LXXIY 



THE every-day Japanese pony is a buffoon, the clown 

 of the equine circus. His character seems to come from 

 a lack of appreciation of Avhat a horse is fit for on the 

 part of this amiable people. When you see a rider dis- 

 mount at a hill, walk up himself and push his horse, stop- 

 ping to rub the sweat off his nag's face at intervals ; or 

 when you see him perform half his journey afoot on a hot 

 day, walking along beside and fanning his horse mean- 

 while, you may indeed conceive a high opinion of the 

 man's sweet reasonableness, but you do not gain in re- 

 spect for the brute as a saddle-beast. Wouldn't a cowboy 

 grin at such an exhibition? No wonder the pony is a 

 perfect Jack-pudding. 



His appearance corresponds with his character. Per- 

 haps there is no animal which more distinctly belies the 

 noble qualities of the race. If the Chinese pony lacks 

 good points, the common run of the Japanese may be said 

 to have none at all. Generally of a dirty brown color, 

 this horse has a shock of coarse mane about his neck and 

 ears and face which would do honor to a Dandie Dinmont 

 terrier. Since the Japanese themselves have began to 

 adopt European customs, they have given up the pictu- 

 resque paint-brush queue, which used to be brought from 

 behind up over the head and pointed at you like the barrel 

 of a Smith & Wesson, and now get their polls cropped 

 about twice a year. After some six months' growth, the 

 thick raven hair with which the Jap is blessed stands up 



