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cultivated for the sake of their fibre ? is silk known ? 9. How 
are articles sewn ? are needles employed, or awls to bore 
holes, or tweezers to draw through the thread ? 10. What is 
the process of netting, and the form of the needle and mesh ? 
11. Are knotted ropes or strings used as aids to the memory? 
12. In the case of silk being known, what is the process of 
preparation ? 13. Are cords in any way used as measures of 
length ? 14. Are the string and thread usually dyed ? 
(No. XII.) 15. Are spindle-whorls used in the manufacture 
of thread or string ? 16. Does the twisted string consist of 
two or three or more plies ? 
J. E. 
No. X.—LEATHER WORK. 
The preparations of the skins of animals, so as to render 
them fit for use, for clothing, and for hundreds of other pur¬ 
poses to which they are applied, has always been one of the 
most important occupations of savage life. Even among 
civilised races the part played by leather has but little 
diminished in importance. 
Skins with the hair on are frequently merely dried, the 
inner part being dressed with some antiseptic preparation, and 
sometimes curried or shaved. 
Leather, more properly so called, is usually tanned or pre¬ 
pared with bark, like shoe-leather—tawed, or prepared with 
alum, &c.,like kid-leather for gloves—or dressed with oil, like 
chamois or wash leather. 
For each kind the skins pass through several processes, one 
of the principal being usually the steeping the hides in lime- 
water, so as to loosen the hair and prepare the substance of 
the skin for receiving the final dressings. The uses to which 
skins and leather may be applied are so multifarious that it 
would occupy too much space to attempt to enumerate them. 
The following questions may suggest to travellers some points 
towards which their attention might be directed :— 
