THE QUAGGA 



Museum has a young foal, and the Bloemfontein 

 Museum the skin of an adult. 



The Quagga associated in herds of fifteen to 

 about thirty individuals, and roamed over the vast 

 inland plains, usually in the company of the wild 

 Ostrich and Black Wildebeeste. 



Although in the Orange Free State herds of 

 Burchell's Zebras grazed upon the plains in the 

 early days of the civilisation of South Africa, the 

 Quagga always seemed to keep apart from them. 

 These animals were capable of domestication, and 

 colonists frequently trained them to go in harness. 

 A pair were taken to England, and it was a common 

 sight to see them being driven about Hyde Park in 

 a phaeton. 



A local animal dealer received a letter from a 

 man in South- West Africa who alleged there were 

 real Quaggas in the hills in his neighbourhood. He 

 asserted in most positive terms that they were 

 genuine Quaggas, and not Burchell's or Mountain 

 Zebras, and gave a minute description of them. I 

 read the letter carefully, and his description un- 

 doubtedly related to the true Quagga. He offered 

 to capture some for a price. The animal dealer 

 endeavoured, without success, to obtain a permit 

 from the authorities, authorising him to capture a 

 few "-Zebras." He subsequently tot)k a shipload 

 of Zoological specimens to Europe, and it was his 

 intention while there to endeavour to get per- 

 mission to enter South-West Africa with a permit. 



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