92 



THE HORSE 



so abundant upon the far-spreading karroos of the Cape 

 Colony and the plains of the Orange Free State, appears 

 never to have been met with north of the Vaal River. 

 Its actual habitat may be precisely defined as within 

 Cape Colony, the Orange Tree State, and part of 

 Griqualand West. I do not find that it ever extended 

 to Namaqualand and the Kalahari Desert to the west, 

 or beyond the Kei River, the ancient eastern limit of 

 Cape Colony, to the east. In many countries, and in 

 Southern Africa in particular, nothing is more singular 

 than the freaks of geographical distribution of animals. 

 A river, or a desert, or a little belt of sand or timber — 

 none of which, of themselves, could naturally oppose a 

 complete obstacle to the animal's range — is yet found 

 limiting thus arbitrarily the habitat of a species.' 1 



There are thus at least seven modifications of the 

 horse type, at present or very recently existing, sufficiently 

 distinct to be reckoned as species by all zoologists, and 

 easily recognised by their external characters. They 

 are, however, all so closely allied that each will, at least 

 in a state of captivity, cross with perfect freedom with 

 any of the others. Cases of half-breeds are recorded 

 between the horse and the quagga, the horse and Bur- 

 chell's zebra, the horse and the hemionus or Asiatic wild 



1 Kloof and Karroo : (Sport, Legend, and Natural History on 

 Cape Colony, 1889). 



