The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-06-21
FISHING LEATHER.
1t IL Made In Great Variety and II
of Excellent Quality.

1t IL Made In Great Variety and IL
OF Excellent Quality.
A 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 a queerer leather
which comes from the bodies of fish.
An extremely fine quality of green
leather made in Turkey MS manufac-
tnred from the skin of an ugly fish
called the angelfsh. This is kind of
shark-a shark with thick, winglike
fms 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 dia-
mond shaped figures. This skin comes
from North sea shark known as the
diamond shark. German leather man
ufacturers have tried to produce a
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 and 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
scales remains on alligator leather. The
Pacific coast sturgeon and the stur-
geon of the great lakes produce q
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
Jaws like those of the crocodile, has
skin that can be polished smooth until
it has a 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 savages The hide
is so tough and hard that it makes
breastplate that can turn 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 fish
armor also used to wear fish helmet.
1t was made from the skin Of the
prickly porcupine fish, and besides pro-
tecting the wearer's head it was used
as d weapon of offense. The warriors
butted their enemies with it, and as
it had hundreds Of ironlike pixies the
operation was eminently painful to the
object of attack.
In Gloucester, the liking 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 peasant
costumes are beautifully trimmed with
the skins of 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 I'M
happy member of European private
school where one of these eelsldn
whips was prominent instrument of
discipline, and he has never cared for
cells 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 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 of north
western America Canadian Harness
and Carriage Journal.