Fig. 167.—Cowry shells on the head-stall of a camel from Palestine.
Mr. C. J. Cornish[50] once considered the subject of animals’ clothes, and made some interesting remarks on horses’ hats and sun-bonnets. He described the following sight, met with in Kensington Gore: First came a costermonger with his horse duly “hatted” and the hat trimmed with ribbon; next came a lady wearing a hat, in a victoria. Her horse also had a hat, and both hats had pink flowers in them.
In Holland, cows wear rain-proof jackets all the winter, and coats for show cattle are quite the fashion in England. Mr. Cornish says that a really smart Jersey cow would not like to be seen at a show without her luggage—“a chest containing, not only her sleeping jacket, but her brushes and combs, cosmetics and horn protectors. She puts on, or has put on, a smarter jacket in the daytime if she has to stand in a draughty place; if she is not sleeping out it does not so much matter. There are many ladies who would almost go without a jacket themselves rather than see their best animals go to a show without proper clothes.”
In the North lambs are provided with waterproof coats when going on to the hills. These garments are called “brats,” and the name has been transferred not only to the young sheep themselves, but also to human babies. We are all familiar with the clothes which monkeys wear when they go about with organs, and the big apes which are exhibited at shows are sometimes even clothed in the dress suit of conventionality. Johanna, the chimpanzee which was at Barnum’s exhibition, looked very effective in her petticoats, and the penguins at the Zoo, when performing tricks, wear coats, while animal actors are often dressed to suit their parts.
There is one case at least in which animals are disguised by dressing them up. There was a duck-decoy dog which was known to Mr. Cornish, which, in the first instance, grew as much like a fox as it was possible for a dog to be. This proved exceedingly attractive to the ducks, which seem to have an irresistible impulse to swim after a fox in order to see what he is about. In a short time, however, they get used to a particular dog, and their curiosity dies away. Then the dog’s master supplies him with a disguise in the shape of a jacket made of sheepskin. Furthermore, when this palls a rough woollen jacket of a black colour is brought into requisition, and the dog apparently knows the meaning of the whole performance. In other cases the disguise of a decoy dog takes the shape of a foxskin with its brush.
Racing dogs, prize dogs, and pet dogs also have their coats, and we have heard even of bracelets for poodles, while there are fashions which regulate the way in which the hair of these dogs should be cut. Just as men and women deform themselves, so they mutilate their animals by the clipping of their ears and the shortening of their tails—practices which are worse than the dubbing of the birds’ combs in the old days of cock-fighting, for the infliction of one slight injury probably prevented many.
This deforming of animals is a savage custom, for Hottentots twist the horns of their cattle and sheep, while a number of horns are produced in Africa by splitting the budding horns of the young animals. Though not obviously causing any deformity, there is one fashion which, though condemned by most people, is still followed by otherwise cultured and humane people. We refer to the bearing-rein with which horses’ heads are kept in unnatural, uncomfortable, and constrained positions.
If, however, we consider animal fashions as a whole, and bring under discussion the colours and peculiarities of the fur or feathers that cover their bodies, we shall find that men from quite early times have amused themselves with producing all manner of curious and striking appearances. The fact is, that the ordinary conditions and dangers of life in the open, which would soon eliminate any creatures out of harmony with their surroundings, do not act in the case of domesticated animals very much; and this has been a help. We have, therefore, white rats, piebald mice, gold fishes—some even with several tails—yellow canaries, frizzled bantams, hairless dogs, hornless cattle, booted bantams, and top-knotted fowls, as well as hosts of patterns and forms that are hardly to be numbered. There is an adage that “like produces like,” but the student of heredity has recently become aware of the fact that animals of a certain colour may not always produce offspring which resemble them in this respect; but that in order to get the tint required for show purposes, parents of some particular but unfashionable colour should be chosen.
The colour of animals is taken into consideration in connection with ceremonies. White elephants have to be treated as if they were gods, and proverbially cost much to keep. Black horses are usually used at funerals; white or grey horses, which are much decorated with the badges and insignia of the regiments, carry the kettledrums of the cavalry. The Scots Greys take their name from their horses, which are all grey, like those with which, it is said, they were supplied by William III in Flanders. Spotted Dalmatian hounds are those which are chosen to run by the side of carriages, while circus horses exhibit much variety of colouring.