CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 10. SOLIDUNGULA. 621 



THE QtJAGGA. 



as travelers have penetrated. It dwells in troops, which make occasional migrations from the in- 

 terior to the more fertile districts in search of food. At irregular and uncertain intervals there 

 occur seasons of drought in South Africa, when the pools of the desert are dried up, and the sur- 

 face of the wilderness is parched. Driven from their native solitudes bv the desolation around 

 them, dauws, quaggas, antilopes, and other animals in incredible multitudes, pour like a torrent 

 over the cultivated districts, destroying the pasturage and the corn ; with the return of the rain 

 they retrace their steps and seek their desert fastnesses. 



The Dauw is strong and muscular, with sinewy limbs, and might perhaps be made serviceable 

 to man. It is an animal that admits of being tamed to a certain extent with facility, and occa- 

 sionally a half-domesticated specimen is exposed for sale at Cape Town with a rider on its back. 

 The persons, however, who have had most opportunities of becoming acquainted with its charac- 

 ter, regard it, tractable as it may sometimes appear, as treacherous and fickle, vicious and obsti- 

 nate. It is a remarkable fact that this species, and the quagga also, are often seen in company 

 with the ostrich, several of the latter feeding tranquilly in the midst of a herd without experi- 

 encing any molestation. This species maybe distinguished from its mountain relative, the zebra, 

 which it resembles, by the shortness of its ears, by the absence of stripes on the limbs and under 

 surface of the body, and by the stripes of the upper parts being brown. They are said to present 

 an exceedingly brilliant appearance when flying in troops before the hunter. Their flesh, with 

 that of the zebra and quagga, is relished by the natives, but Mr. Burchell thought it not much 

 superior to horse-flesh, and he would, with most Europeans, think the same respecting the flesh 

 of the wild ass, which in Persia is in the highest estimation, and is served at royal banquets. 



This and the preceding species are common in the menageries of Europe. Of the specimens 

 of the dauw in the Garden of Plants, at Paris, M. Is. Geoffroy says, " We have seldom put them 

 in harness, but we have bred them to the third generation ; after the second the acclimation is 

 complete; I have seen one of our French dauws lying tranquilly upon the snow at sixteen .degrees 

 centigrade below zero." 



The Zebra, E. zebra of Linnaeus, Asinus Zebra of Gray — the Hippotjgris of Dion Cassius — 

 sometimes called the Wild Paard by the Dutch colonists, is generally esteemed not only the 

 most beautiful of the equine family, but one of the most beautiful of quadrupeds, on account of 

 the markings of its skin. The ground color is white, or yellowish-white, but the head, body, and 



