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CHAPTER IX. 



OTHER FISH PRODUCTS AND THEIR USES. 



Miscellaneous uses of parts of fishes — Scales of fish — Articles made from them — 

 Skin of fishes ; applications of it — Shark skin — Ray skins — Shagreen and 

 galuchat — Fish flour — Fish paste — Guanine., or pearl essence. 



Some of the miscellaneous uses of parts of fish are curious. 

 Thus, the serrated spine of the ray fish is used by the 

 Indians of the Amazon to arm their arrows. In India the 

 jawbone of the boalee fish {Silurus boalis) is employed by 

 the natives about Dacca. The teeth being small, recurved, 

 and closely set, act as a fine comb for carding cotton, in 

 removing the loose and coarse fibres and all extraneous 

 matters from the cotton wool. Sharks' teeth are used in 

 arming weapons, and the teeth of sharks and other fish 

 as trinkets. The jaws of the sleeper shark {Somniosus 

 brevipinnd) are used for head-dresses by the North 

 American Indians. Fish bones are used by Indians and 

 Eskimo in making implements ; sharks' vertebrae for canes ; 

 the bones of the whale for weapons. Those of sharks and 

 skates are used in Japan in making imitation tortoise-shell. 

 Among the islands of the Corean Archipelago, the children 

 use the dried spiral eggs of a species of skate or some other 

 cartilaginous fish as rattles, having first introduced a few 

 small pebbles to assist in making a noise. 



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