BUBCHELBS ZEBRA. 57 



recently piiblislied, on '^ The Points of the Horse/^ treating 

 of this species, he writes : 



*' Its legs, below the knees and hocks, from their * flatness,' 

 with the back tendons and suspensory ligaments clearly show- 

 ing, are much more like those of a well-bred horse than are those 

 of the mountain zebra. It further resembles the horse bv 

 having a fairly lissom neck and a well-rounded barrel, and in 

 the size of its head and ears. The typical Burchell's zebra has 

 no dark stripes, or only very slight ones, below the elbows and 

 stifles, on the legs. The Orange Eiver has been generally 

 regarded as its isouthern limit. Mr. F. C. Selous, the celebrated 

 African sportsman and naturalist, tells me that it ' was first 

 discovered by Burchell near the Orange Eiver in Southern 

 Bechuanaland. It is still to be met with in Kama's country, 

 and along the northern and eastern borders of the Transvaal 

 In the neighbourhood of the Pungwe Eiver it exists in very 

 great numbers, herds of hundreds together being common.' It 

 is probably widely distributed throughout Central and Eastern 

 Africa. On account of the fact that this zebra, when in a wild 

 state, possesses immunity from the effects of the bite of the 

 tsetse fly, which is certain death to horses, I strongly advocated, 

 while I was in South Africa, the taming and employment for 

 harness or saddle of these animals in * fly ' infected districts. 

 With respect to this subject, Mr. Selous writes to me that: 

 ' Although Burchell's zebra, born and brought up in the ' fly ' 

 country, does not suffer from its bite, it is my opinion that if a 

 young one was caught and brought up in a locality where there 

 was no ' fly,' and was then taken into a ' fly ' infested district, 

 it would die. This, however, is only my opinion.' As the 

 Burchell zebra is comparatively easy to break in, and as it will 

 breed in confinement, there is but little doubt that it will in 

 time become domesticated. If, as is quite possible, it possesses 

 httle or no tendency to contract ' horse sickness ' it will prove 

 a valuable means of conveyance in South Africa." 



The advantages of the utilisation of BurchelPs zebra as 



