
























DEER AND DEER-HUNTING IN TEXAS. 475 
skin into the form of a sack or bladder, and blow into it or 
inflate it; then, closing the orifice and pressing upon the 
sack, the included air will pass out through innumerable 
pores, making a spray from the particles of contained water. 
Wring out all the water possible, and stretch and rub it as 
before, while drying, when it will become white and soft. ' 
If stretched in a suitable frame, nearly to its natural shape, 
and rubbed with a wedge-shaped stick, the labor is less and 
the skin is smooth and even; otherwise it will remain more 
or less wrinkled, —some parts unduly, others not sufficiently 
stretched. But if the skin be now wetted and suffered to dry 
without manipulation, it becomes hard again like rawhide. 
Smoking is a means of obviating this. The object is to make 
the smoke pass through the pores of the skin. The effect 
of the braining seems to be to comminute the gluten, but it 
does not affect its solubility. The smoke seems to form a 
chemical combination with it, rendering it insoluble. Any 
dry rotten wood,—hickory, ash, oak, or even cobs,—serves 
to make the smoke. A hole is dug in the ground about two 
feet deep and six inches in diameter. Some coals are thrown 
in and a little of the wood upon them. The skins (better 
two together) are loosely sewed along the edges, except one, 
which is stretched around the hole, and the skins are then 
‘suspended above it, much like an empty sack with the mouth 
downward. The smoke in its ascent fills the sack and passes 
through or penetrates its substance. The process is kept up 
hag the operator deems the skin sufficiently smoked. Now, 
if they are wetted, they dry soft without manipulation. 
There is still an operation which improves them, though not 
necessary, It is a species of tanning. Willow-bark, or that 
of sassafras is good, as it does not stain clothing, which is 
Spotted by the ooze of oak when the skin is wet and comes 
m contact with it. We boil a small quantity of bark, and 
dip the skins into the ooze for a few minutes ; wring them 
às dry as possible and the operation is finished. Treated in 
this way, the skin becomes one of the strongest textures we 
