In the camp, if he was a very successful hunter, all the appliances
for preparing the skins for market were at hand; if he had a squaw
for a wife, she did all the hard work, as usual. Close to the
entrance of their skin lodge was the "graining-block," a log of wood
with the bark stripped off and perfectly smooth, set obliquely in
the ground, on which the hair was removed from the deerskins which
furnished moccasins and dresses for both herself and her husband.
Then there were stretching frames on which the skins were placed to
undergo the process of "dubbing"; that is, the removal of all flesh
and fatty particles adhering to the skin. The "dubber" was made of
the stock of an elk's horn, with a piece of iron or steel inserted
in the end, forming a sharp knife. The last process the deerskin
underwent before it was soft and pliable enough for making into
garments, was the "smoking." This was effected by digging a round
hole in the ground, and lighting in it an armful of rotten wood or
punk; then sticks were planted around the hole, and their tops brought
together and tied. The skins were placed on this frame, and all
openings by which the smoke might escape being carefully stopped,
in ten or twelve hours they were thoroughly cured and ready for
immediate use.
The beaver was the main object of the hunter's quest; its skins were
once worth from six to eight dollars a pound; then they fell to only
one dollar, which hardly paid the expenses of traps, animals, and
equipment for the hunt, and was certainly no adequate remuneration
for the hardships, toil, and danger undergone by the trappers.
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