YCFTS. 



fkin is fofter and mellow. All thefc particulars are in fome 

 meafure of no other ft-rvice than to bring off the hair 

 thoroughly clean from the (kin. 



Now follows the proper preparation of the (kins taken 

 out of the wheat-bran. This is done chiefly by honey. 

 To eighty hides they take about twenty-five pounds of raw 

 honey, boil it in a kettle, pour as much water to it as is ne- 

 ce(rary for giving it a due confiftence, and (lir it for a pretty 

 long time boiling on the fire. They th-n let the kettle 

 cool, till they can but jull bear the liand in it, and then 

 pour the flill hot honey-water on the hides lying fingly in 

 little trays, by ladle-fulls, till they have thoroughly imbibed 

 the honey-water. When all the fl<ins are duly drenched, 

 they are thrown into a dry vat all together, laying at top a 

 hoard with weights upon it, and covering the whole vat with 

 felt, carpets, or furs, that the vapour during the ferment- 

 ation may not efcape ; and in this manner, the ildnt mull fer- 

 ment once more thrice twenty-four hours. By this means 

 they acquire the grain. From the lioney-vat they are rinfed 

 clean in luke-warm water, wrung as dry as podible, and 

 fteeped immediately in a moderately ftrong pickle or brine 

 made of common fait, in which they mufl be left five or fix 

 days. This time being elapfed, the (l<ins are taken out of 

 the pickle, and hung upon clean poles, that the brine may 

 drain out, as it would be thought injurious to fqueeze it out 

 with the hands. This done, :he (Icins have received their 

 whole preparation, and may now be dyed red, but not 

 yellow ; bec^ufe for the yellow faffians, as was faid before, 

 the preparation is of another kind. 



For giving the red faffians the colour, nothing is ufed but 

 cochineal, or, as the Tartars call it, kirmifs, and that in 

 the following method : Firft, they boil a quantity of the 

 herb falfola cricoides, by th§ Tartars called tfchagan, plen- 

 tifully growing on the arid Aftrachan falt-fteppes. To 

 about four Ruflian vedros of water is put of this dried herb 

 fomewhat lefs than a pound, and it is fet to boil for a whole 

 hour, whereby the water acquires a dark greenilh colour, 

 but betrays no acrimony to the tafle. The faffian-maker 

 only takes care that the water be not too deeply tinftured, 

 and that when dropped on the thumb-nail (hews only a 

 fcarce perceptible green ; and in cafe it have adopted too 

 many particles of the colour, it is drawn off, and fre(h water 

 put, in which the herb muft boil again, till the decoftion 

 has received the due degree of faturation. The herb is then 

 with a fcoop taken clean out of the kettle, and then the pre- 

 vioufly nicely powdered cochineal thrown into a kettle of 

 four RulTian vedros to about half a pound, well llirred, and 

 frelh fire added, in which great attention mud be paid, 

 that the red fcum, which arifes from boiling, does not boil 

 over, therefore conllantly fome is taken and again poured 

 m, in order by this refrigeration to prevent the over-boiling, 

 and to allay the foam. After boiling for about an hour and 

 a half, the water has obtained a ftrong tjndure ; but as 

 much of it is boiled away, the kettle is filled up again with 

 the remaining decoftion of the herb tfchagan, and the thus 

 attenuated coloui; boiled afrelh, till it is feen that the cochi- 

 neal is perfeftly dilTolved, and the colour become thoroughly 

 bright. Upon this, to the whole kettle is put about two 

 lote of pounded and burnt alum into the dye, with which it 

 IS to boil about a quarter of an hour, and then the fire is taken 

 from under t!ie kettle, leaving only fome hot embers, that the 

 dye may retain as much heat as the hand can but juft bear. 

