The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-29
OCEANIC
LEATHER
u

- $50
"a comes out of the an the
!. kind of leather that comes
from the backs OF walrus, seal
aad otter; everybody knows about
that. There is a queerer leather. 1t
comes from the bodies OF fish.
An extremely fine quality of
green leather, made in Turkey, is
manufactured from the skin of
an ugly FISH called the angel fish.
This is a kind of shark-a shark with
thick, wing-like fms that have earned
for him the name of angel, though he
doesn't look a bit like an angel, but
rather the opposite.
The sword grips of the officers OF
the German Army are made from
shark leather, too. They are beauti-
ful in pattern, being marked with dark
diamond-shaped figures. This skin
comes from a North Sea shark known
as the diamond shark.
German leather manufacturers have
tried 10 produce a leather from animal
hides that shall supplant this skin, but
IN vain. Unlike animal leather, fish
leather is absolutely impervious 10
water and never gets "soggy" from
dampness. Therefore it is ideal for
sword grips, as, no matter how much
the hand may perspire, the grip re-
mains hard and dry.
The sturgeon, despite his lumpY
armor, furnishes a valuable and at
tractive leather. When the bony
plates are taken off, their pattern re-
V,asuc On f1a cG9, met ~ 4La -,+&a-.
OF alligator scales remains on alliga-
tor leather. The Pacific coast stur-
geon and the sturgeon of the Great
Lakes produce a tough leather that is
used to make laces for joining leather
betting for machinery, and the laces
often outwear the betting.
The strange garhsh, an American
fresh-water fish with long toothed jaws
like a crocodile, has a skim that can be
polished smooth until it has a finish
like ivory. 1t makes beautiful jewel
caskets and picture frames.
The skin OF the garhsh used to be
converted into armor by some tribes
of American savages. The hide is so
tough and hard that it makes a breast
plate that can turn a knife or spear.
Some of the finer specimens that have
been found are hard enough to turn
even a blow from a tomahawk.
The savages who wore this fish
armor also used to wear a fish-helmet.
1t was made from the skin of the
prickly ~porcupine fish, and besides pro-
tecting the wearers head it was used
as a weapon of o~ffense. The warriors
butted their enemies with it, and as
ii had hundreds of iron-like spikes,
the operation was eminently painful
to the object of attack.
In Gloucester, the king town" of
fish, the humble cod has been utilized
with success for making leather for
shoes and gloves. In Egypt men walk
on sandals made from the skins of
Red Sea fish. In Russia certain peas
ant costumes are beautifully trimmed
with the skins of a fine food fish, the
burbot. Bookbinders in Europe are
binding books with eel skin.
The eel skin serves another and
less pleasant purpose. 1t is braided
into whips. The writer was the un-
happy member of a European private
school where n of these eel skin
whips was a prominent instrument OF
discipline, and he has never really
cared for cells since then.
Along the big salmon rivers of ST.
IBERIA the natives often wear brilliant
leather garments dyed red and yell
low. They are made from salmon
skins.
In Alaska beautiful waterproof bags
are made from all sorts Of fish skins.
The queerest use is that to which
the intestines of the sea lion are put.
They are slit and stitched together
to form hooded coats, which are supe-
rior to India rubber as waterproof
garments.
Walrus intestines are made into
sails for boats by the Eskimos of
Northwestern America.
Even the frog does not escape. Sew
eral factories in France. and a few in
america make cardcases and other
small leather articles on of this
squawky citizen.