Introductory Remarks. 153 



mentioned that the stomach, the intestines, and also the 

 skins of different kinds of fish can be used as isinglass 

 after being cut and submitted to the action of boiling 

 water, and then pressed, which gives the substance the 

 appearance of thin leaves, resembling parchment. The 

 skins of many are utilized. Leather is largely made from 

 seal and porpoise skins, and also prepared from scaled fish 

 by the North American Indians ; eel leather is used for 

 whips and flail thongs ; shagreen or shark leather, used by 

 the Alaska Indians for boot soles ; there is also a sturgeon 

 leather. The skins of Diodon are used in making helmets, 



o / 



and the stomach membranes of the halibut, in Greenland, 

 for window transparencies. Parchment is made from the 

 viscera of seals, and used by the Eskimo for clothing, bags, 

 and blankets. They also employ the pharynx of the seal or 

 walrus as leather for boot soles. Beluga leather is dressed 

 as kid, sole, harness, boot, mail bags, belts, and pattern 

 leather, etc. Walrus leather is used by the Eskimos for 

 harness, tables, thongs, seal-nets, and in Europe for cover- 

 ing polishing wheels. The Eskimos also use sea-lion 

 leather to cover bidarkas, and for garments and beds. 



Oil is largely obtained from fish for medicine and use in 

 manufactures. From the mammals we obtain seal oil, in 

 its various grades, used for lubricating ; sea-elephant and 

 sea-lion oil ; dugong oil ; oil from the body of whales, 

 grampuses, and porpoises, employed in the arts, for lubri- 

 cating, painting, etc. ; black fish and porpoise-jaw oil, used 

 in lubricating fine machinery, watches, clocks, and guns ; 

 grampus oil and sperm oil, used in lamps, for lubricating, 

 as an emollient in medicine, for lip-salves, and in the manu- 

 facture of spermaceti. The fish oils comprise, among 

 others, sun-fish oil and cramp-fish oil, used by fishermen for 

 the cure of rheumatism ; cod oil and cod-liver oil, used in 



