SKINS, HORNS, ETC. § 1. Curing Skins and dressing them. § 3. Horn, Glue, and Isinglass. § 1. Curing skins and dressing them.-Dressed skins are so essential to a traveller in an uncivilised country-as they make his packing straps, his bags, his clothes, shoes, nails, and string-that no hides should be wasted. Skins are cured before being shipped to Europe to be tanned, to preserve them, and although a cured skin is injured for dressing by the hand, it is not entirely spoiled; and therefore the following extract from Mr. Dana's "Two Years before the Mast" may be of service to travellers who have shot many head of game in one place, or to those who have lost a herd of goats by distemper. Hide curing.- "The first thing is to put the hides to soak. This is done by carrying them down at low tide, and making them fast in small piles by ropes, and letting the tide come up and cover them. Every day we put 25 in soak for each man, which with us made 150. There they lie 48 hours, when they are taken out and rolled up in wheelbarrows, and thrown into vats. These vats contain brine made very strong, being sea-water with great quantities of salt thrown in. This pickles the hides, and in this they lie 48 hours; the use of the sea-water into which they are first put being merely to soften and clean them. "From these vats they are taken to lie on a platform 24 hours, and are then spread upon the ground and carefully stretched and staked out, so that they may dry smooth. After they were staked, and while yet wet and soft, we used to go upon them with our knives, and carefully cut off all the bad parts the pieces of meat and fat, which would otherwise corrupt and affect the whole if stowed away in a vessel for months, the large flippers, the ears, and all other parts that prevent close stowage. This was the most difficult part of our duty, as it required much skill to take off everything necessary, and not to cut nor injure the hides. It was also a long process, as six of us had to clean 150, most of which required a great deal to be done to them, as the Spaniards are very careless in skinning their cattle. Then, too, as we cleaned them while they were staked out, we were obliged to kneel down upon them, which always gives beginners the back-ache. The first day I was so slow and awkward that I only cleaned eight; at the end of a few days I doubled my number, and in a fortnight or three weeks could keep up with the others, and clean my proportion, twenty-five." Skin dressing.There is no clever secret in dressing skins; it is hard work that they want—either continual crumpling and stretching out with the hands, or working and trampling about with the feet. A goat-skin takes one person a whole day, an ox-hide takes two persons a day and a half, or even two days' hard labour. It is the simplest plan to begin upon the skin half an hour after it is flayed. If once allowed to dry, it must be softened again by damping, not with water in any case, for that makes it dry hard, but with whatever the natives generally employ; thus clotted milk and linseed-meal is used in Abyssinia; cow-dung by the Caffres and bushmen. When a skin is put aside for the night, it must be rolled up, lest it should become dry by the morning. Some grease is usually required by the time that the skin is half-dressed, to make it thoroughly supple. § 2. Parchment and catgut.-The same sort of substance as that which is called parchment when made from sheep or goat-skins, and vellum when from calves, kids, or dead-born lambs, can be made also from any other skin. The raw hide is buried for one or two days, till the hair comes easily off; then it is taken out and well scraped. Next, a skewer is run in and out along each of its four sides, and strings being made fast to these skewers, the skin is very tightly stretched out; as it lies on the stretch, it is carefully scraped over, squeezing out the water; and lastly, the skin is ground with rough stones, as pumice-stone, sandstone, &c. It is now allowed to dry, the skewers being tightened out from time to time. If used for writing, the above will be found rather greasy, but ox-gall will probably remedy this (see p. 112). In the regular preparation of parchment, before taking off the hairs, the skin is soaked for a short time in a lime-pit, to take out the grease. Catgut is made of the twisted guts of sheep, and the leaner the sheep the better the catgut. The intestines are well washed and then steeped in water for two days, the water being changed from time to time. They are next taken out, laid on a board, and scraped with the back of a knife, when the outer membrane should readily come away in large pieces; and these flakes of membrane are used as thread. The flayed guts are then steeped for 12 hours, and scraped quite clean, and are again left to soak in weak lye of woodashes (see Washing). Lastly, they are taken out and drawn through a tailor's thimble, to smooth their surface. §3. Horn, glue, and isinglass.-Horn is so easily worked into shape, that travellers, especially in pastoral countries, ought not to be in ignorance of its properties. By boiling, or exposing to heat in hot sand, horn is made quite soft; it can be moulded in what shape you will, and when cold it will keep it. Not only this, but it can be welded by heating and pressing two edges together, which, however, must be clean and quite free from grease-even the touch of the hand taints them. Sheets of horn are a well-known substitute for glass. Ox-horn is left to soak for a fortnight in a pond, then well washed, to separate the pith, and boiled again for half an hour. After this, it is sawn lengthwise and boiled continually till it is ready to split into sheets; this is done with a chisel. The sheets are again boiled, scraped of a uniform thickness, and set in shape to dry. Tortoiseshell and whalebone can be softened and worked in the same way. Glue is made by boiling down hides, or even tendons, hoofs, horns, &c., for a long time, taking care they are not charred, drawing off the fluid, and letting it set. Isinglass is made readily by steeping in cold water, and then gently boiling into a jelly, the stomach and intestines of fish. This is spread into sheets and allowed to dry. The airbladders of sturgeons make the true isinglass. sand. § 1. Candles, Wax, &c. VARIOUS. § 2. Soap, and its substitutes. § 3. Pottery. § 1. Candles, wax, &c.—It is usual, when on an expedition, to take tin moulds and a ball of wick, for making candles, from time to time when fat can be obtained. The most convenient mould is of this shape. It is unnecessary to explain how to use it, save that after the tallow has been poured in, the mould should be dipped in cold water. Mutton suet mixed with ox-tallow makes the best candles of all. Tallow should never be melted over a hot fire; it is best to melt it by putting the pot in hot Candles that are dipped gutter and run much more than mould candles, if they have to be used as soon as made. The way of dipping them is to tie a number of wicks to the end of a wooden handle, so shaped that the whole affair looks much like a garden-rake, the wicks being represented by the teeth of the rake; then the wicks are dipped in the tallow, and each is rubbed and messed by the hand till it stands stiff and straight; after this, they are dipped altogether, several times in succession, allowing the fresh coat of tallow to dry before another dipping. Candlestick.-A hole cut with the knife in a sod of turf, or a potatoe; a nail hammered right through a piece of wood, the candle being stuck on its point; a hollow bone; an empty bottle; and a bayonet stuck in the ground, are all used as makeshift candlesticks. "In bygone days, the broad feet, or |