194 



PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



and again immerse for twenty- four hours; dry, and hand- 

 rub as before, and then put the skins for twenty-four hours 

 into warm oatmeal and water, stirring occasionally. Dry 

 in the shade, and when the skin is nearly dry, hand-rub till 

 quite dry." The only thing I have found necessary to guard 

 against in this is, that the skins must be perfectly fresh before 

 l^eing put in the bran and water, otherwise it will be necessary 

 to rub the in in with the salt and alum first. Another improve- 

 ment is, to tear up the fibre with a little instrument I have 

 invented, or rather adapted (see Tig. 35), which is simply a " hog 

 scraper," ground up sharp all round, and then filed up into short 

 rounded teeth where shown ; this will be found of incalculable 

 service in tearing off the hard upper skin or dried flesh and 



Fig. 35.— Scraper with which to Dress Skiks. 



l^lood, which locks up as it were the true skin, and which must 

 be got at before the pelt will become at all flexible. Often a 

 thorough wetting of the skin will considerably facilitate this 

 operation. Constant scraping and hard hand-rubbing, similar to 

 a washerwoman's " rubbing " of clothes, is necessary. In the 

 oases of some skins which are obstinate, thick, or have been 

 simply sun-dried, as are many tigers' and leopards' skins sent 

 from India, it will be found necessary to fix them over a 

 sloping board or on the edge of a table, and to use a spoke- 

 shave, or currier's thinning knife, to thin them down — perhaps 

 an eighth of an inch all over — then tear the fibre up with the 

 scraper, grease tbem with lard, to which has been added essence 

 of musk, and punch them for several hours or several days with 



