348 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



forms during inclement winter. This is a very great mistake ; 

 few skins are less attractive than a seal-skin is when it is taken 

 from the creature. The fur is not visible ; it is concealed entirely 

 by a coat of stiff over-hair, dull, gray-brown, and grizzled. It takes 

 three of them to make a lady's sack and boa ; and in order that a 

 reason for their costliness may be apparent, I take great pleasure 

 in submitting a description of the tedious and skilful labor ne- 

 cessary to their dressing by the furriers ere they are fit for use : 

 a leading manufacturer, writing to me, says : 



" When the skins are received by us in the salt, we wash off the 

 salt, placing them upon a beam somewhat like a tanner's beam, re- 

 moving the fat from the flesh side with a beaming-knife, care being 

 required that no cuts or uneven places are made in the pelt. The 

 skins are next washed in water and placed upon the beam with the 

 fur up, and the grease and water removed by the knife. The skins 

 are then dried by moderate heat, being tacked out on frames to 

 keep them smooth. After being fully dried, they are soaked in 

 water and thoroughly cleansed with soap and water. In some 

 cases they can be unhaired without this drying process, and 

 cleansed before drying. After the cleansing process they pass to 

 the picker, who dries the fur by stove-heat, the pelt being kept 

 moist. When the fur is dry he places the skin on a beam, and 

 while it is warm he removes the main coat of hair with a dull shoe- 

 knife, grasping the hair with his thumb and knife, the thumb being 

 protected by a rubber cob. The hair must be pulled out, not 

 broken. After a portion is removed the skin must be again warmed 

 at the stove, the pelt being kept moist. When the outer hairs have 

 been mostly removed, he uses a beaming-knife to work out the fine 

 hairs (which are shorter), and the remaining coarser hairs. It will 

 be seen that great care must be used, as the skin is in that soft 

 state that too much pressure of the knife would take the fur also ; 

 indeed, bare spots are made. Carelessly cured skins are some- 

 times worthless on this account. The skins are next dried, after- 

 ward dampened on the pelt side, and shaved to a fine, even 

 surface. They are then stretched, worked, and dried, afterward 

 softened in a fulling-mill, or by treading them with the bare feet in 

 a hogshead, one head being removed and the cask placed nearly 

 upright, into which the workman gets with a few skins and some 

 fine, hardwood sawdust, to absorb the grease while he dances upon 

 them to break them into leather. If the skins have been shaved thin, 



