CHAPTER XLI. 



PRESERVATION OF SKINS, HEADS, 

 AND HORNS. 



Many fine trophies are utterly ruined for want of knowledge how to preserve them, 

 or by their being left to natives who profess to know all about them. 



There is no difficulty whatever in preserving them properly, but the airing should 

 be left to professionals. There are very few places in India where you can get skins 

 properly cured, and native ' mochis ' almost invariably spoil them by using salt, lime, 

 and other deleterious ' massdlds! 



Few Indian skins are worth preserving : Tiger, Panther, Leopard, Bear, Spotted 

 Deer, and Black Buck are the only skins that, in my opinion, are worth the trouble 

 and expense. The skins of Yak, Burrell, Thibetan Antelope, and a few other dwellers 

 at great elevations, are very handsome if procured in winter, but at the seasons when 

 sportsmen can usually visit their haunts the skins are quite worthless. 



The following simple directions will enable any sportsman to bring back his trophies 

 in proper condition for curing or mounting. 



SKINS. 



The manner in which a skin is removed depends upon whether it is required to be 

 dressed flat and used as a mat, or whether it is to be ultimately stuffed and mounted. 

 Few sportsmen care to have entire specimens of large animals set up, but as they are 

 occasionally desiderata for museums, I will describe both methods of skinning. 



First, let us suppose that a flat Tiger-skin is required. 



Lay the Tiger on its back, and have it securely held while you make a long incision 

 from the point of the lower jaw to the tip of the tail, being careful to cut quite straight 

 along the very centre of the belly. The cut should be merely deep enough to divide 

 the true skin. 



Next, from the centre of the chest, cut a line to the elbow, and from thence down 

 the forearm to the ball of the foot, taking care that the two forelimbs are held in the 

 same position during the operation, and that the direction of the cuts is exactly the same 

 in both fore-legs. 



The hind-legs should be similarly treated, two slits being cut from a point in the 

 central incision, a few inches from the root of the tail, to the point of the hock, and 

 thence down to the ball of the hind foot. 



