THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIRE 



49 



trained and educated for the use of man. It must take some 

 generations of captive life before the zebra can be rendered fit for 

 the performance of the duties of the horse and the ass. And this 

 chance of treatment the zebra has never yet enjoyed. But there 

 is no reason why this experiment should not be attempted. Pro- 

 lessor Ewart has shown us what interesting results may bo obtained 

 by crossing the zebra with ponies and asses, and there is every 

 prospect of success if the process be carried out on a larger scale. 



The zebras, though now nearly extinct in the Cape Colony and 

 adjacent countries, are found in districts suitable to their mode of 

 life throughout the eastern side of Africa up to Somaliland. 

 Within the limits of British East Africa both the magnificent 

 Grevy's zebra and a representative form of Burchell's zebra are 

 met with. 



Now, it so happens, most fortunately, that there is one portion 

 01 British territory in Africa in which all the five animals above 

 mentioned are to be found in greater or less abundance. The East, 

 African Protectorate, which covers an enormous area of undeveloped 

 and, as it appears, sparsely peopled land, especially in its central 

 and north-eastern parts, has great advantages for the plan which 

 I venture to propose for the preservation of these larger mammals. 

 On referring to the excellent map of East Africa published in the 

 first number of this Journal, it will be observed that two large 

 Came Reserves, coloured green and denominated the ' Sugota 

 Reserve' and the 'Juba Land Reserve, ' are conspicuous in the 

 centre of the East African Protectorate. The southern boundary 

 of the Juba Land Reserve is, as there! shown, the River Guaso 

 Nyiro. If to this reserve were added the adjacent district on the 

 south, which surrounds Mount Kenia and extends down to the 

 River Tana, it appears to me that we should have a splendid 

 range of country for the preservation of animal life of every sort 

 and variety. There would be the forests of Mount Kenia in which 

 the elephant occurs, and the swamps of the Guaso Nyiro which 

 would harbour the rhinoceros, while the more open plains of Juba- 

 land would probably supply the zebra, the eland, and giraffe. The 

 locality is the more convenient as being easily accessible by the 

 Uganda Railway with its headquarters at Nairobi. 



The elephant being the principal object of my scheme, the first 

 question arises, How is the elephant to be captured in Africa'? 

 To this I reply that the only known way of capturing wild 

 elephants is the employment of tame elephants for that purpose, 

 as is the well-known practice in certain districts of our Indian 

 Empire. We must ask the assistance of Lord Curzon of Kedle- 

 Ston for this purpose, and beg the favour of the loan (for a few 

 years) of a Kheddah with its complete equipment of officers, 

 trained elephants, and men. They can be easily shipped at 

 Chittagong, or at one of the adjacent ports on the Bay of Bengal, 

 and conveyed by steam to Mombasa, the terminus of the Uganda 

 Railway. Thence they may be taken by railway to Nairobi, and 

 thence marched up on foot to a convenient position on the slopes 



