ZEBEAS. 359 



shows, rare sights, gladiatorial contests, and animal carnage, to 

 an extent almost unparalleled in history. Side by side with the 

 obese hippopotamus, the people gazed with wonder upon the 

 towering forms of ten giraffes soon to be the prey of thirty 

 African hyaenas and nearly a dozen Indian tigers. The stately 

 elephant was already a well-known animal, and the troop 

 of thirty-two that were paraded, probably caused much less 

 astonishment than the horned rhinoceros ; and it is natural to 

 surmise that some admiration was elicited by the graceful forms 

 and variegated coats of the twenty zebras, when these animals 

 were turned loose in the arena. 



For a long time after the downfall of the Roman Empire, these 

 animals were not again seen in Europe. One appears to have 

 been sent from Cairo to one of the kings of Naples, and one or 

 two old writers have asserted that they had seen domesticated 

 individuals, but zebras were not well-known to naturalists until 

 the early part of the present century. 



Mons. Louis Figuier, in his work " Les Mammiferes," states 

 that the Persians kept certain religious festivals at which zebras 

 formed a prominent feature, for these animals were sacrificed to 

 the sun by the reigning king ; a stock of them being kept for this 

 purpose on a small island in the Eed Sea. The authority, how- 

 ever, for this statement is not given, and the animals so used 

 may possibly have been wild asses, which were of great repute 

 with the ancient Persians. 



The group forming the illustration to this chapter are animals 

 of Burchell species, and they make a handsome trio. It is a pity 

 that the Zoological Society have not been able to procure specimens 

 of the mountain zebra and the quagga to replace the animals that 

 were once such an attractive addition to their collection. 



