, are, as far as I have observed, of a very different 

 form from those intended for sandy plains , and this 

 form is in itself sufficient to point out the dauw as a 

 separate species. The stripes of the skin will answer 

 the purpose equally well, and show at the same time 

 the great affinity and specific distinction of the ass, 

 which may be characterised by a single stripe across 

 the shoulders. The quagga has many similar marks 

 on the head and fore part of the body ; the zebra is 

 covered with stripes over the head and the whole of 

 the body, but the legs are white ; and the wild 

 paarde is striped over every part, even down to the 

 i'eet. The zebra and wild paarde may be further 

 distinguished from each other, by the stripes of the 

 former being brown and white, and the brown stripe 

 being double, that is. having a paler stripe within it ; 

 while the latter, w hich may be named Equus monta- 

 nut, is most regularly and beautifully covered with 

 black and white stripes : add to this, the former is 

 never to be found on the mountains, nor the latter on 

 the plains." 



Wilde Parde is the name given to this animal 

 by the Dutch settlers at the Cape ; Dauw is the Hot- 

 tentot name ; and Onagga is a sort of imitation of 

 the voice of the animal. It is less in size than the 

 ass ; but it is more handsomery shaped than even the 

 zebra. Very little is known respecting its manners, 

 foi it is rarely seen in consequence of the difficult 

 chattcter of the places which it inhabits. From the 

 heavy rains which fall in Southern Africa, the water- 

 courses are torn de?p into the rocks, so as to form 

 complete interruptions to any thing like a passage 

 among the mountains ; and thus it is difficult to ob- 

 tain those animals alive, and consequently their habits 

 in a state of nature cannot be observed, neither can it 

 be weU ascertained to what degree they are suscep- 

 tible sf domestication. As their general form has 



RSE. 



still a good deal of resemblance to that of the hone, 

 the probability is that they might be domesticated. 

 If this could be done, there is no doubt that from the 

 nature of the ground on which they keep their feet, 

 they would make excellent hill ponies. More must 

 be known of them, however, before we can come to 

 any conclusion respecting their characters. 



THE ZEBRA (E. Zebra). This species, which is 

 nearly intermediate in character between the horse 

 and the ass, is found in all the warmer parts of Africa, 

 at least from Abyssinia to the southern extremity of 

 the continent; but now, at least, it is most abundant 

 toward the south. It is probable that, in former times, 

 it was found also to the northward of the desert ; for 

 it was not unknown to the Romans, but, on the other 

 hand, brought to Rome upon many occasions, though 

 perhaps not till the time of the Emperors. Dion Cas- 

 sius says that, in one day, the Emperor Caracalla killed 

 an elephant, a rhinoceros, a tiger, and a hi]ypo-tigris, 

 or horse-tiger, by which it is understood that the zebra 

 was meant. It is also mentioned that upon another 

 occasion there were brought from the islands of the 

 Erythrean Sea, some horses of the sun, which were 

 coloured like tigers ; and there is no doubt that these 

 must also have been zebras. It is also said, that upon 

 certain occasions the kings of ancient Persia used 

 also to sacrifice a horse of the sun, as an expiatory 

 offering ot the most important character. This last 

 circumstance does not prove that those horses of the 

 sun were natives of Persia ; but rather the reverse, 

 because of the value of the sacrifice of a single one in 

 the year. Diodorus Siculus says that the zebras were 

 brought from the country of the Troglodytes, or men 

 who dwelt in caves, which were near neighbours to 

 the men without heads, and the men with only one 

 broad foot, which they could use as a parasol upon 

 occasions ; and this country of the Troglodytes is 

 understood to have been the country on the African 

 side, from the strait of Bab- el-mundel to Cape Guar- 

 dafui, to the eastward, off which the island of Socotra, 

 which is probably the one alluded to in the former 

 statement, is situated. Be that as it may, the accounts 

 are sufficient to show that the zebra was known to the 

 Romans, and also to other nations of antiquity ; but 

 that, though they sought after it for its beauty of 

 colour, they were unable to tame it ; and that conse- 

 quently it must have been the same species as the 

 zebra of the present day, which resists every at'tempt 

 at domestication. 



In a state of nature the zebra is rather larerer than 

 the ass ; and resembles that animal more in form than 

 either the quagga or the onagga. There is, however, 

 a good deal of confusion in the names and descrip- 

 tions ; because all the three were mixed up iu the 

 description of the zebra by the older naturalists ; the 

 quagga being regarded as the female zebra, and the 

 onagga, which is less than the zebra but more com- 

 pletely striped, as the young male. All the three 

 animals are, however, perfectly distinct ; and the 

 zebra, notwithstanding the beauty of its markings, 

 has no claim whatever to the known mildness of the 

 quagga, or the presumed mildness of the motmta'n 

 species. We shall quote a small portion of Button's 

 description of this animal, in order to show with what 

 caution the writings of naturalists of that period ought 

 to be received. The passage is short, but so circum- 

 stantial that one would think the author must have 

 been acquainted with zebras during the whole of bis 

 lifetime ; and yet the accounts of the three-striped 



