133 
the plains” of Congo, and committed the second error, of applying Equus Moutanus, and Daow, the Hottentot appellation of 
Frederick Cuvier, in his great work 
upon the Mammiferes, has repeated his brother's errors, one of which has been corrected by 
the Wilde Paard, to the Bonti Quaggs, or Burchell’s Zebra, the animal of the plains, 
some naturalists; but the original 
confasion between the Zebra from Congo and the subject of the present plate, still exists, I will only draw attention to the 
fact of the Zebra of Congo being found in great herds, which furnishes another point of resemblance to the Bonti Quagga of 
the plains of Southern Africa, rather than to the Wilde Paard of the mountains of the Cape. 
The Equus Montanus is supposed to have been known to the Romans under the name of Hippotigris, but even this 
is a matter of doubt. Dion Cassius, speaking of the rapacity of Plautianus, says, “he even took from one of the islands 
in the Red Sea, the Horses of the Sun, which were “rypoué:” (resembling tigers), and sent them to Severus.” And in 
his account of Caracalla’s reign, he says, “for the elephant, indeed, and the rhinoceros, and the tiger, and the Hippotigris, 
slain in the theatre, one will perhaps reckon of no account,” in compatison with the blood of gladiators. These are, I believe, 
the only notices found in the ancient writers, and there can be no doubt that Burchell’s Zebra more closely resembles a tiger in 
eolour than does the Wilde Paard, But this point must remain a doubt until we are able to ascertain whether both species are 
to be found in the vicinity of the Red Sea. 
Restricted to the mountainous districts of Africa, from Abyssinia to the southernmost portions of the Cape of Good 
Hope, this beautiful and wary animal never of its own free will descends into the plain, as erroneously asserted by all Natu- 
valists, and it therefore never herds with either of its congeners, the Guagea and Burchell’s Zebra, whose habitat is equally 
limited to the open and level lowlands. Seeking the wildest and most sequestered spots, the haughty troops are exceedingly 
difficult of approach, as well on account of their watchful habits and extreme agility and fleetness of foot, as from the abrupt 
and inaccessible nature of their highland abode. Under the special charge of a sentinel, so posted on some adjacent crag, as 
to command a view of every avenue of approach, the checquered herd, whom “painted skins adorn,” is to be viewed grazing 
on the steep hill side, or perambulating some rocky ledge, on which the rifle-ball alone can reach them,— many a keen-eyed 
vulture sailing majestically at their feet, over the bosom of the deep blue valley. No sooner has the note of alarm been 
sounded by the vidette, than, pricking their long ears, the whole flock hurry forward to ascertain the nature of the approaching 
danger : 
“On high their glittering crests they toss, 
As springs the wild-fire from the moss,'’ af 
and haying gazed for a moment at the advancing hunter, whisking their brindled tails aloft, helter-skelter, awa gre i 
down craggy precipices, and over yawning ravines, where no less agile foot could dare to follow them. 
Although inhabiting the lofty and broken mountain chains to the eastward, that divide Caffraria fro e country of the 
Bechnana, the Zebra oeeurred in none of the more tropical hills that we visited, and thus proved one 2 few game qua- 
drnpeds of which no specimen was observed by our party. Small herds still exist within the colonial mits, among the rug- 
ged environs of Graaff-Reinet especially, as well as in the mountainous districts of George, which aiotoriously form one of the 
chosen cantons of the species; aud it was during a visit to the proprietor of a farm in the latter neighbourhood, that I rea- 
lized, on our homeward journey, the gay spoils of the Wilde Paard which now grace my me of trophies, The capture 
and sale of the foals forms no inconsiderable addition to Mynheer's revenues, his numerous stu ious devoting a large por- 
tion of their time to the chase of the shy herds —forcing the stragglers occasionally from the monntain fastnesses, and annually 
disposing of the fruits of their skill with the lasso, for exportation, chiefly to the Mauritius, ayhere they are often whimsically 
trained to harness. Under these circumstances, it was not without some difficulty that I obtained permission to inyade the 
haunts of the quarry, who huniiliation I desired to encompass —Mynheer finally granting ‘the same; but reserving to him- 
self the conviction of my total inability, as a reght Engelschman,* to approach within rifle- of the wild troops, much less 
"To Fright the animals, und kill them up 
In their assigned and native dwelling-place.! 
Ill, therefore, could he conceal his surprise and disappointment, when, on the third morning, 1 returned from the rugged hills 
wv * 
which bound his demesnes, laden with the painted spoils of a stallion and a mare,— the numerical extent. to which my de- 
7 , 
Mine host of Attaqua’s Kloof, whom I must positively introduce to the reader, was one of those patriarchal characters 
so frequently met with in the Cape Colony, who, like those of old, described in Scriptnre, possess extensive tracts of land, 
whereon are located their children and their children’s children, with their bondsmen and ondswomen, their flocks of sheep, 
and their herds of cattle. The entire country, in fact, for miles around his primitive abode, was tenanted hy the old man’s 
wiartied progeny, the proprietor each of as good a farm and as extensive flocks as himself, whilst all possessed in the same 
predations had beeu permitted. 
rude abundance, the good things of this life which are there esteemed the essentials of happiness. Rough, but courteous, . 
Mynheer fortunately entertained less of that hatred towards an English Heer which now so, commonly sours the once vaunted 
hospitality of the Dutch-African boor; yet did he not fail to complain long and loudly of taxes and the abolition of slavery, 
invariably concluding his harangue with the reproach, that in him I beheld a “ once wealthy man, reduced to positive penury 
by the British Parliament.” In this, as in every other asseveration, he was stontly toadied by two most interesting personages, 
; 
* A real Englishman, + Gentleman, f 
Feel 
