Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1904-07-14
No 26
FlSHSRlN LEATHER.
II In Made In Great Variety and Ta
of Excellent Quality.


A great deal or 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 queerer leather
which comes from the bodies OF fish,
An extremely fine quality of green
leather made In Turkey In manufac-
tured from the skin OF an ugly fish
called the angeltish This il kind OF
shark-a shark with thick, wingiike
fins that have earned for him the name
of angel, though he does not 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 beautiful In
pattern, being marked with dark din-
mond shaped figures. This skin comes
from a North sea shark known as the
diamond shark. German leather man.
ufacturers have tried to produce
leather from animal hides that shall
supplant the skin. but in vain. Unlike
animal leather, fish leather is abso-
lutely impervious to water and never
gets soggy from dampness; therefore 1t
is ideal for sword grips, as. no matter
how much the hand may perspire. the
grip remains hard ard dry.
The sturgeon, despite his lumpy ar
NOR. furnishes a valuable and attrac-
tive leather. When the bony plates are
taken off. their pattern remains on the
skin. Just as the pattern OF alligator
oil fnr 1nafhnr The
Pacific coast sturgeon and the stur-
geon of the great lakes produce
tough leather betting that Is used to
make laces for joining leather betting
for machinery, and the laces often out
wear the betting.
The strange garfish, an American
fresh water fish, with long, toothed
laws 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 garfish used
to be converted into armor by some
tribes of American sayages. The hide
is so tough and hard that 1t makes
breastplate that can turn knife or
smear. Some of the finer specimens
that have been found are hard enough
to turn even a blow from tomahawk.
The savages who wore this fish
armor also used to wear fish helmet
1t was made from the skin OF the
prickly porcupine fish, and besides pro-
tecting the wearers head 1t was used
as weapon of offense. The warriors
butted their enemies with 1t, and as
III had hundreds OF ironlike pixies the
operation was eminently painful to the
object of attack.
In Gloucester, the king town. or
fish. the humble cod has been utilized
with success for making leather Tor
shoes and gloves. In Egypt men walk
ON sandals made from the skins or Red
sea fish. In Russia certain peasant
costumes are beautifully trimmed with
the skins of a fine food fish, the tur-
bot. Bookbinders bind books with eel
skin. The eelskin serves another and
less pleasant purpose. 1t Is braided
into whips. The writer was the un-
happy member of European private
school where one of these eelskln
whips was a prominent instrument OF
discipline, and he has never cared Tor
eels since then.
Along the big salmon rivers OF 81
IBERIA the natives often wear brilliant
leather garments dyed red and yellow
They are made from salmon skins LII
Alaska beautiful waterproof bags are
made from all sorts OF fishskins-
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 superior to
india rubber as waterproof garments
Walrus intestines are made into sails
for boats by the Eskimos or north
western America.-Canadian Harness
and Carriage Journal.