The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-12-14
Leather From the Ocean.

n great deal of good leather comes
out of the sea-not the kind of leather
that comes from the backs Of walrus,
seal and otter; everybody knows about
that. There is queer leather, which
comes from the bodies of fish, says the
Canadian Harness and Carriage Jour.
nal.
An extremely fine quality of green
leather made in Turkey is manufac,
tured from the skin of an ugly fish
called the angel fish. This is kind
of shark--a shark with thick wiaglike
fms that have earned for him the
name of angel, though he doesn't look
bit like an angel, but rather the op-
posite.
The sword grips Of the officers of
the German army are made from shark
leather, too. They are beautiful in
pattern, being marked with dark, da.
mondshapcd figures. This skin comes
from North Sea 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 i'm
pervious to water and never gets sog.
gy from dampncss. Therefore it is
ideal for sword grips, as, no matter
how much the hand may pcrspire, the
glip remains hard and dry.
the sturgeon, despite his iumpy ar
NOR, furnishes valuable and attrac-
tive leather. When the bony plates
are taken off their pattern remains on
the skin just as the pattern of alliga
tor scales remains on alligator leather.
The Pacific coast sturgeon 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 out
wear the betting
The strange gar6sh, an American
fresh water fish with long .toothed Jaws
like those of the crocodile, has skin
that can be polished smooth until it
has finish like ivory. 1t makes
beautiful jewel caskets and picture
frames.
The skin Of the gar6sh used 20 be
converted into armor by some tribes
of American savagcs. The hide is 80
tough and hard that it makes breast.
plate that can turn knife or spear.
Sc nc Of the finer specimens that have
been found are hard enough to turn
even blow from tomahawk.
The savages who wore that fish ar
NOR also used to wear fish helmet.
1t was made from the skin of the
prickly porcupine fish, and besides
protecting the wcarer's head, it was
used as weapon of offence. 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 Glouchester, the 'kiEg 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
SAINT costumes are beautifully trimmed
with the skins of fine food fish, the
:urbot Bookbinders in Europe are
binding books with eelskin.
The eelskin serves another aud less
pleasant purpose. 1t is braided irto
whips The writer was the unhappy
member of European private school
where one of these eelskin whips was
a prominent instrument of discipline,
and he has never cared for eels since
then.
Along the big salmon rivers of ST.
IBERIA the natives often wear brilliant
leather garments dyed red and yellow.
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 lions are put.
They are slit and stitched together to
form hooded coats, which are superior
to Indian rubber as water proof gar
ments.
Walrus intestines are made into
ails for boats by the Eskimos of
Northwestern America.
Even the efrog does not escape. Sew
eral factories in France and few in
America make card cases aud other
small leather articles from his skin.
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