44 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



It is quite a task to skin a ten-foot saui-ian properly, and to pre- 

 serve the skin so successfully that none of the scales will slip ofi 

 when the time comes for the skin to be softened and stufted. My 

 method, which I have practised successfully with the skins of eleven 

 species of crocodiles and alligators, is as follows : For the sake 

 of science in general and the taxidermist in particular, measure the 

 crocodile carefully and record the dimensions. Divide the skin 

 along the under side, following the median line from the throat to 

 the tip of the tail, in one long straight cut. Beginning at the end 

 of each middle toe, di\dde the skin along the bottom of the foot and 

 the under side of the leg up to the point where the leg joins the 

 body, but no farther. Then begin at the edges of the first cut, and 

 skin as far down the sides of the body as 2J0ssible, '^Vhen the legs 

 are reached, detach them from the body at hip and shoulder with- 

 out cutting the skin, and continue on around the body until the 

 back-bone is reached and the skin entii'ely detached. Sever the 

 head from the neck at the first cervical vertebra without cutting 

 the skin. Skin out the tongue and remove the flesh from the pala- 

 tal apertures and various cavities of the head. Skin each leg by 

 turning the skin wrong side out until the toes are reached. Leave 

 all the bones of each leg attached to each other and to the skin it- 

 self at the toes, but cut away the flesh carefully, the same as in skele- 

 tonizing. Remove from the skin as much as possible of the flesh 

 which will be found adhering to it. When the skin is thoroughly 

 clean, immerse it in a strong bath of salt and water and allow it to 

 remain twenty-four to thirty hours. Then take it out, rub the in- 

 side and the leg-bones thoroughly with strong arsenical soap, after 

 which apply powdered alum hberally over the inner surface, so that 

 not a single spot is missed. Then hang the skin up by the head 

 (no danger of stretching in this case), and allow it to dry in the 

 wind and shade. When almost hard and stiif take it down and fold 

 it up as carefully as if it were a Sunday coat, so that it can be packed 

 in a box of ordinary dimensions. 



^\Tien Carlo and I began our work upon the dead gavials, the 

 birds of prey began to gather round us from all directions. Doz- 

 ens of huge, ungainly vultures {Otogyps calvus), came and settled 

 down upon the sand within twenty yards of us, looking on with 

 greedy eyes. A little farther away a huge flock of crows kept up an 

 incessant cawing as they watched their opportunity. A pan* of white 

 scavenger vultures {Neophron percnopterus), stood off some distance, 

 while a score of hawks and kites swooped and cii'cled above us. 



