448 THE HORSE. 



racters from the Ass of the saline deserts of Asia. It has 

 been found in the state of subjugation as far as travellers 

 have yet penetrated to the north of the line : but at length 

 it gives place to another creature of the same tribe, but more 

 graceful in form, more beautiful in colour, not inferior to the 

 "Wild Ass in swiftness, and still less subject to the influence 

 of Man. 



The ZEBRA, the Wild Paard of the colonists of the Cape, 

 inhabits the mountains of Southern Africa, extending into 

 the interior to an unknown distance. He resembles the Ass 

 in general form, but he is more compact, graceful, and sym- 

 metrical. He is about four feet in height at the shoulder ; and 

 his limbs are delicate, and his head and hoofs finely formed. 

 The ground colour of his fur is whitish, but the whole of his 

 body, head, and limbs, is covered with bright black or brown- 

 ish-black bands, placed wider or closer together ; those on 

 the upper part of the body connected with the dorsal line ; 

 those on the face terminating in the bay-coloured nose. His 

 ears are long and moveable, tipped with black, with streaks 

 beneath ; his tail is dark, and tufted at the extremity ; his 

 mane is erect and bushy, and adorned with alternate bands 

 of black and white ; but the Zebra seems to vary in size and 

 colour with place, which has given rise to the conjecture, that 

 there may be more than one species. This wild and elegant 

 creature inhabits the mountains, but descends from time to 

 time into the plains, cheering the desert with his graceful 

 motions. Like all the Equine tribe, he is gregarious, and 

 migrates from place to place in troops. He differs in this 

 from the Ass, that he does not tamely resign his freedom. 

 Like other wild animals, indeed, he may be reduced to a cer- 

 tain degree of subjection ; but he rarely resigns his natural 

 indocility, or shews that resignation to the power of man 

 which constitutes domestication. We must believe, then, 

 that this gay and beautiful Ass is not destined to administer 

 to the uses and enjoyments of society, by submitting himself 



