The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-04
PRECIOUS FURS OF CHINA
SOME CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT THEIR
VARIETIES.


of Lii Hung Chang.
Ii Hung Chang is believed to be the
richest man in the word. This belief
| certainly gains credit from a glimpse
at one portion of his invested capital,
which has recently made it's appear
| ance in the city of London. Among
other sources of income, the great Chi
| neSe Satrap draws an annual tribute of
precious furs from one of the northern
provinces. This is said to be the noun
tain and forest district of Northwest
Manchuria, whose natural commodi-
ties" of fur-bearing animals are men,
toned by the Emperor KEN Lung in
the pious work in which the imperial
author describes the country still held
sacred as the dwelling place of the
spirits of his ancestors. Part of the
| tribute of the Russian Tartar tribes
is also collected in the form of sabeas,
and it is known that, while the poor
| Tartars send in the finest skins in
true loyalty to the Car, dishonest Of
| ficials substitute inferior furs, and the
| choice skins in the imperial wardrobe
come not from tribute but from pur-
chase. They manage these things bet
ter in China. Ii Hung Chang has i'm
| mense warehouses in Pekin crammed
with precious furs from top to bottom,
| and no middleman pliers the choice
skins on their way to this repository.
1t has been done, but Ii Hung Chang
is watchful ruler, and it is rumored
that the punishment inflicted was so
| appropriate and diverting that no one
| De, +r;h "a
sables since. There is an immense de-
mand for rare furs in China. A ma
ton in which neither men nor women
wear jewels, but which has an exquis-
lite taste for personal luxuries, finds a
substitute for jewels in costume. An
Indian or Afghan prince will perhaps
dress in white cotton, provided this be
set off by some priceless genms on his
sword, dagger, and turban. A Chinese
Mandarins sole jewels may be few
bites of jade or carnelian, but he MAX
es up for this in summer by the rich
ness of his silks, and in winter by
wearing robes of furs so splendid that
it needs a certain education to appre-
ciate the full beauty of the costume.
1t has long been known that the Chi
nese furriers were the best in the
world; and that, except in the dyeing
of sealskins their treatment of the fur
itself, especially in improving its tint
and lustre, was unrivaled. 1t was not,
however, suspected that they could i'm
prove on the work of nature An in
spection of some of LIS furs recently
sent to London showed that this was
a task not beyond the art of the anci-
ent, civilization of the Far East. There
were three or four robes which raised
a. certain excitement Of admiration
even among the purely commercial ex-
perts of the wholesale fur trade.
One of these robes was constructed
with a special object. The aim of the
Chinese furr-ier has been to make a
skin of sable magnified to the skin of
a bear. In addition to creating a gil
gantic sable, this genius also wished
that the animal should have fur with
the hair all lying parallel; whereas in
, nearly every fur except that of the
, seal, when the long hairs are removed
the grain and direction follow the an
atomy of the body and give an uneven
!, ness to the whole. To effect these OBJ
jects the artist had cut out the It'd
, bits of sable skins, and divided these
lllto lily oil lpS IIOIll I'LL lIlC1
to half an inch in length. These strips
were all from the same part Of the sa-
|, bles body and We're covered with flu,
: of even length, lustre, and thickness
They were then sewed together with
) minute art so that at the back the
: skin looked like a. patchwork of tiny
parallelograms like the squares on 6
fritillary flower averaging from three
5 to four in the square inch. In from
! the fur was absolutely uniform, homo.
geneous, and apparently without sean
7 or joining-the kind of giant sable
skin which might appear in dreams
5 as the ideal of a Russian bride.
5 trousseau. But Ii Hung Changes fur.
: riers had produced something better
3 than this-a fur robe which can justly
: claim to be an improvement on any
thing that nature has given us in thu
' rarest furs of beasts. Sable was agair
! the material used. In this robe alst
: the skins are divided, and rejoined 81
' as to secure uniformity of tint, fur
n and setting. But in the robe so mad,
S the artist had inserted at intervals tn,
t skin of the sable's shoulder and fore
i paw. This, when cut out, laid flat, anC
r sewed together, with little addition
e to the curves, forms an "ocellus" lik,
! | a peacock's eye in sable damask fo
the tint of the robe was uniform, ant
i only the difference in the lie and tex
f ture of the fur produced the ornament
n The result was the creation of sabl
e skim adorned at regular intervals will
an apparently natural ornament o
peacock's eyes, such as one sees in tn
tail Of the white peacock, indicated b,
the same alterations of reflection ant
lights as in damask. The magnifi
n cence of this conception needs no com
S ment.
f Three other masterpieces of this pc
!. culiar art deserve mention. One is
n robe of skins of the red fox, (not tn
e English reynard, but the Canadian rec
: fox,) with fur various in tint, but com
e parable in color to the different shade
: of red amber. In the golden part
n were set "eyes" of the bright black foo
|. of this fox, with the smoother ant
: darker red of the leg above it, on tn
e same principle as the insertion o
: "eyes'' in the sable skin, but this tim
= with a contrast of color as well as o
= tone. The second was a robe of piece
S from the back of the Gross fox" s.
!: joined that they appeared to be take
Y from some much larger animal. Thes
s were left the natural color, cold gra
: and yellowish brown, but set in a be-
:. | of fur dyed chocolate color III tn