Very little care is taken of even the children of the rich, and they
get no careful training. The little sons and daughters of quite
important personages are allowed to run about as neglected and dirty
as those of the very poor. Hence the practice of shaving the head
cannot be too highly praised in a country where so much filth abounds,
and where cutaneous diseases of the worst type are so frequent. It is,
however, noteworthy that while the Moors do not seem to consider it
any disgrace to be scarred and covered with disgusting sores, the
result of their own sins and those of their fathers, they are greatly
ashamed of any ordinary skin disease on the head. But though the
shaven skulls are the distinguishing feature of the boys in the house,
where their dress closely resembles that of their sisters, the girls
may be recognized by their ample locks, often dyed to a fashionable
red with henna; yet they, too, are often partially shaved, sometimes
in a fantastic style. It may be the hair in front is cut to a fringe
an inch long over the forehead, and a strip a quarter of an inch wide
is shaved just where the visible part of a child's comb would come,
while behind this the natural frizzy or straight hair is left, cut
short, while the head is shaved again round the ears and at the back
of the neck. To perform these operations a barber is called in, who
attends the family regularly. Little boys of certain tribes have long
tufts left hanging behind their ears, and occasionally they also have
their heads shaved in strange devices.

Since no attempt is made to bring the children up as useful members
of the community at the age when they are most susceptible, they are
allowed to run wild. Thus, bright and tractable as they are naturally,
no sooner do the lads approach the end of their 'teens, than a marked
change comes over them, a change which even the most casual observer