452 ON THE COMMERCE AND USES OF THE HAIR OF ANIMALS. 



braids to fishhooks ; neat ornaments for rings, brooches, &c, are made 

 of them in parts of Africa and Asia. 



Coney Wool, or the hair of the rabbit and hare, is shaved off by a 

 mechanical process. The vast number of these prolific rodents in 

 Spain and other countries, afford a large supply of this kind of hair, 

 which is put to the same uses as down. 



Badger hair is used for shaving-brushes, and for graining tools ; 

 sable and hog's hair are also used for the latter purpose. 



The highest quality of artists' brushes, which formerly were im- 

 ported into England, are now manufactured by the artists' colourmen of 

 London, and exported freely. 



A rope-like girdle of opossum hair is worn by the aborigines of 

 "Western Australia, partly by way of ornament, passed many times 

 round their waist. But it serves also for other useful purposes. In it 

 are carried the kadjo or hammer, the dowak or throwing stick, and the 

 kyli or" boomerang. It is tightened or loosened like the belt of famine 

 of the Africans, according to their supply of food, and it answers for 

 string occasionally, or for rag in the case of a cut or wound ; and small 

 articles, such as the teeth and barbs of spears, are frequently deposited 

 in the folds of it. 



The following is a summary of the value of the hair of different 

 kinds imported into the United Kingdom in the year 1861 : — 



Quantity. 



Cow hair, cwts., 21,639 . 

 Goats' hair, lbs., 3,334,748 

 Manufactures of ditto 

 Horse hair, cwts., 29,033 

 Camels' hair, lbs., 321,897 

 Manufactures of hair 

 Human hair, lbs., 15,672 

 Bristles or hogs' hair, lbs., 2,036,880 



Value. 



£ 

 103,229 

 456,542 

 347,217 

 151,800 



8,047 

 16,724 



6,268 

 251,191 



£1,341,018 



