Sewing.—­Sewing Materials.—­These are best carried in a linen bag; they consist of sail needles, packed in a long box with cork wads at the ends, to preserve their points; a sailor’s palm; beeswax; twine; awls; bristles; cobbler’s wax; large bodkin; packing-needle; ordinary sewing-needles; tailor’s thimble; threads; cottons; silks; buttons; scissors; and pins.

Stitches.—­The enthusiastic traveller should be thoroughly grounded by a tailor in the rudiments of sewing and the most useful stitches.  They are as follows:—­To make a knot at the end of the thread; to run; to stitch; to “sew’\;” to fell, or otherwise to make a double seam; to herring-bone (essential for flannels); to hem; to sew over; to bind; to sew on a button; to make a button-hole; to darn; and to fine-draw.  He should also practise taking patterns of some articles of clothing in paper, cutting them out in common materials and putting them together.  He should take a lesson or two from a saddler, and several, when on board ship, from a sail-maker.

Needles, to make.—­The natives of Unyoro sew their beautifully prepared goat-skins in a wonderfully neat manner, with needles manufactured by themselves.  “They make them not by boring the eye, but by sharpening the end into a fine point and turning it over, the extremity being hammered into a small cut in the body of the needle, to prevent it from catching.”—­Sir S. Baker.

MEMBRANE, SINEW, HORN.

Parchment—­The substance which is called parchment when made from sheep or goat skins, and vellum when from those of calves, kids, or dead-born lambs, can also be made from any other skin.  The raw hide is buried for one or two days, till the hair comes off easily; then it is taken out and well scraped.  Next a skewer is run in and out along each of its four sides, and strings being made fast to these skewers, the skin is very tightly stretched; it is carefully scraped over as it lies on the stretch, by which means the water is squeezed out; then it is rubbed with rough stones, as pumice or sandstone, after which it is allowed to dry, the strings by which the skewers are secured being tightened from time to time.  If this parchment be used for writing, it will be found rather greasy, but washing it will oxgall will probably remedy this fault. (See “Ox-gall,” p. 331.) In the regular preparation of parchment, the skin is soaked for a short time in a lime-pit before taking off the hairs, to get rid of the grease.

Catgut.—­Steep the intestines of any animal in water for a day, peel off the outer membrane, then burn the gut inside out, which is easily to be done by turning a very short piece of it inside out, just as you would turn up the cuff of your sleeve; then, catching hold of the turned-up cuff, dip the whole into a bucket, and scoop up a little water between the cuff and the rest of the gut.

[Sketch of making catgut as described].