ALASKA FUR SEAL. 191 



The skins are then tubhed, generally by machinery, 

 in order to soften the leather, and shaved (old process), 

 repaired, or sent as they are to the dyers. 



The process of dressing takes from one to three 

 months. 



The dyeing process is nearly as intricate as the 

 dressing. The skins are first limed, and then pasted 

 back to back with a thicker layer of brown paper over 

 the fur holes, in order to prevent the dye penetrating 

 into the pelt, and thus damaging the skin. The ground 

 coat of dye is then applied cold, and trodden in, after 

 which they are dried graduall}^ They then have from 

 nine to fourteen coats of colour brushed in, each coat 

 drying before another is applied. 



By the new process a darker top is acquired by 

 dipping the skin in the liquid, which in this case must 

 be warm, and the number of coats of colour is also less. 

 English dyers have long been celebrated for their 

 excellency in dyeing Fur Seals, and at one time were 

 the almost exclusive dyers, but the French now dye 

 them very well. 



Some of the chief ingredients in the dye are gall-nuts, 

 copperas, and camphor. The skins are sometimes dyed 

 gold by means of sulphuric acid. The process of dyeing 

 takes about six weeks to two months. This art was for 

 many years a secret. 



After being dyed, the skins are scraped or shaved, 

 and then cleaned by being placed in a revolving drum 

 or cage,' in which there is a large quantity of clean 

 sawdust. They are then beaten out, and afterwards 

 trimmed and sorted. 



There is a very ingenious invention for removing by 

 machiner}' the small fine hairs, called water-hairs, from 

 the dyed Seal-skins, which' still remain after the 



