THE PRESERVATION OF TROPHIES 



is the following, which may be confidently relied on. 

 After the skin has been thoroughly scraped and 

 freed from all adherent particles of flesh, etc., place 

 it entirely in a cask or tub in which a pickle, 

 consisting of one pound of powdered alum, half 

 an ounce of saltpetre, and two ounces of common 

 salt to each gallon of cold water, has been previously 

 prepared, and well mixed. After the skin has been 

 soaked therein for two days or so, it may be either 

 hung up, or pegged out on the ground to dry, 

 according to whether it is destined for mounting 

 whole, or for retention merely as a skin. 



In all cases, sportsmen should pack and forward 

 to England as soon as possible any skins and heads 

 which they may desire to preserve. Not only are 

 insects very destructive to skins in India, but, in 

 the hot and dry weather, teeth are very apt to 

 split, and no process of which I am aware will 

 prevent this. 



In the case of very thick skins, such for instance 

 as the masks of bison, the only method of preserving 

 them is to shave the skin down, to about one-third 

 of its original thickness, before applying preserva- 

 tives or placing it in pickle, as the case may be. 

 A good plan is to take a native chuckler (worker 

 in leather) with the camp, but on no account, in 

 such case, must he be allowed to work his wicked 

 will upon the skins in his own primitive way. He 

 should simply work under the sportsman's own eye, 

 and be made to obey orders literally and promptly. 



When it is intended to preserve the head of a 

 hornless animal for subsequent mounting separately 



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