262 WILD BEASTS' SKINS IN COMMERCE 



Central Africa the trade still flourishes, though only 

 the poorest of the Boers follow it, and they have to 

 trek north of the Limpopo. The hides of the larger 

 bucks, such as the sable antelope, the roan antelope, the 

 hartebeest, or of any of the zebras, are worth eight 

 shillings or nine shillings each, and there is now some- 

 thing to be made by selling heads and horns as 

 curiosities. Leather made from the skins of these big 

 antelopes is still in common use in high-class boot- 

 making. No one knows exactly what animal may not 

 have supplied the uppers or soles of his foot-gear, and 

 the possibilities range from the porpoise and the Arctic 

 hair-seal, to the blesbok or the koodoo. Three other 

 African animals' skins are in commercial demand for 

 curiously different purposes. The giraffes, as everyone 

 knows, are killed so that their skins may be made into 

 sandals for natives and sjambok whips for colonists. 

 In the Soudan they are also killed for the sake of their 

 hides, which are made into shields. Many of the 

 Dervish shields captured during their attempt to invade 

 Egypt under the Emir Njumi were made of this 

 material. The elephant and rhinoceros skins go to 

 Sheffield. There they are used to face the wheels used 

 in polishing steel cutlery. No other material is equally 

 satisfactory, and it would be most difficult to find 

 a substitute. The rhinoceros-skin used was formerly 

 that of the white rhinoceros. Now that this species is 



