THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. — BISON SHOOTING. 193 



wliicb we had to pare down until we could see the roots of the 

 hair. This was a very laborious task, requiring thin-bladed and 

 very sharp knives. 



Late in the afternoon, we rubbed the inside of the skin very 

 thoroughly with arsenical soap, then sprinkled over it about twelve 

 pounds of coarse salt and rubbed it in vigorously with a flat stone. 

 In a short time the salt drew quantities of water out of the skin so 

 that it stood all over in puddles. We then rolled up the skin, let 

 it lie over night, and the next morning thinned it down still more, 

 so that the preservatives could strike the roots of the hair at once. 

 Next we sprinkled powdered alum all over the skin and rubbed it 

 in, using about seven to eight pounds. 



After letting the skin lie sjsread upon the ground for a few 

 hours, fairly pickled in its own moisture, we hung it over a pole in 

 a shady place, spreading it widely with sticks placed cross-wise in- 

 side, and the legs were pulled out in various directions and tied 

 fast to stumps. Every night we took it down and put it inside my 

 hut to keep it from the dew and rain. After one very rainy day, 

 two very fine ones, and one that was rather damp, the skin was al- 

 most sti^ and quite dry enough to fold up permanently. This 

 skin has since been mounted very successfully at Professor "Ward's 

 establishment, and the old bull now stands in the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass. 

 13 



