WILD BEASTS' SKINS IN COMMERCE 265 



clothes other than boots. But the finest of all these 

 soft leathers are the deer-skins used for gloves. 

 Nothing is quite equal to this material for the purpose, 

 and when genuine, it is the most expensive of any. 

 Reindeer skin, fallow deer skin, and that of the fawns 

 of many of the American species are used. * Elk ' 

 gloves are not deer-skin at all, but an imitation. 

 Much of the deer-skin is made into ' white leather/ in 

 the same way that parchment, sheep-skin, and vellum 

 are prepared for special purposes. The white buck- 

 skin is used for leather breeches and military gloves, all 

 military tailoring being of the most expensive material. 

 Camel-skin, which used to be the favourite material for 

 covering the trunks used in Indian travel sixty years 

 ago, is now never employed for this purpose. Block- 

 tin boxes are found more durable for all climates, but 

 the old trunks may still be seen in Anglo-Indian 

 houses, and the skin is often sound, though the wooden 

 frame has decayed. The skins of large snakes are im- 

 ported for making trinkets, while those of sharks are 

 valuable to cover the * grips ' of sword-hilts. Even the 

 cobra's skin is an article of commerce, being used by 

 the Chinese to cover their one-stringed fiddles. 



