The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-05-02


sake of their hides, which are made
into shields. Many of the dervsh
shields captured during their attempt
to invade Egypt under the Emir Njumi
We're made Of this material.
The elephant and rhinoceros skins go
to Sheffield. There they are used to
face the wheels used in polishing steel
cutlery. No other material Is equally
satisfactory, and 1t would be most diff
ficult to find a substitute. The rhinoc-
eros skin used was formerly that of the
white rhinoceros. Now that this species
is extinct the black rhinoceros of Cen
trail Africa is killed for the purpose.
Much of this immensely thick skin,
which is not tanned, but used in the
raw state, never leaves Africa. 1t is in
great demand for making the round
shields used by the Arabs and Abys-
sinians A black rhinoceros' hide yields
eight large squares, each of which will
make round shield, feet in diameter
and each of these squares, even in the
Soudan, is worth 49, The skin, when
scraped and polished, is semi transpar-
emit, like hard gelatine, and takes a
high polish. Giraffe skin is even more
valuable as material for shields, as it is
equally hard and lighter Thus, while
the South African giraffes are killed off
to supply whips, those of North Cen
trail Africa are hunted to provide the
Mahdis Arabs with shields.
In North America skin hunting is a.
business entirely apart from that of the
trapper who only seeks furs. 1t de-
stroyed the bison, and would now ex-
terminate the deer We're 1t not that the
government has checked the trade by
stringent laws enforcing a close time.
1t was for their hides or "'robes' that
the buffalo herds We're destroyed-not
| for their meat. This was perhaps the
| most notable achievement in all the
history of this wasteful and selfish
| trade. In 1869 the Union Pacific rail-
| way was completed, and divided the
| bison into two great hordes. Between
| 1872 and 1874 the southern horde was
practically exterminated by the skin
hunters. In summer the hides were
stripped for leather, while those taken
| in winter We're sold to be dressed for
| buffalo robes. The leather was no bet
| ter than that of ordinary cattle. The
| robes had considerable value as
winter wraps. The deer were less
easily killed off, but for years an enor-
nous trade was done in American deer
skins. These were maiIly those of the
black tailed deer. The skin hunter on
his trained pony went out into the
spruce forests of the Rocky Mountains
killed his five or six deer every day
skinned them, and leaving the carcases
| 70 - aJ1 rs vi
| When one district was 'shot OUT he
moved on to another. and having secur-
| ed as many skins as his pack horses
| could carry, took them to the nearest
! point on the railway, and sent them tc
| New York. Side by side with the Illicit
skin hunting, and It's resultant trade
in skins for tanning, there is genuine
demand in Canada for deer skins fol
garments. Its main use is for leggings
and moccasins to be worn with snow
shoes, or without snowshoes in winter
These moccasins are sold in great mum
bers, and nothing quite SO comfortable
has yet been devised as footgear in the
dry Canadian SHOWS. Their softnes!
prevents the straps of the snow-shoe:
from CALLING the feet, and the leather /!
both porous and warm. 1t is not tan
ned, but "shamoyed," the process
which all races, civilized or savage, us,
when preparing wild beasts skins fo
use as clothes other than boots.
But the finest of all these soft leath
ers are the deerskins used for gloves
Nothing IS quite equal to this materia
for the purpose, and when genuine /
is the most expensive Of any. Rein