98 Great and Small Game of Africa 



this animal was never so readily broken as its cousin the Burchell's zebra, 

 which, in Transvaal coaches, and in London and elsewhere, has been at times 

 readily displayed in harness. A fashion for using mountain zebras in harness 

 seems, however, to have sprung up in the Mauritius, and during the last 

 century a good many of these animals were exported from the Cape to meet 

 the requirements of the French colonists, at that time settled in the Isle of 

 France, as Mauritius was then called. In the year 1742 the Cape Dutch 

 Government issued an order prohibiting the destruction of zebras within 

 the then limits of the Colony, and a premium of £20 was at the same 

 time offered for the young of these animals delivered in Cape Town. It 

 is very clear that the Dutch colonists of those days were no more inclined 

 to pay attention to game laws than they are at present, and the true zebra 

 has steadily continued to diminish, until at the present time it is to be 

 numbered by little more than a few hundred head throughout the whole 

 of South Africa. 



It is just possible that within the next few years the researches of 

 travellers and sportsmen in remote and hitherto unknown parts of the 

 African continent may bring to light the fact that the mountain zebra 

 exists in localities north of any habitat of this animal at present known to 

 us. Personally, I am greatly inclined to doubt its occurrence north of 

 Damaraland on the west side, or the Drakensberg on the east side of Africa. 

 My friend Mr. G. W. Penrice, who for some years has been devoting 

 himself to the pursuit of game in the Portuguese territory behind 

 Benguela, in the west of Africa, tells me that he has frequently seen zebras 

 in rough mountain and hill country in these regions. He is not absolutely 

 positive as to species, but he is strongly of opinion that these zebras — 

 notwithstanding their hill-frequenting habits — are Burchell's, and not true 

 zebras. In fact, the only zebras he has shot or seen skins of in this country 

 he believes to be Burchell's. It is a little curious that in this part of Africa 

 this species should be found persistently frequenting quite hilly country. 



