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CHAPTER XXIV. 
THE ZEBRA AND THE KLIPSPRINGER. 
"T plant no herbs nor pleasant fruits, 
Nor toil for savoury cheer: 
The desert yields me juicy roots, 
And herds of bounding deer, * * * 
“The buffalo bends beneath my yoke, 
And the wild horse to my sein), * F © 
My yoke is the quivering assagai, 
My rein the tough bow-string,” 
Song of the wild Bushman. 
Tutrp and last of the African Solidungula, but less equine in appearance than either of the species which have already 
been portrayed, the Zebra of modern naturalists —its limbs wreathed, sable and silver—is amongst quadrupeds one of the 
most symmetrically formed, as well as the most sumptuously arrayed by the liberal hand of nature. “With the figure and 
graces of the horse,” observes M. le Compte de Buffon, “it combines much of the lightness and elegance of the cervine race 
—the black and white ribbons which decorate eyery part of its sleek yet muscular figure, being arranged with such apparently 
artificial precision, that one might almost imagine the rule and compass to have been employed in their distribution.” Brilliantly 
~~ contrasted, and placed alternately in parallel stripes, they extend over the fetlocks to the very coronets—following the contour 
of every, part of the body—or widening, or becoming more narrow, according to the muscular development, and presenting - 
under the” slossy smoothness of the coat, a picture of such sparkling beauty, that of all the motley 
. 
4 “Denizens of wood and wild 
Nature's free race,” 
it would seem to be “ pre-eminently fitted both to gratify the pride, and to contribute to the service of the yain lords of 
the creation. = 
Since the first part of this work has appeared, I have discovered that I have been misled by the most distinguished 
naturalists, in hitherto calling, the animal here portrayed the true Zebra. Zebra is a native name of an animal of this genus 
on the plains of Congo, and first described by Pigafetta in his account of that part of Africa. He says it is regularly striped 
with three colours—white, Ee and brown, white, black and brown all over. He has given an engraving, in which these 
stripes ron diagonally across the. animal, parallel with the collar line of the shoulder. He also says, it is commonly found 
in Barbary, and some other parts of Africa. | 
The two Capuchins, Michel Ange and Denys, whose descriptions of Congo are given by Labat, say that “the skin is 
varied by bands, white, blaclk, and yellow, which encircle the body from the ae to the belly, so that it is very beautiful 
to see, and appears to be ‘ae 
Cavazzi, whose description of the same country is also given by Labat, but the original of which I have not been able 
to consult, calls it the “ Zerba,.of the size of a mule. The skin is white, with black stripes, égales et bien compassées. This 
animal is very swift; and if it could be tamed, there is no doubt it would be a monture admirable, and capable of carrying 
burthens. They are found in great herds in the kingdom of Benguela. The negroes hunt them because their flesh is good 
to eat, and that they may sell their skins to the Europeans.” 
The distance at which T am placed from Europe has unfortunately prevented my examining other authorities, to which I 
have been retapt, and from this cireumstance J have not been able to discover any other account of this animal, nor has 
any Zebra. from Congo, or skin of one, ever Been seen in England, that I can discover. But the description and plate of 
sg . 
Pigafétta have been repeatedly copied by various persons, naturalists as well as others. When Dr. Burchell found the Bonti 
~ Quagga on the plains of Southern Africa, having black and brown, or lighter and darker stripes upon a ground varying from 
nearly white, through pale yellow, to rich brown, he suggested that it might be the true Zebra; but in the meantime the 
Wilde Paard, which Dr. Burchell called Equus Montanus, had been sent to Europe from the mountains of the Cape, and had 
usurped the title. The great Cuviery in his work “Menagerie du Muséum,” professing to correct Dr. Burchell’s nomenclature, and 
possibly concluding that a Zebra being a striped Equus, the Wilde Paard being the most striped, was therefore the most a Zebra, 
added his sanction to the old error, ealled the animal of the mountains of the Cape, Equus Zebra, the name of the animal of 
re. 
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