i8o THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 
swift enough to race, while the carriage-horse ought to have some 
of the qualities of each, and to be more sturdy than the former, but 
swifter than the latter. 
And so man, by carefully selecting those animals which seem best 
suited to the different kinds of labor, and keeping each strictly to its 
special work, has obtained what we call the various breeds of horses, 
just as he has the breeds of dogs. He has, in fact, carried on nature’s 
work, and, as we may say, has obtained three assistants in place of 
one, for the race-horse, the carriage-horse, and the dray-horse are so 
unlike one another that we might almost consider them to be different 
animals, if we did not happen to know the manner in which they had 
been obtained. 
The Quagga. —Another member of this interesting family is 
the quagga, an animal much like Burchell’s zebra. The height at the 
shoulders is about the same, but the form is more robust. It has the 
same horse-'like tail and ears, the latter marked with two irregular black 
bands. The crest is high, surmounted by a standing mane banded al¬ 
ternately brown and white. The color of the head, neck and upper 
parts of the body is reddish brown, irregularly banded and marked 
with dark brown stripes, stronger on the head and neck, and gradually 
becoming fainter until lost behind the shoulder. The dorsal line, or 
line running along the back, is broad and dark. The belly^ legs and 
tail are white. 
The methods of hunting this beautiful animal are like those 
employed against the zebra. Either a charge on horseback and a trial 
of speed or by stalking—crawling along up the wind and taking every 
advantage of the peculiarities of the ground to conceal the hunter until 
he can get within range for a shot. It is very difficult to put either of 
these methods into execution successfully, for the quagga as well as 
the zebra are extremely wary, and some sharpsighted animal, gen¬ 
erally a hartebeest, of which we shall speak later in its proper order, 
stands guard over the herd. One may easily imagine the feeling of 
disappointment which comes to a sportsman when, after crawling on 
hands and knees for an hour over ground so hot that it feels like the 
top of a stove and stubble so sharp that it cuts through the skin and 
leaves the hands raw and bleeding, to see the herd he is stalking sud- 
