BULLET AND SHOT 



and mouth ; and I had two men kept ready to 

 carry the mask, wound round a bamboo, through 

 the night to Mysore, promising them a handsome 

 reward if they should reach that town by a certain 

 time. The head-skin thus reached the native 

 worker in leather (chuckler), to whom it was con- 

 signed, in good order, and he put it into pickle 

 at once ; and after it had been thoroughly cured, 

 I sent it, with the skull and horns, to a taxidermist 

 on the Nilgiri hills, and a magnificent trophy 

 (which is now at home) was the result. 



In dry weather, when there is plenty of sun, 

 drying a bison's mask is an easy operation. 

 Plentiful applications of arsenical soap and turpen- 

 tine to the ears and mouth, and a good painting 

 with these preservatives all over the hairy side, 

 (the drugs being rubbed well into the skin), 

 together with quantities of wood ashes in the first 

 instance, and afterwards of arsenical soap followed 

 by more wood ashes to the raw side, will, with 

 full exposure to the Mysore sun, preserve the 

 mask so that the hair will not slip before the 

 very thick skin has had time to dry sufficiently 

 to arrest all decay. In hotter climates than 

 Mysore, exposure to the sun should be avoided. 

 No doubt if the sportsman went out in the 

 monsoon equipped with a barrel, the materials for 

 making brine, and the necessary tools for coopering 

 the former so as to exclude air, he might preserve 

 his masks in the monsoon in the manner recom- 

 mended by Mr. Rowland Ward, but it is seldom 

 that he goes out so prepared, and unless he were 



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