JllS Method employed at AJlracan for making 



is pretty right in what he fays of it in general. It is one of 

 thoffi arts of the Eaft, which, like that of the Turkey dye for 

 cotton, the preparation of Ruffia leather, ifinglafs, &c. have 

 remained unknown and unemployed, not becaufe they are kept 

 fecrets, but becaufe none of the European travellers ever took 

 the trouble to learn them, and becaufe the materials ufed are 

 not fo common and fo cheap in Europe. It irjay be of fome 

 utility, therefore, if I here give a circumftantial defcription 

 of this art as it is praftifed at Aftracan by the Tartars and 

 Armenians, efpecially as the method of thefe people is per- 

 fectly fimilar to that ufed in Turkey, Perfia, and various parts 

 of Bucharia, and as the fliagreen-makers of Artracan ac- 

 knowledge that they obtained the procefs originally from 

 Perfia. 



Al) kinds of horfes' or afles' (kin, which have been dreflcd 

 in fuch a manner as to appear grained, are by the Tartars 

 r,2i\\tdijauwer, by the Perfians /o^r^, and by the Twr^f^fjogriy 

 from which the Europeans have made Jhagreen (jj» fl^flgrhi. 

 The Tartars who refide at Aftracan, with a few of the Ar- 

 menians of that city, are the only people in the RuftiaD em- 

 pire acquainted with the art of making (hagreen. Thofe who 

 follow this occupation not only gain confiderable profit by 

 the fale of their produAion to .the Tartars of Cuban, Aftra- 

 can, and Cafan, who ornament with it their Turkey leather 

 boot§, flippers, and other articles made of leather ; but they 

 derive confiderable advantage from the great fale of horfes' 

 hides, which have undergone no other procefs than that of 

 beino- fcraped clean, and of which feveral thoufands are an- 

 nually exported, at the rate of from 75 to 85 roubles per hun- 

 dred, tq Perfia, where there is a fcarcity of fuch hides, and 

 from which the greater part of the fliagreen manufaftured in 

 that country is prepared. The hind part only of the hide, 

 however, which is cnt out in the form of a crefcent about a 

 Ruffian ell and a half in length acrofs the loins, and a ftiort 

 ell in breadth along the back, can properly be employed for 

 fhagrcen. The remaining part, as is proved by experience, 

 is improper for that purpofc, and is therefore reje6led. 



The preparation of the ftcins, after being cut into the aljqve 

 fomi, ie as ffillows :-^They are depqfited in a tub filled with 



■"■ '" '' "" pur^ 