 This done, the flcins prepared for dyeing are taken in hand, 

 the dye poured by ladles into trays, one Mi\ folded toge- 

 ther after another, with the hair fide; outwards, and then are 

 worked in their portion qf dye fo long, till they have utii- 



formly abforbed all the dyeing particles, and only fome- 

 wliat of a pale moifture remains. The leathers being thus 

 for the firft time ftained are quickly fqueezed out, hung up 

 fingly acrofs poles, and when they are all done, they 

 are direftly taken for the fecond time, and imbued in the 

 fame manner with dye, and this treatment is repeated for 

 the third and the fourth time ; fo that each (kin gets four 

 ladles of the dye. From the fourth dye the (kins are no 

 more prelTed out, but hung up entirely wet, to be venti- 

 lated, upon poles. 



After the dye, the (liins are once more curried with the 

 leaves of the tan-tree, which the Armenians call belg^. 

 The crulhed or pounded dry leaves, which the Aftrachan 

 faflian-makers get from the Terek, are ilirred in broad 

 troughs to a thick gruel with river water, and the coloured 

 flcins laid in it, between each of them, leaving a fufficiency of 

 the leaf-ooze ; the tanner then goes barefoot into the troughs 

 upon the (kins lying on one another. In this tan, or quas, as 

 the workmen call it, the faffians lie eight days and nights, 

 adding frelh tan every other day ; fo that four tans are 

 neccflary. 



Here it muft be obferved, that fome Armenians who pre- 

 pare faffians, for enhancing the quality of the red colour of 

 their faffians, to half a pound of cochineal add two lote, or 

 rather more of forrel, (or lutor, or loter, as they call it,) in 

 the dye-kettle, but it is ufually omitted in Aftrachan, on 

 account of its high price ; for which reafon the Aftrachan 

 faffians are excelled by the Turkifli in beauty of colour. 

 Secondly, it is to be known, that inftead of the leaves of the 

 tan-tree, bruifed nut-galls are held to be ftill more fervice- 

 able for giving the faffians the tan. By this means, the co- 

 lour is fo durable as never to pafs away but with the leather ; 

 whereas the faffians prepared with the tan-tree begin foon to 

 be difcoloured. But the nut-galls are likewife too dear in 

 Aftrachan to be cuftomarily ufed by the faffian-makers. 

 The Kazan Tartars colour their faffians with red wood, and 

 tan them with the (hrub uva urfi, but it makes the worft 

 faffians of all, as they prefently fade. 



When the faffians are lifted out of the tan, ftill the laft 

 work remains. They are firft left fome time in the air to 

 dry, they are afterwards fcraped on the ftretch-bank with 

 fharp fcrapers on the flefh fide, quite fmooth and clean, 

 then walhed in running water, each flcin duly ftretched with 

 pegs all round the edges, and thus left till they are 

 dry. 



The (kins muft now be fmoothed on the hair fide with a 

 wooden inftrument for that purpofe ; and laftly, they are laid 

 on a thick felt, where, with an iron heckle that has blunt 

 points, thofe little pittings, which the faffians are generally 

 feen to have, are imprefted on the fame fide. And thus 

 they are ready for fale, without being fmeared with linfeed- 

 oil, as is mentioned in Gmelin's travels, which would infal- 

 libly fpoil them. 



The yellow faffians are little made in Aftrachan, as the 

 demand for them is much lefs, and there are but few faffian- 

 makers who know much of the matter. The dye which 

 they make ufe of for this purpofe is of the berries of a fort 

 of rhamnus (perhaps lycioides), which are brought from 

 Perfia under the name of ulofcharr, and ufually bought for 

 fix to nine rubles the pood. The Kazan Tartars colour 

 their ordinary yellow faffians with the flowers of the yellow 

 camomile, which they gather under the name fare tfchet- 

 fchiak, i. e. yellow-flower. 



In preparing the yellow faffians, they obferve in Aftrac- 

 han the following difference of treatment : i. They make 

 no ufe whatever of honey in the preparation. 2. They 



never 



