32 The Alligator and Its Allies 
The entire skin is more commonly taken in Mexico 
and Central America than in our States. 
“Although the raw skins are sold according to 
length, the tanned hides are sold by the width of 
the leather at the widest part. Standard hides 
sell for $1.00 to $1.65 per twelve inches of width. 
Some skins tanned and dyed in a superior manner 
sell for $2.00 or more for single skins of 214 feet 
in length. Asa rule the Louisiana skins fetch the 
highest prices, and those from Florida the lowest. 
Imitation alligator leather is now prepared in large 
quantities, principally from sheepskins or the 
buffing from cowhides. These are tanned accord- 
ing to the usual process, and before the skins are 
finished they are embossed with the characteristic 
alligator markings by passing them between two 
rollers.” (Above-mentioned report, p. 346.) 
Very little of the leather is now used in mak- 
ing shoes, the chief demand being for handbags, 
music-rolls, etc. 
In hunting alligators for their hides two methods 
are usually employed, in our Southern States at 
least. The common method is ‘‘fire-hunting”’ 
at night; the hunters here go, either singly or in 
pairs, usually in boats, sometimes on foot, with 
shotgun and torch. The torch may be fastened 
to the hunter’s hat, after the manner of the miner’s 
lamp. One more progressive hunter that I knew 
had, as a torch, an acetylene lamp, attached to his 
hat, with the tube for the gas extending down his 
