WILD BEASTS' SKINS IN COMMERCE 263 



extinct, the black rhinoceros of Central Africa is killed 

 for the purpose. Much of this immensely thick skin, 

 which is not tanned, but used in the raw state, never 

 leaves Africa. It is in great demand for making the 

 round shields used by the Arabs and Abyssinians. A 

 black rhinoceros's hide yields eight large squares, each 

 of which will make a round shield two feet in diameter, 

 and each of these squares, even in the Soudan, is worth 

 two dollars. The skin when scraped and polished is 

 semi-transparent, like hard gelatine, and takes a high 

 polish. Giraffe-skin is even more valued as material 

 for shields, as it is equally hard and lighter. Thus, 

 while the South African giraffes are killed off to supply 

 whips, those of North Central Africa are hunted to 

 provide the Mahdi's Arabs with shields. 



In North America skin-hunting is a business entirely 

 apart from that of the trapper, who only seeks furs. 

 It destroyed the bison, and would now exterminate the 

 deer, were it not that the Government has checked the 

 trade by stringent laws enforcing a close time. It was 

 for their hides or ' robes ' that the buffalo herds were 

 destroyed not for their meat. This was perhaps the 

 most notable achievement in all the history of this 

 wasteful and selfish trade. In 1869 the Union Pacific 

 Railway was completed, and divided the bison into two 

 great hordes. Between 1872 and 1874 the southern 

 horde was practically exterminated by the skin-hunters. 



