The headstall of the bridle is very broad; blinkers are used, and occasionally, but not often, a throat-band, loose and fastened to the headband. The Arab of the Sahara, however, does not approve of it, because if his horse, as may often happen, should be seized by the bridle in a fight, it deprives him of his usual resource of slipping the bridle over the head, and so escaping from the enemy, whose prize is thus reduced to the bridle alone. The blinkers have the advantage of preventing a horse from being disquieted by external objects, and are perhaps partly the cause of his not fearing anything. The headstall and the headband of the bridle are embroidered in silk for the commonality, and in silver or gold for the rich. The bit is attached to the bridle, and is never cleaned. The bars are broad, short, straight, and fashioned _à la Condé_. The canons are flat, and the curb is a circular ring fixed to the upper part of the mouth piece. The Arab bit allows no liberty to the tongue, and its lever-arm is much shorter than in a French bit: consequently, it is much less severe than has been hitherto imagined. The advantage it offers in wartime of being free from those curbs and hooks which are often so difficult to replace, cannot be too highly appreciated. The reins are long. Two knots are made in them, one at the length whence a horse can be kept at a foot pace without impeding the freedom of his movements, and the other at the point where experience has shown that the horse, after shortening the muscles of the neck for a gallop, begins to bear on the hand. They are held very full, and at times used as a whip to quicken the animal. The Arabs reject the snaffle as calculated to confuse a horse. Rarely combatting with the sabre, they have never experienced the necessity of it. As with them the horse is constantly fastened by hobbles, the Arabs do not understand the value of the halter which we employ. They replace it by a _goulada_, a thick cord of silk or camel's hair, of a more or less lively colour according to the coat of the animal. It is passed round the neck, and from it are suspended small morocco sachets, inclosing talismans that have the virtue of preserving from the evil eye, of averting sickness, and of bringing success in war. This _goulada_ is, in the first place, an ornament, and, besides, it serves to hold the horse by, when required. To take him by the forelock to hold or lead him, as we do, is to dishonour him; for the Prophet has said: "The good things of this world to the day of the last judgment shall be suspended from the hairs that are between the eyes of your horses."