A curious thing that strikes you in Sicily is the kind of cart and
harness used by the country people.
[Illustration: A SICILIAN PAINTED CART AND DECORATED HARNESS.]
The cart is a light, two-wheeled affair of an ordinary kind, but every
inch of it inside and out as far as the ends of the shafts and down
the spokes of the wheels, is painted in gaudy colours, for the most
part yellow, blue, red, and green.
Pictures of incidents in Bible history, of the war against the Turks
in Tripoli, of ballet dancers, etc., are to be seen on most of these
carts, while on others ornamental patterns only are painted.
Then the harness of the horse is of a very gaudy kind when new, but
being largely made up of cheap gold braid and coloured cloth, it soon
fades and looks tawdry.
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