752 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



to the body, as it is much less difficult to get a clean skin at 

 once than to flesh it after it has been removed. When the 

 ears are reached cut the cartilage well down near the bone, 

 where it is but a mere tube, then continue on forward to the 

 eyes, where you will need to use some caution so as not to 

 cut the lids. This may be prevented by cutting the skin 

 close to the eyeball, using one of your fingers as a guide 

 thrust into the eye from the outside. Continue on down 

 to the mouth, cutting the lips off near the base of the gums, 

 and being careful to cut the nose cartilage well back near 

 its base so as to avoid cutting into the external nostrils. 

 After the skin has been cut free of the head, begin by split- 

 ting the lips and the eyelids as well as the nose cartilage. 

 The splitting of such fine membranes is made necessary, 

 owing to the failure of salt to penetrate membranes and to 

 act only from the inside of tissues. The ears may now be 

 skinned by turning or pulling the skin toward their tips, at 

 the same time forcing the cartilage down; continue the 

 process to the very tip of the ear so as to insure preserva- 

 tion. It is not necessary usually to skin the cartilage on 

 the inside as well, unless fat is present, in which case the 

 salt cannot reach the inside until the cartilage is completely 

 removed. 



In the skinning of the heads of hornless female antelope, 

 the cut from the base of the skull along the median line of 

 the nape will not be found necessary in species having nar- 

 row heads. Never make the cut along the median line of 

 the throat where it may show when the head is mounted 

 and where the hair is usually so short that it will at all 

 events be easy to detect. The heads of large carnivores 

 can be skinned out from the shoulder cut by reversing the 



