The Colfax chronicle., 1904-06-18
LEATHER FROM FISH SKINS
Finned Creatures Of the Deep Fur
nish Material for Various
Purposes.

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,
says the Canadian Harness and Car
riage Journal
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, 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 beautiful in pat
tern, being marked with dark diamond
shaped figures. This skin comes from
North sea shark known as the dia-
mond 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 wa
ter and never gets soggy from damp
ness. Therefore. it is ideal for sword
grips, as, no matter how much the
hand may perspire, the grip remains
hard and dry.
The sturgeon, despite his lumpy ar
NOR. furnishes valuable and attrac-
tive leather. When the bony plates
are taken of there 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 outwear
the betting.
The strange garfish, an American
fresh water fish, with long toothed
jaws like those of the crocodile, has a
skin that can be polished smooth until
1t has finish like ivory. 1t makes
beautiful jewel caskets and picture
frames.
The skin Ct the garfish used to be
conyerted 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 blow from tomahawk.
The savages who wore this Ash ar
NOR also used to wear fish helmet. It |
was made from the skin of the prickly /
porcupine fish, and besides protecting
the wearer's head, 1t was used as 4 |
weapon of offense. The warriors butted |
their enemies with It, and as It had
hundreds of ironlike spikes, the opera
tion was eminently painful to the OBJ
Iect of attack.
In Gloucester. the king town" of
1sh, the humble cod has been utilized
with success for making leather for
shoes and gloves. In Egypt men walk
IN sandals made from the skins of Red
sea fsh. In Russia certain peasant
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 and less
pleasant purpose. IT is braided into
Whips. The writer was the unhappy
member of European private school
where one of these eelskin whips was
prominent instrument of discipline
nd he has never cared for eels since
hen
Along the big salmon rivers of ST.
eria the natives often wear brilliant
Gather garments dyed red and yellow.
hey are made from salmon skins.
In Alaska beautiful waterproof bags
re made from all sorts of fish skins.
The queerest use is that to which the
ltestines OF the sea lions are put They
re slit and stitched together to form
CODED coats, which are superior to
ndia rubber as waterproof garments.
Walrus intestines are made into sails
,r boats by the Eskimo or northwest
m America.
Even the frog does not escape. Sew
raj factories in France and a few IN
merica make card cases and other
nall leather articles from his skin.