268 THE 2? E B R A. 



is the lame, though their hair is longer. This 

 difference depends likewife on their condition ; • 

 for our aiTes would have hair equally long, if 

 they were not Ihoin at the age of four or five 

 months. The hair of a colt is at firft nearly as 

 long as that of a young bear. The fkin of the 

 wild afs is equally hard as that of the domeftic 

 kind, and we are allured that it is full of fmall 

 tubercles. The chagrin brought from the Le- 

 vant, which w 7 e employ for various purpofes, is 

 faid to be made of the wild afs's fkin. 



But, neither the onager, nor the fine aiTes of 

 Arabia, can be regarded as the origin of the 

 2ebra fpecies, though they referable it in figure 

 and fvviftnefs. None of them exhibit that re- 

 gular variety of colours, by which the zebra is 

 fo eminently diilinguifhed. This beautiful fpecies 

 is fingular, and very remote from all other kinds. 

 It likewife belongs to a different climate from 

 that of the onager, being only found in the eaft- 

 ern and fouthern regions of Africa, from JE- 

 thiopia to the Cape of Good Hope *, and from 



thence 



* At the Cape of Good Hope there are numbers of wild 

 affes, which are the moft beautiful in the world. They are 

 iinely ftriped with black and white bands, and are very diffi- 

 cult to tame ; Relation du Cke-calier de Cbaumont, p. 12 The 



wild afs of the Cape is one of the moft beautiful animals I 

 have ever feen. He is of the fize of an ordinary faddle horfe. 

 His limbs are {lender, and well proportioned, and his hair is 

 foft and clofe. From the mane to the tail, a black band runs 

 aloDg the back, from which numbers of other bands of differ- 

 ent colours proceed, and form circles by meeting under the 



belly. 



