750 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



that the salt has entered into every part of the skin tissue, 

 when it may be left for weeks either rolled up more or less 

 moist or dried in the shade. Care should be taken with 

 dried, salted skins not to subject them to the atmospheric 

 moisture of rainy weather or of moist districts near the coast 

 or otherwise, as the moisture in the atmosphere is then 

 often able to extract the salt and cause the skin to decay. 

 The best plan to follow is to pack the salted skins in barrels 

 and cover them with brine or, if they have been thoroughly 

 dried, pack them in tin cases and seal them up so that they 

 may remain protected from any external moisture. Barrels 

 for this purpose should be free from oil, grease, or infection 

 of any sort which may be communicated to the skins. 

 Packing in this way also prevents the action of skin-eating 

 beetles or the growth of bacteria or fungi which may 

 destroy the skins if left exposed. 



Salt not being available, the skins may be simply dried 

 provided the climatic conditions will permit. The skins 

 should be carefully spread out horizontally, hair side down, 

 in the shade of trees or of a tent stretched either on poles or 

 a series of lines, so as to allow free access of the air to both 

 surfaces. In very dry regions perfect skins may be obtained 

 by simply pegging the skins out on the ground in the shade, 

 hair side to the earth. The drying must take place rather 

 rapidly, that is, within a day or two, otherwise decay will 

 set in. Drying skins in the sun usually causes them to 

 decay and slip on the epidermal or hair side and then dry 

 afterward. Such a dried skin has the appearance of a per- 

 fectly dried specimen, but its condition is at once evident 

 upon softening in water by the separation or sloughing of the 

 hair as well as the epidermal layer. In the preparation of 



