I now got my first lesson in skinningand butchering one of these great animals.
Soon they dismounted and began skinning two that they had killed.
Four of them were round one deer, and three were at work skinning the other.
Meanwhile one of the harpooners had brought out a number of knives, with which all hands were soon busy skinning the blubber from the bodies.
Our next day's work completed the skinning of the haul we had made, the last of the carcasses going overboard with a thunderous splash at four in the afternoon.
The blacks and the Chinaman were away behind, gathered in a cluster, skinning the first beast killed, while the pack-horses cropped the grass and bit at the flies.
Meanwhile the blacks were catching the pack-horses, and sharpening their skinning knives.
After skinning him we threw the carcass into the river below the camp, as the dogs would not touch it.
The skinning of the bear was a task of some moment, and as we did this we exulted that we would now have so fine a robe.
I was busy skinning when my old friend Auberry rode up.
He was so inadvertent, as to commence skinning the animal, before {113} he had re-loaded his rifle.
After we had finished skinning them, we left the ample supply of food furnished by the bodies of the beavers, in token of our friendship, to these Indians, and floated on.
A little farther and we come to the base of the bill, where the skin and our skinning stops.
In skinning a large bird you must have room according to your strength and the size of your subject.
For years it has been my constant practice to make outlines of dead animals, on large sheets of paper, before skinning them.
In skinning the head of an animal having antlers or horns, it is necessary to make an opening at the back of the neck shaped like a Y.
The principles to be observed in skinning the body are precisely the same as those given for small mammals.
Skinning the fingers is a tedious task, and one which requires some skill, especially when it comes to working the end off so that the nail is left in its place in the skin, and without mutilation.
With but few exceptions, the process in skinning a large bird is, from start to finish, precisely similar in principle to that for a small one, which has already been described.
But when the value of a skin and skeleton runs up into hundreds of dollars, you can well afford to spend a whole hour in skinning a hand, if you cannot do it in less time.
We will first undertake the work of skinning a small bird--a robin, thrush, or blackbird, whichever you happen to have.
The process of skinning a fish has been described in a previous chapter, and on this subject but few other points remain to be noticed.
The fundamental principles to be observed in skinning a large mammal are, in general, precisely the same as those which govern the same process in small mammals, and which have been recorded in detail in the preceding chapter.
In skinning out the ear cartilage, a sharp scalpel of large size, or a cartilage-knife, is the best instrument, and it should be held in the fingers precisely as one holds a pen in writing.
A boy trained among men would never have dreamed of skinning a ten-foot tiger alone, but Mowgli knew better than any one else how an animal's skin is fitted on, and how it can be taken off.
Buldeo, who was still stooping over Shere Khan's head, found himself sprawling on the grass, with a gray wolf standing over him, while Mowgli went on skinning as though he were alone in all India.
Here in America we have the kindred arts of taxidermy and taxicabbery; one of these is the art of skinning animals and the other is the art of skinning people.
We then set about grallocking and skinning our quarry, and were delighted to find that she carried a good deal of fat.
We dispatched Kongoni for help and lanterns, and turned to on the job of building a signal fire and skinning the trophy.
Overjoyed at our luck in collecting these animals so promptly, so near camp, and at a time so very propitious for handling the trophies, we set to the job of skinning and cutting up.
Here we amused ourselves byskinning and preparing the young capybara for the spit.
Not being expert butchers, we were employed most of the day in skinning and cutting up the beasts.
After emptying and skinning it, wash it well in cold water, and let it soak for about 1/4 hour in warm water, to draw out the blood.
One night I was skinning a bird, with Vic looking on, when we heard some animal growling close by, and Vic without any warning seized my gun (which I always kept loaded with buckshot) and fired into the darkness.
That night was a busy one for me, skinning my numerous birds and blowing the eggs by a dim light to the accompaniment of Richardson's snores, and I did not get to bed till 2 a.
Whilst I was skinning my dove, the people brought in a horrible-looking carved figure with staring eyes.
It is true that she was a pretty woman, but the man was bent on skinning his game just then and took no notice of her.
One day the hunter succeeded in killing an immense bear, and while he was skinning it, behold!
Every night the man shot several of the animals, and in the daytime they were both busy skinning them and trying out the fat.
An hour after, his son came to visit Mr. Carter accompanied by about a hundred followers, who all sat on the ground while he came into the open shed where Manuel was skinning birds.
I called to my two boys who were skinning birds below and said, "Here's a big snake in the roof;" but as soon as I had shown it to them they rushed out of the house and begged me to come out directly.
My principal piece of furniture was a box, which served me as a dining table, a seat while skinning birds, and as the receptacle of the birds when skinned and dried.
When we arrived at our lodging-house, being particularly anxious about my insect treasures, I suspended the box from a bamboo on which I could detect no sign of ants, and then began skinning some of my birds.
Illustration: 0198] As neither of us had a hunting knife, we had a long job skinning him with pocket knives.
Bateman handed over to him his watch and chain and his blowgun, which he had taken care of for him, also his skinning knives and instruments.
In skinning animals, the Indian used an obsidian knife held in his hand by a piece of buckskin.
Often in skinning rabbits he would make a small hole in the skin over the abdomen and blow into this, stripping the integument free from the body and inflating it like a football, except at the legs.
But with ropes we lashed him by the neck to a tree and split him up the back, later box-skinning the legs according to the method required by the museum.
In skinning the tail of an animal, he used a split stick to strip it down, and did it so dextrously that it was a revelation of how easy this otherwise difficult process may be when one knows how.
Photographs were taken, the skinning and autopsy were performed.
He mentally calculated how many times he could chin the curtain pole if he were allowed to remove his coat; he wondered if she ever tried it; and remembering the cat-skinning episode he concluded that she was no doubt a practised hand.
The boy was down in the buggy shed, his coat off, hanging on the bar skinning the cat several times in rapid succession.
For instance, Laseron one day was skinning at one end of a seal and remained in perfect calm, while McLean, at the other extremity, was on the edge of a furious vortex.
The operation of skinning seals for specimens, in low temperatures and in the inevitable wind, was never unduly protracted.
With the temperature well below freezing-point, skinning is cold work in the wind, and must be done before the animal has time to freeze stiff.
From the hill-top we could see Hamilton engaged in skinning a large sea leopard on the coast, so we climbed down to render any necessary assistance.
Illustration: Skinning a frozen bear] Within the past two years two bears of about 500 pounds each have been killed in Swain and Graham counties, the Cables getting one of them.
When it came to skinning this beast the job was a mean one; a fellow had to drop out now and then to warm his fingers.
When the beast fell, the squaws, papooses and dogs came along to do the skinning and oversee the division of the meat.
Arrived at the death scene they immediately set to work with their skinning knives and soon had the steer divested of his hide.
When I had finished skinning it and cut out the tusks with the small axe I always carried in a leathern case, I rode back to my buffalo, with the skin proudly hanging down on either side of my horse.
Jack and Lizzy, startled at the sudden apparition, leapt on one side, but were soon pacified, and we began skinning and breaking up the animal.
I at once set to work skinning my bird, and had not finished when Trusty growled, and Tiger really soon ran up with the spoils of the other bird.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "skinning" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
