ZEBRA. 383 



long ears, by the black cross over his shoulders, and by the tuft of hair nt the 

 end of his tail. Though not so powerful as the horse, he is more patient and 

 quiet, and scarcely less valuable to the peasant. 



The ass has generally been classed as a variety of the horse. Dr. Gray, however, 

 who has been followed by Professor Bell, separates the ass, under the generic name of 

 Asinus, leaving the horse alone to fill the genus Eqmts. 



The ass, therefore, is not a horse with a naked tail ; he is no mongrel, but, like all 

 other animals, has his family, his rank, and his species. Although his nobility is not 

 quite so illustrious, it is quite as pure and quite as ancient as that of the horse. "Why, 

 therefore, is it that the ass so patient, so sober, so useful is treated with so little 

 consideration? Is it because he serves mankind too well and too cheaply? Xo one 

 ever seems to think, as, stick in hand, he drives the overladen slave along the'dusty road, 

 that were there no horses in the world, the ass would be the most useful, and doubt- 

 less the best cared -for,' animal in creation. As it is, he is only the second, instead of 

 being the first ; but, being second, he is looked upon with contempt. It is by com- 

 parison only that he is so degraded : he is regarded, not in accordance with what he 

 is, but with' what he is not : he has all the attributes belonging to his own nature per- 

 fect in their kind ; but we expect in him the form and qualities of the horse, which he 

 does not and ought not to possess. His natural disposition is as humble, as patient, as 

 quiet as that of the horse is proud, ardent, and impetuous. He suffers with constancy 

 and \vith courage the blows which he does not deserve ; he is content with the coarsest 

 herbage ; in everything the willing slave of man, his only deficiency is that he is not 

 a horse. 





FIG. 424. ZEBRA. 



The Zebra (Asinus Zebra], very like the ass in form and proportions, is at once the 

 most elegant and the most intractable of animals. His skin has the softness of satin, 

 and is adorned with beautiful ribbon-like stripes. In the female, these stripes are alter- 

 nately black and white ; in the male, brown and yellow. The limbs are remarkably 

 slender. These animals are found in the southern parts of Africa, and numerous herds 

 are often seen grazing on the extensive plains of the Cape of Good Hope. 



The Quagga (Asinns Quagga) resembles the horse much more than the zebra : it 

 is striped only on the shoulders and back. 



