BURDEN AND FURNITURE. 109 



or one of the alee of the nose is pierced, an iron 

 ring inserted, and a cord attached to this to 

 serve as a bridle. The French, in their military 

 service, have found it convenient to use both 

 the halter and this rude bridle in conjunction. 

 Instead of the ring, Meyer found that, in Sibe- 

 ria, the hair-cord of the halter was sometimes 

 passed through the septum, and Burckhardt 

 observes that, in Nubia, the males, when unruly, 

 are controlled in the same way, though, in Ara- 

 bia, the nose is seldom pierced. In Northern 

 Tartary, according to Erman, 1 and Father Hue, 

 a semicircular bone or piece of wood is passed 

 through the septum of the nose, and the reins 

 of the halter, or rather bridle, are attached to the 

 ends, which project a couple of inches on each 



with cowries, fringes, and other ornaments, and furnished 

 with a loop for throwing over the saddle-peg, or otherwise 

 securing it. In racing, it is attached to a ring in the nos- 

 trils, but generally passes round the nose like a common 

 stable-halter, and the use of the bit is quite unknown. If 

 you are a green hand, an Arab leads your dromedary for a 

 day's journey or so, and then intrusts you with the halter;, 

 which, as soon as you feel at home on your beast, you throw 

 over the pummel, unless you are one of those fidgetty, ill- 

 bred persons, who don't know what to do with their hands, 

 when they are not quill-driving or knitting ; in which case, 

 sir or madam, you may hold the halter, and occupy your 

 digits in playing with the tassel at the end of it." 



The Desert, Am. Whig Review, ubi supra. 

 1 Reisen, ii. 135. 

 7 



