8 HI'NTS ON REMOVING AND 



by ugly seams. In his book entitled " Seventeen Trips to Somali- 

 land," Major Swayne has shown that by a little gentle persuasion 

 the natives can be induced to so modify the haled (as the operation 

 is called) that the damage to the specimen is reduced to a minimum ; 

 and probably a similar modification might be assented to by the 

 Mohammedans of other countries. 



In the case of hornless animals, such as a Lion or Tiger, preparatory 

 to commencing operations, the carcase about to be skinned should be 

 turned on its back, and the fore and hind limbs held outwards by 

 assistants, as far as they can be easily stretched. The operator 

 should then make a straight incision with the knife from the chin 

 along the middle line of the under surface of the body to the tip of 

 the tail. In making this and the other incisions great care should 

 be taken to avoid cutting more than possible into the flesh, and, 

 above all, not to lay open the cavity of the abdomen. The next 

 procedure is to make cuts diverging from the main incision, in order 

 to enable the limbs to be stripped. In the case of the fore legs the 

 lateral cuts should be carried from the middle line through the arm- 

 pits down the inner side of each limb, the knife being held pointing 

 somewhat outwardly, in order that the seams made in sewing up the 

 cuts should be as inconspicuous as possible in the mounted specimens. 

 In the hind limbs the incisions should be cai-ried through the groin, 

 and so downwards in the same manner as in the fore limbs. 



In the case of horned animals (exclusive of Khinoceroses, in which 

 the horns are removed with the skin) it will be necessary, when the 

 carcase is again turned, to make an incision from the crown of the 

 head down the middle line of the neck to such a distance as will 

 admit of the horns or antlers being passed through the slit thus 

 made when the skin is removed from the head. In no case should 

 the head-skin be severed from that of the body. 



When all the above-mentioned cuts have been made, the skin of 

 the chest will be left in the form of lappets. Commencing by the 

 application of the knife to the point of one of these lappets, the skin 

 should be gradually stripped from the body, tail, and limbs, special 

 care and attention being requisite in order to avoid damaging the 

 feet, of which the natural contour should be so far as possible 

 preserved. In the case of the smaller specimens, whether Deer, 



