ZEBRA-HUNTING. 
33 
deal of whining or puling near the spot, which I took 
to be her dying cries. Advancing cautiously, a, differ- 
ent rhinoceros cocked its ears at me, and I felt for an 
instant at a loss which to fire at : both barrels from 
" Blanshard " went at my new young friend, who rushed 
off crashing through the underwood, and I only then 
saw that the poor old lady was cold dead, and she 
proved so heavy that three of us could not move her. 
It was the young one weeping over its mother that 
caused the plaintive cries I had heard. 
Zebras seen cantering in open forests of bare-poled 
trees without a vestige of underwood, form a beautiful 
sight ; they can be stalked very easily, and, unless 
made aware of danger by antelopes feeding with them, 
they will turn round and stare at you, some even ad- 
vancing a few paces, like the wild horse of Thibet. 
When I first heard the cry of the zebra I took it 
for the call of a bird, with a little of the donkey at 
the end ; but, listening for some time, and seeing the 
animal, I would describe it as a half-bray, or cross 
between a foal's and a donkey's call. They are perfect 
in symmetry, and barred jet black to the very hoofs, 
which are large, wide, and well cared-for by nature's 
farrier, the grass in the forest. Two of our Tots 
would not eat them because they had never eaten 
horse-flesh ; but every one else was glad to get " five- 
year-olds," or even "aged" ones, though of all wild 
animals I considered it the worst food, tasting so very 
strong. After the tongue or any portion of the meat 
had been boiled, it smelt of a stable, and caused 
instant disgust and nausea. Cut in long stripes, sun- 
dried, and toasted in ashes, was the only way of mak- 
ing the zebra flesh lose this flavour. Had we had any 
c 
