"August 27.--My Antelope Skins Are Just Completed And Are
Thoroughly Tanned.
Each skin required a double handful of the
'garra,' or fruit of the Acacia Arabica.
The process is simple:
the skin being thoroughly wetted, the garra is pounded into a
paste; this is rubbed into the hide with a rough piece of
sandstone, until it becomes perfectly clean, and free from
impurities; it is then wrapped up with a quantity of the paste,
and is deposited in a trough and kept in the shade for
twenty-four hours. It should undergo a similar rubbing daily, and
be kept in the trough to soak in the garra for four or five days.
After this process it should be well rubbed with fat, if required
to keep soft and pliable when wetted. If soaked in milk after
tanning, the leather will become waterproof. The large tanned
ox-hides used by the Arabs as coverlets are perfectly waterproof,
and are simply prepared with milk. These are made in Abyssinia,
and can be purchased at from ten piastres to a dollar each. The
Arabs thoroughly appreciate the value of leather, as they are
entirely dependent upon such material for coverlets, watersacks,
travelling bags, &c. &c. The sac de voyage is a simple skin of
either goat or sheep drawn off the animal as a stocking is drawn
from the leg; this is very neatly ornamented, and arranged with
loops which close the mouth, secured by a padlock. Very large
sacks, capable of containing three hundred pounds of corn, are
made in the same manner by drawing off entire the skins of the
larger antelopes--that of the tetel is considered the most
valuable for this purpose. The hide of the wild ass is the finest
of all leather, and is so close in the grain that before tanning,
when dry and hardened in the sun, it resembles horn in
transparency. I have made excellent mocassins with this skin,
which are admirable if kept wetted.
"August 28.--Sofi being upon the frontier, the laws are merely
nominal; accordingly there is an interesting mixture in the
society. Should any man commit a crime in Abyssinia, he takes
refuge over the border; thus criminals of the blackest character
are at large. One fellow who has paid us daily visits killed his
brother with a knife a few months since. I have excluded this
gentleman from the select circle of our acquaintance.
"The Arab women are very clever in basket-work and matting--they
carry their milk in baskets that are so closely fitted as to be
completely water-tight; these are made of the leaves of the dome
palm, shred into fine strips. In addition to the coarse matting
required for their tents, they manufacture very fine sleeping
mats, curiously arranged in various coloured patterns; these are
to cover the angareps, or native bedsteads, which are simple
frameworks upon legs, covered with a network of raw hide worked
in a soft state, after which it hardens to the tightness of a
drum when thoroughly dry.
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