ITS NEAREST EXISTING RELATIONS 91 



Though never really domesticated, quaggas have occa- 

 sionally been trained to harness. A pair were driven 

 in Hyde Park, by Mr. Sheriff Parkins, in the early 

 part of the present century. The name is an imitation 

 of the shrill barking neigh of the animal — c ouag-ga, 

 ouag-ga,' the last syllable very much prolonged. 



There can be little doubt but that, owing to the 

 great improvements in the precision and range of fire- 

 arms, and the general extension of their use into 

 countries where till lately they were unknown, all wild 

 animals which yield any production of value to man, or 

 offer temptations to the sportsman, especially those whose 

 geographical distribution is limited, will soon cease to 

 exist upon the earth. The American bison is one of 

 the most conspicuous instances of rapid extermination 

 of an animal which flourished but very recently in vast 

 numbers, and which, but for the causes just mentioned, 

 might in all probability have continued to exist for long 

 ages. The various species of the large game of Africa 

 are quickly following in the same course. The quagga, 

 although described by Harris in 1839 as existing in 

 4 immense herds,' is already nearly, if not quite, extinct, 

 the value of its hide being the prime cause of its 

 destruction. Regarding its former geographical distri- 

 bution, Mr. H. A. Bryden makes the following interest- 

 ing remarks : — ; The range of the true quagga was 

 even more arbitrarily defined. This animal, formerly 



