340 EEFORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



from 1885 to 1890. During the last few years the fishery has not 

 been prosecuted, owing to conditions in the leather market, but it 

 appears probable that it will be reestablished at an early date. 



The porpoise are dressed as soon as practicable after they are dead. 

 The flippers and the dorsal fin are cut oflf and the skin and blubber cut 

 along the middle of the back and of the abdomen from nose to flukes, 

 and the whole peeled oflf in two uniform parts, the hide and blubber 

 being removed together. The halves are laid on an inclined beam, 

 similar to that used b}^ curriers, and the blu]>ber shaved oft' and 

 processed for extracting the oil, while the skins are salted for the tan- 

 ners. The largest catch of porpoise on the coast is reported to have 

 been about 20,000 in 1887. The value of the green hides was about |2 

 per side, and when tanned they were worth |10 or $12 per side. 



The commercial porpoise leather of England is made from the skin 

 of the beluga or white whale. This species attains a length of 18 feet 

 or more, and averages perhaps 14 feet in length and 10 or 12 feet in 

 circumference. At several places along the coast of northern Europe, 

 and to a much less extent in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Hudson Bay, 

 on the coast of Newfoundland, etc., the beluga is captured chiefly for 

 its hide, to be used in leather-making, and also for the oil that may be 

 rendered from the blubber. The principal flshery is prosecuted by 

 vessels from Dundee, Scotland, and from ports of Norway and Sweden. 

 It is estimated that the annual take is over 7,000, of which 6,000 are 

 obtained north of Europe, leaving 1,000 as the catch in the northern 

 part of the American continent. The value of the hide when green is 

 about $8 per side, and when tanned it averages probably $25 per side. 



While the skins of other cetaceans are occasionally tanned, the 

 product is of no commercial importance. These skins are very spongy 

 and usuall}^ have a villous or woolly surface. 



TANNING PORPOISE SKINS. 



According to Mr. R. G. Salomon, of Newark, N. J., to whom we 

 are indebted for most of our information in regard to the method of 

 tanning this leather, skins of the beluga and of the Hatteras porpoise 

 are tanned in precisely the same manner, but the former require much 

 longer time on account of the greater body. Both are received at 

 the tanneries in a salted condition, and the first operation consists in 

 cleaning out the salt by soaking them in water for two or three days, 

 according to the state of the hides and the temperature of the water. 

 After this soaking, they are washed thoroughly in warm water and 

 again soaked for a day or so, and the grease worked out bv hand or 

 by machinery. They are next immersed in lime solution for a length 

 of time depending on the condition of the hides, but usually much 

 shorter than for cowhides. After liming they are ])atcd and washed 

 thoroughly to remove the lime and other impurities. The skins are 

 now immersed in whatever tannic acid is desired. When half tanned 

 they may ))e reduced to the reciuired tiiickness by splitting, or this 



