512 HISTORY OF 



them, and their swiftness so great, that they readily leave everj 

 pursuer far behind. The Zebra in shape rather resembles the 

 mule, than the horse or the ass. It is rather less than the for- 

 mer, and yet larger than the latter. Its ears are not so long as 

 those of the ass, and yet not so small as in the horse kind. Like 

 the ass, its head is large, its back straight, its legs finely placed^ 

 and its tail tufted at the end •, like the horse its skin is smooth 

 and close, and its hind quarters round and fleshy. But its great- 

 est beauty lies in the amazing regularity and elegance of its co- 

 lours. In the male, they are white and brown ; in the female, 

 white and black. These colours are disposed in alternate 

 stripes over the whole body, and with such exactness and sym- 

 metry, that one would think Nature had employed the rule 

 and compass to paint them. These stripes which like so many 

 ribands, are laid all over its body, are narrow, parallel, and exactly 

 separated from each other. It is not here as in other party 

 coloured animals, where the tints are blended into each other ; 

 every stripe here is perfectly distinct, and preserves its cohjur 

 round the body or the limb, without any diminution. In this 

 manner are the head, the body, the thighs, the legs, and even 

 the tail and the ears, beautifully streaked, so that at a little dis- 

 tance one would be apt to suppose that the animal was dressed 

 out by art, and not thus admirably adorned by nature. 



In the male zebra, the head is striped with fine bands of black 

 and white, which in a manner centre in the forehead. The ears 

 are variegated with a white and dusky brown. The neck has 

 broad stripes of the same dark brown running round it, leaving 

 narrow white stripes between. The body is striped also 

 cross the back with broad bands, leaving narrower spaces of 

 white between them, and ending in points at the sides of tlie 

 belly, which is white, except a black line pectinated on each side, 

 reaching from between the fore-legs, along the middle of the 



eye ; along the front of the muzzle they are longitudina!, with the outer 

 ones Blighty curved outwards ; and on the sides they form broader transverse 

 fillets. From where the bauds unite on the extremity of tlie muzf.le, the 

 nose, and the upper lip, those parts become nearly of a uniform blackish 

 brown. The tail is of a yellowish white. Tliere Is no longitudinal ventral 

 line ; and the back part of the ears are occupied towards the tips by patches 

 of black. The hoofs are moderately large, deep in front, and shallow behind, 

 ■uid coatiideia'jly expauded at their margin. 



