The Arab saddles, which are usually of scarlet leather embroidered with ornate designs worked in vividly colored silks, are immensely heavy, cumbersome affairs, so thick that the rider is perched several inches above the horse’s back, and so broad in the seat that it is torture for a European to sit them. The shovel-like stirrups are often of silver damascened in gold, their sharp edges being used by the rider in lieu of rowels. The housings used by the wealthy caïds and pashas are generally of velvet stiff with gold and silver bullion and in some cases ornamented with leopard-skin. In fact, the leopard-skin holsters on the state saddle of a _maréchal de France_ are undoubtedly of African origin; a reminder, no doubt, of Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. A sort of by-product of the Souk des Selliers are the enormous hats of woven grass, somewhat resembling Mexican sombreros, which are to be seen throughout Tunisia when the weather becomes really hot. They have huge crowns, thus permitting them to be worn over the turban, and, though very heavy, are as supple as Panamas. It is their extreme flexibility, in fact, which brings them to the saddlers’ bazaar, for before they can be worn the flappy brims must be stiffened by four leaf-shaped pieces of leather, which are dyed and embroidered to suit the fancy of the customers. They are fitted with a sliding chin-strap, which can be loosened so that the hat may lie on the back when not needed as a protection from the sun. In Tunis itself one sees these gargantuan hats only rarely, but during the hot season they are worn universally by the Arabs of the hinterland. Thus panoplied, on their little wiry horses, when seen from a distance they bear a striking resemblance to Mexican vaqueros. Speaking of hats reminds me that the national head-dress of Tunis is not the high, cylindrical tarboosh of Egypt, nor the lower, more tapering fez which formerly proclaimed the Turk, but a round-topped affair of soft red felt, somewhat akin to a skullcap, known as a _chéchia_. They are provided with thick blue tassels, and wound about them, so as to conceal all save the top, is a snowy scarf. The making of _chéchias_ was formerly an important industry of Tunis, but in recent years it has declined, as they can be manufactured more cheaply in England and Germany. A curious circumstance, is it not, that the decree of the Turkish government prohibiting fezzes should have brought hardship to hundreds of Manchester workmen? It goes to prove how closely the countries of the modern world are bound together economically.