8 
HIRSTS ON REMOVING AND 
by ugly seams. In his book entitled “ Seventeen Trips to Somali¬ 
land,” Major Swayne has shown that by a little gentle persuasion 
the natives can be induced to so modify the haled (as the operation 
is called) that the damage to the specimen is reduced to a minimum ; 
and probably a similar modification might be assented to by the 
Mohammedans of other countries. 
In the case of hornless animals, such as a Lion or Tiger, preparatory 
to commencing operations, the carcase about to be skinned should be 
turned on its back, and the fore and hind limbs held outwards by 
assistants, as far as they can be easily stretched. The operator 
should then make a straight incision with the knife from the chin 
along the middle line of the under surface of the body to the tip of 
the tail. In making this and the other incisions great care should 
be taken to avoid cutting more than possible into the flesh, and, 
above all, not to lay open the cavity of the abdomen. The next 
procedure is to make cuts diverging from the main incision, in order 
to enable the limbs to be stripped. In the case of the fore legs the 
lateral cuts should be carried from the middle line through the arm- 
pits down the inner side of each limb, the knife being held pointing 
somewhat outwardly, in order that the seams made in sewing up the 
cuts should be as inconspicuous as possible in the mounted specimens. 
In the hind limbs the incisions should be carried through the groin, 
and so downwards in the same manner as in the fore limbs. 
In the case of horned animals (exclusive of Rhinoceroses, in which 
the horns are removed with the skin) it will be necessary, when the 
carcase is again turned, to make an incision from the crown of the 
head down the middle line of the neck to such a distance as will 
admit of the horns or antlers being passed through the slit thus 
made when the skin is removed from the head. In no case should 
the head-skin be severed from that of the body. 
When all the above-mentioned cuts have been made, the skin of 
the chest will be left in the form of lappets. Commencing by the 
application of the knife to the point of one of these lappets, the skin 
should be gradually stripped from the body, tail, and limbs, special 
care and attention being requisite in order to avoid damaging the 
feet, of which the natural contour should be so far as possible 
preserved. In the case of the smaller specimens, whether Deer, 
