THE HORSE AND HIS PEDIGREE. 149 



its upward progress, had readied a stage equiva- 

 lent to tliat of the zebra tyi)e, it must have been 

 adorned by conspicuous black and white belts and 

 markings along the whole length of its sides, its 

 back, its thighs, and its legs. Among the differ- 

 ent horse-like animals now known to us, there are 

 several intermediate gradations in this respect, 

 from the true zebra of Southern Africa, which is 

 elegantly banded with black and white stripes 

 over all its body, including even the tail and fet- 

 lock, to the true Arab, which is absolutely uniform 

 in color from its nose to its hoof, and betrays not 

 the slightest trace or remnant of the original 

 banded variegation. Starting with the pure black 

 and white mountain zebra, the most decorated and 

 belted of all, we next get to BurchelTs zebra, 

 which is black and yellow, and has comparatively 

 few stri[)es upon its head and body, with hardly 

 any on its flanks, legs, and tail. Next in order to 

 this transilional form comes the curious quagga of 

 the now historical Transvaal, whose stripes are con- 

 fined to his head and neck and the forepart of his 

 body, without descending at all upon the legs or 

 buttocks. The wild ass of Tibet still ])reserves 

 the noble outline of the zebra grouji, but is not 

 stri[)ed at all, having its back marked instead with 

 a broad black band, without any trace of the 

 transverse bar across the shoulders. The wild ass 

 of Abyssinia, on the other hand, from which breed 



