56 d 
THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
DAW AND OUAGGA OF AFRICA. 
but, as in the case of the tarpan, more recent investigations have raised the 
question whether it is really a wild animal or a feral one (that is, one which 
has returned to a state of savagery); and it would seem as if the ancestor of 
both horse and ass must be sought among the fossil forms. The color of the 
onagra is pale red in summer 
and gray in winter, while the 
streak along the back is black. 
Its habitat is on the plains of 
Persia and Mesopotamia, and the 
shores of the Indus. It is diffi¬ 
cult to capture and is not domesti¬ 
cated except in Bombay. In 
fleetness the onagra exceeds the 
swiftest horse, and with the ad¬ 
vantage of uneven ground, its 
speed is unapproachable. It lives 
in troops, and alternates between 
the mountains and the high 
plains, according to the season. 
It is hunted partly because of 
the difficulty of its capture, and 
partly because of the delicacy 
of its flesh, which is no more 
like that of the horse “ than' Hyperion to a satyr, being, by far, superior.” 
The Hemione, Kiang, Koulan, Half-ass, Mountain Ass, Dgiggitai, 
Dzigethai (Equus polyodon ), 
has, as will be seen, as many 
names as a Spanish nobleman, 
but as no one can tell with 
which one my readers may 
meet, we give them for the 
only purpose of a name—iden¬ 
tification. It has a brown body, 
white belly and legs, a short 
mane, and a mere tuft as an 
ornament for its tail. Though 
Asiastic by birth, he is in the 
modern spirit, not hide-bound 
by a narrow patriotism, and 
hence is now making efforts 
to become naturalized and do¬ 
mesticated in Great Britain. 
He is speedy, intelligent, will¬ 
ing, like most continental im¬ 
migrants, to live frugally and 
work industriously for his living. His fur is short, smooth, and in color bay. 
He neighs like a horse, has no stripes (unless these are inflicted by his cap- 
tors), has his habitat on the table lands of Thibet, and sometimes reaches m 
stature as much as fourteen hands. On his native heath he roams about as a 
THE ZEBRA. 
