TRIMMING TAILS 355 



The rich coloring of the Bedouin's clothes and trappings 

 is a never-ending source of delight to the eye. Under our 

 own less sunny skies the showy rags would wear upon the 

 artistic fancy. Not so in the Orient ; and when a man is 

 rich and well - mounted, and clothes himself and his horse 

 with purple and fine linen, he is gude for sair e'en. One 

 never tires of looking at him. 



We are apt to imagine that the Arab leaves his horse 

 as Allah made him ; that he would scorn to cut his mane 

 or tail. This is far from the truth. The Arab hogs his 

 horse's mane quite often ; he bangs his tail ; he squares it 

 short with a small switch hanging down from the centre 

 and a ridiculous looking tail it is, confined mostly to 

 Jerusalem and vicinity ; and, worse than all, he sometimes 

 trims the tail short like a foal's tail not yet grown, to give 

 his horse a youthful appearance, and under the mistaken 

 impression as well that the hair by this trimming will 

 grow longer and fuller. Fashion is as marked a tyrant 

 among the Bedouins as in Rotten Row or in Central Park. 



