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Sebra. 
It is chiefly a native of the southern parts of 
Africa ; and there are whole herds of them often 
seen feeding in those extensive plains that lie to- 
wards the Cape of Good Hope. However, their 
watchfulness is such, that they will suffer nothing 
to come near them, and their swiftness so great 
that they readily leave every pursuer far behind. 
The zebra, in shape, rather resembles the mule, 
than the horse or the ass. It is rather less than 
the former, and yet larger than the latter. Its 
ears are not so long as those of the ass, and yet not 
so small as in the horse kind. Like the ass, its 
head is large, its back straight, its legs finely 
placed, and its tail tufted at the end ; like the 
horse, its skin is smooth and close, and its hind 
quarters round and fleshy. But its greatest beauty 
lies in the amazing regularity and elegance of its 
colours. In the male, they are white and brown ; 
In the female, white and black. These colours 
are disposed in alternate stripes over the whole 
body, and with such exactness and symmetry, that 
one would think nature had employed the rule and 
compass to paint them. These stripes, which, 
like so many ribbands, are laid all over its body, 
are narrow, parallel, and exactly separated from 
each other. It is not here, as in other party-co- 
loured animals, where the tints are blended into 
each other ; every stripe here is perfectly distinct, 
and preserves its colour round the body, or the 
limb, without any diminution. In this manner are 
the head, the body, the thighs, the legs, and even 
the tail and the ears beautifully streaked, so that 
at a little distance, one would be apt to suppose 
that the animal was dressed out by art, and not thus 
admirably adorned by nature. 
In the male zebra, the head is striped with fine 
hands of black and white, which in a manner cen- 
tre in the forehead. The ears are variegated with 
