Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.15898

c10.15898

"There is in India a grass-eating * animal, which is double the size of the horse, and which has a very bushy tail very black in colour.† The hairs of the tail are finer than human hair, and the Indian women set great store by its possession. . . . When it perceives that it is on the point of being caught, it hides its tail in some thicket . . . and thinks that since its tail is not seen, it will not be regarded as of any value, for it knows that the tail is the great object of fancy."—*Ibid.* xvi. 11.