THE ZEBRA. 



229 



pursuits that have been hitherto instituted 

 against it, were rather aguinst its life than its 

 liberty : the animal has thus been long taught 

 to consider man as its most mortal enemy ; and 

 it is not to be wondered that it refuses to yield 

 obedience where it has so seldom experienced 

 mercy. There is a kind of knowledge in all 

 animals, that I have often considered with 

 amazement; which is, that they seem perfectly 

 to know their enemies, and to avoid them. In- 

 stinct, indeed, may teach the deer to fly from the 

 jion ; or the mouse to avoid the cat ; but what 

 is the principle that teaches the dog to attack the 

 dog-butcher wherever he sees him ? In China, 

 where the killing and dressing dogs is a trade, 

 whenever one of these people moves out, all 

 "the dogs of the village, or the street, are sure 

 to be after him. This I should hardly have 

 believed, but that I have seen more than one 

 instance of it among ourselves. I have seen a 

 poor fellow, who made a practice of stealing 

 and killing dogs for their skins, pursued in full 

 cry for three or four streets together, by all the 

 bolder breed of dogs, while the weaker flew 

 from his presence with affright. How these 

 animuls could thus find out their enemy, and 

 pursue him, appears, I own, unaccountable ; but 

 such is the fact; and it not only obtains in 

 dogs, but in several other animals, though per- 

 haps to a less degree. This, very probably, 

 may have been, in some measure, a cause that 

 has hitherto kept the zebra in its state of na- 

 tural wildness ; and in which it may continue, 

 till kinder treatment shall have reconciled it 

 to its pursuers. 



It is very likely, therefore, as a more civilized 

 people are now placed at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, which is the chief place where this ani- 

 mal is found, that we may have them tamed 

 and rendered serviceable. Nor is its extraor- 

 dinary beauty the only motive we have for 

 wishing this animal among the number of our 

 dependents: its swiftness is said to surpass that 

 of all others ; so that the speed of a zebra is 

 become a proverb among the Spaniards and 

 Portuguese. It stands better upon its legs also 

 than a horse ; and is, consequently, stronger in 

 proportion. Thus, if by proper care we im- 

 proved the breed, as we have in other instances, 

 we should probably in time to come have a 

 race as large as the horse, as fleet, as strong, 

 and much more beautiful. 



The zebra, as was said, is chiefly a native 



of the Cape of Good Hope. It is also found 

 in the kingdom of Angola ; and, as we are 

 assured by Lopez, in several provinces also of 

 Barbary. In those boundless forests it has 

 nothing to restrain its liberty ; it is too shy to 

 be caught in traps, and, therefore, seldom taken 

 alive. It would seem, therefore, that none of 

 them have ever been brought into Europe, 

 that were caught sufficiently young, so as to 

 be untinctured by their original state of wild- 

 ness. The Portuguese, indeed, pretend that 

 they have been able to tame them, and that 

 they have sent four from Africa to Lisbon, 

 which were so far brought under, as to draw 

 the King's coach : a they add, that the person 

 who sent them over, had the office of notary 

 conferred upon him for his reward, which was 

 to remain to him and his posterity for ever : 

 but I do not find this confirmed by any per- 

 son who says he saw them. Of those which 

 were sent to Brazil, not one could be tamed ; 

 they would permit one man only to approach 

 them ; they were tied up very short ; and one 

 of them, which had by some means got loose, 

 actually killed his groom, having bitten him 

 to death. 1 " Notwithstanding this, I believe, 

 were the zebra taken up very young, and pro- 

 perly treated, it might be rendered as tame as 

 another animal ; and Merolla, who saw many 

 of them, asserts, that, when tamed, which he 

 speaks of as being common enough, they are 

 not less estimable for their swiftness than their 

 beauty. 



This animal, which is neither to be found 

 in Europe, Asia, or America, is nevertheless 

 very easily fed. That which came over into 

 England some years ago, would eat almost 

 any thing, such as bread, meat, and tobacco ; 

 that which is now among us, subsists entirely 

 upon hay. As it so nearly resembles the horse 

 and the ass in structure, so it probably brings 

 forth annually as they do. The noise they 

 make is neither like that of a horse or an ass, 

 but more resembling the confused barking of a 

 mastiff dog. In the two which I saw, there 

 was a circumstance that seems to have escaped 

 naturalists ; which is, that the skin hangs loose 

 below the jaw upon the neck, in a kind of 

 dewlap, which takes away much from the ge- 

 neral beauty. But whether this be a natural 



Dapper. b Pyrard. torn. ii. p. 376. 

 2Q 



