41G THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



bands with which the whole of tlie white-coloured body is 

 covered. 



Travellers through the African wilds have sometimes been 

 startled by piteous wailings, resembling the faint gasps and 

 stifled groanings of a drowning man. On approaching the spot 

 where they supposed some ravenous beast was lacerating an 

 vmfortunate native, they were surprised to find a zebra in its 

 last agonies ; and well may the dying moans of the animal be 

 sorrowful, when we consider that its usual neighings, when 

 heard from a distance, are of a very melancholy sound. 



Captain Harris tells us that it seeks the wildest and most 

 sequestered spots, so that it is extremely difficult of approach, 

 not only from its watchful habits and very great agility of 

 foot, but also from the inaccessible nature of its abode. The 

 herds graze on the steep hill-side, with a sentinel posted on 

 eome adjacent crag, ready to sound the alarm in case of any 

 suspicious approach to their feeding quarters, and no sooner is 

 the alarm given than away they scamper, with pricked ears 

 and whisking their tails aloft, to places where few, if any, 

 would venture to pursue them. 



