The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-29
OCEANIC
LEATHER
PRODUCERS

A GREAT deal of good leather
Il comes out of the sea-not the
( 4 kind of leather that comes
from the backs of walrus, seal
and 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 fins that have earned
for him the name of angel, though he
doesn't look 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-
full 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 to produce leather from animal
hides that shall supplant this skin, but
in vain. Unlike animal leather, fish
leather is absolutely impervious to
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-
mains on the skin just as the pattern
of alligator scales remains on alllga
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 skin that can be
polished smooth until it has a finish
ike ivory. 1t makes beautiful jewel
caskets and picture frames.
The skin of the garfsh used to be
converted into armor by some tribes
OF American savages The hide is so
tough and hard that it makes 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 hsh-helmet
1t was made from the skin of the
priclly porcupine fish, and besides pro-
tecting the wearer's head it was used
as weapon of ofense The warriors
butted their enemies with it, and as
it 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 fine food fish, the
burbot Boolbinders 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 TN
happy member of European private
school where one Of these eel skin
whips was a prominent instrument OF
discipline, and he has never really
cared for eels 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.
.Wa1rus 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 i'll
America make cardcases and other
small leather articles out of this
squawky citizen.