Washington sentinel., 1898-05-07
e. .,., SENTINEL
wnd Beasts Skins In Commerce,
Spectator

leather industry OF a form of sup
plY which should never have
reached the dimensions it attained
the hides OF countless wild
beasts. No one grudges to the
purposes Of trade the hides OF the
alligator or the shark, still less
those of domesticated animals or
OF big game killed for food. But
for more than twenty years
there have come to the markets Of
America and Europe hundreds Of
thousands OF hides, destined tor
the commonest commercial uses,
stripped from wild animals which
have been killed for the value OF
the hide alone. Whole species
have been butchered to the last
individual to make shoe leather.
There is not much room tor dis
tinction bet veen the "skin hunt
ers" of North America, South
Africa, or Australia. But in the
former country at least the State
Governments are adopting Wig DR.
Gus measures to stop this repulsive
industry, and by limiting the num-
Der OF deer which may be killed
by individuals, prevent such des-
tructiVe waste of animal lite. We
wish that these laws could be ex-
tended to all British colonies and
dependencies. Wherever big game
has entirely disappeared from dis
tricts where 1t formerly abounded,
and wherever whole species have
been exteTminated, the mischief
has in nearly every case been done
not to procure food, but solely to
obtain the creatures skins, 1t is
not the big game hunter, or the
savage, or even the agriculturiSi,
who destroys the creatures, but
the "skin hunter" The
->~@@dvent OF the skin hunters takes
place at a particular period Of de-
velopment in recent settlements.
He is never among the early pio-
neers, but is kind OF parasite in
half occupied territories, but in
teusely diSliked by the resident
squatters, as he destroys the game
on which they partly depend,
though he sometimes succeeds in
converting these to his own evil
ways. In South Africa, for in
stance, the early Boer settlers, like
the early pioneers OF North Amer
ica, killed the antelopes tor meat,
and used their skins tor clothing.
About 1850, the Bears
learnt that the myriads Of antel-
ope, quagga, and zebra which
wandered over the plains had
marketable value other than as
food or supplying leather hunting
shirts. The skin hunters taught
them that though the bodies OF the
creatures might be left to rot on
the veldt, the hides, not tanned or
dressed, but merely stripped from
the bodies, were marketable, to
supply the European demand tor
leather. The country was just
sufficiently opened up to have ar
rived as the stage at which the
business Of the skin hunter pays.
Freight is high, but n { too high,
and though hides Of countless cat
tie and sheep may be had tor little
enough in the settled districts, the
skins OF the wild animals cost
nothing at all, except the value of
powder and shot. Even this was
economical in South Africa. "The
Beers Of the pastoral republic be-
came perfect adopts at skin hunt
ing" writes Mr.. Dryden. They
put in Just sufficient powder 70
drive the missile home, and care
fully cut out their bullets for future
occasions. So lately as 1876, when
first wandered in Cape Colony, l
we'll remember the wagon coming
down from the Free State and
Transvaal loaded up with nothing
bat the skins OF blesbok, wilde
beest and springbok. This miser-
able system Of skin hunting has
been, and still is, where any game
remains, pursued in all native
States Of South Africa. Between
1850 and 1875 it is certain that
some millions of these animals
must have been DESTROYED in the
rransvaal and Orange Free State. "
The slaughter was so prodigious,
and the variety OF wild animals so
great. in these wild regions OF
South Africa. that the result made
a sensible difference in the leather
industry OF Europe.
These South African game skins
became a commercial article, re-
lied upon for many years as part
of the regular supply. 1t is anus
ing to note thar quagga skins are
still quoted as part OF this, the fact
being that the last of the quaggas
was killed years ago to fill the skin
hunters pocket. In Mashonaland
aud Central Africa the trade still
flourisheS, though only the poorest
Of the Beers follow il, and they
have TO trek north of the Limpopo.
The hides Of the larger bucks,
such as the sable antelope, the
roam antelope, the hartebeest, or
any OF the zebras, are worth eight
or nine shillings each, and there is
now something to be made by sell
ing heads and horns as curiosities.
Leather made from the skins oi
these big artelopes is still in COM
mon use in high class bootmaking.
No one knows exactly what ami.
NAL may not have supplied the
uppers or soles of his foot gear,
and the possibilities range from
the porpoise and the Arctic seal to
the blesbok or the koodoo. Three
A =.