CHAPTER V. 
BURCHELL’ ZEBRA. 
Oh, yes, there is freedom, and joy, and pride, 
Afnr in the desert alone to ride! 
There is rapture to vault on the champing steed, 
And to bound away with the cagle’s speed ; 
With the death-fraught firelock in my hand 
The only law of the desert land 
INTERMEDIATE in point of coloring betwixt the common Quagga and the true Zebra, the brilliant species of the equine genus 
here portrayed, supplants the first named of its allies to the North of the Orange river, as does the Kokoon, its congener the Gnoo ; 
aud seldom cougregating in herds of fewer than eighty or an hundred, it abounds to a great extent in all the districts included between 
that noble stream and the Southern tropic. Occupying the same regions, and delighting in the same pastures as the Brindled Gnoo, 
rarely is it to be seen unless in the companionship of that fantastic animal, whose presence would appear to be almost indispensable to 
its happiness. It is singular enough that the members of two families so pertectly foreign to each other, should display so great a pre- 
dilection for each other’s society, uniformly intermixing as they do, and herding together in bonds of the closest friendship. Fierce, 
strong, fleet, and surpassingly beautiful, there is perhaps no quadruped in the creation, not even excepting the mountain Zebra, more 
splendidly attired, or presenting a picture of more singularly attractive beauty, than this free-born of the desert. It would be difficult 
to convey to the uninitiated a suitable idea of the sparkling effect produced by their vivid and strikingly contrasted colors, when seen 
‘pawing in the valley’ in all the pride of conscious liberty, or flying in compact columns before the equestrian foe ; but I shall neverthe- 
less attempt the description of a scene which is one of every day occurrence in the interior wilderness of Southern Africa. 
Mixed up with the tracks of the Kokoon, the prints left by the compact hoofs of a herd of Burchell’s Zebras are perceived in the 
naked sand, and presently afterwards a small troop consisting of both species—the vanguard of a vast horde—is observed leisurely 
grazing in the distance. An extensive plain of glaring red sand exhibits here and there patches of sun burnt herbage, interspersed with 
tufts of the prickly cactas; the landscape being seantily shaded by occasional clumps of light plume-shaped mimosas, and the view 
bounded by a trivial ridge of distant blue hills. 
Bare are those sunds, yet smiling there 
Th’ acacia waves her yellow hair, 
Lonely and sweet, nor Inved the less 
Por Howering in the wilderness. 
Anon, a dark pillar of dust arises from the plain, and undisturbed by any breath in heaven, mounts upwards to the clear azure 
sky like a wreath of smoke—three ill omened yultures soaring in circles above it, Nearer and more near, rolls on the thickening 
column, until several dark living objects are shortly perceived dancing beneath it. Emerging from the obeurity, their glossy and exqni- 
sitely variegated coats glittering in the sun's rays, venfre au terre, the head of a column of a Burchell’s Zebras next appears, and in- 
tantly afterwards the serried horde sweep past in gallant array, their hoofs clattering on the hard ground like a regiment of dragoons. 
Tearing by at racing speed, straining neck and neck with their shaggy and whimsical looking bovine allies, their own striped and proudly 
curved necks seem as though they were clothed with thunder, and their snowy tails are streaming behind them. Now the troop has 
wheeled and halted for an instant to survey the foe. A powerful stallion advances a few paces with distended nostrils and stately gait, 
his mane newly hogged, and his ample tail switching his gaily chequered thighs, Hastily reconnoitring the huntsman, he snorts wildly, 
and instantly gallops back to his cohort. Away they scour again, neighing and tossing their striped heads aloft, switching their light 
mule-like tails in all the pride of fleetness and freedom. Another halt and another reconnoissance. Her small equine ears laid yi- 
ciously down, a skittish mare has now fallen out of the ranks, and is in the act of delivering both her active heels plump into the ribs of 
an admirer, whose wantonness has prompted him to seize a tempting opportunity for inflicting upon her sternum an amorous bite, And 
now, With a neigh of exultation and a vain glorious toss of her coquettish head, free and unfettered as the wind, away she careers 
again, still waited upon by her lover, who is nothing daunted by his rebuff—and their forms are finally concealed by the clond which 
follows the heels of the again retreating squadron. 
Thus moying in compact bodies, this beautiful animal, like its brother already described, may be ridden up to and slain with little 
diffienlty ; although—carrying no weight, and being withal passing speedy—it could puzzle the best horse in a single chase. A very 
short run was sufficient to seal the fate of three stallions out of the first herd I met-with, Not having seen a single human being either 
before or during the chase, I believed myself perfectly alone, but no sooner had I dismounted to secure the game, than a woolly head 
protruded itself from behind every diminutive bush, and in an instant I was surrounded by upwards of thirty hungry savages, who 
haying, by not to be mistaken signs, expressed their unqualified approbation of my performance, proceeded uninyited to devour the 
carcase with frightful avidity—greedily drinking the blood, besmearing their bodies with the yellow fat, and not leaving even so much as 
the entrails for the disappointed birds of prey. A large mixed herd of Sassaybes and Zebras, alarmed by the sudden appearance of our 
cavalcade, charged past me on another occasion so close that one of the latter fell to each barrel of my rifle, and was in like manner 
